The Cost of Overproving: Unpacking Cumulative Trauma Disorder

This is an article for the members of The Odyssey of Self, within The Body Codex, a growing library of distilled information and guidance taken from the work of Dr. Michael Lincoln, Messages From The Body. Join for only $8/mo. and learn the connection between beliefs, behaviours, and the body. Take a look inside with a 7-day free trial.

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Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD) is often described as a physical issue from repetitive strain, but its roots go much deeper. It is the body’s way of expressing years of psychological pressure, where survival once depended on overperforming and overriding limits.

What begins as a child’s plea for love and acceptance later matures into an adult pattern of striving, leaving the body to carry what the psyche could not resolve.

In childhood, the seed of this disorder is planted long before entering the workforce, when the child who grows up in an environment where worth and approval are tied to performance and rest is seen as laziness, learns to silence the body’s natural signals.

They adapt by pushing harder, overriding limits, and turning effort into a currency of survival. Over time, this compulsion becomes embedded as a behavioural pattern, and eventually the workplace becomes the stage upon which these old conditions are replayed.

CTD is not a signal of repetitive strain on the body; rather, the embodied manifestation of accumulated psychological and emotional strain and the lived memory of having to perform, endure, and prove. It is the result of the driving force behind the relationship with work.

It is a disorder of accumulation, where years of stress, unmet needs, and pressures build up in the body. The pain and dysfunction reflect a long history of ignoring one’s own needs in order to gain approval and feel safe.

Underlying dynamics often include:

• A compulsion to over-perform in order to feel safe or worthy

• Suppression of personal needs and limits in the face of external demands

• A belief that one’s value is tied to productivity and endurance

• A belief that love is equated with compliance and effort

“Cumulative Trauma Disorder is the embodiment of overdoing and overproving, the legacy of a childhood that demanded performance at the cost of being.” - Dr. Michael Lincoln, Messages from the Body

Healing begins with awareness of the unconscious contract that created the disorder in the first place.

It requires acknowledging the child within who once believed survival depended on striving, and offering them the rest, compassion, and belonging that were once denied.

In this episode, we explore the roots and behavioural patterns of Cumulative Trauma Disorder (job-related) and how survival strategies formed in early family systems create an ongoing sense of pressure, “never enoughness,” plus practical guidance to help untangle these inherited beliefs, release the body’s stored tension, and move toward deeper self-trust and freedom.