Relatively speaking we know a fair amount about acute trauma. We know very little about cumulative trauma. These two topics are also being explored in very separate domains. I sense we could learn a great deal more if we were to develop a framework for trauma that spanned both forms and was better informed by a clearer understanding of cumulative trauma.

If we better understood cumulative trauma we could see the impact this has on the functioning of societies and societal phenomena as a source of cumulative trauma. From here it could become possible to appreciate a view of how trauma affects cognitive functioing, who do societal patterns create patterns of 'shut down' in individuals, groups and within those cultures/societies as a whole. From a better understanding of cumulative trauma we may also be able to figure out how to reverse its affects. 

One field in which I believe this could be very useful is the design of information technology. Most information technologies are not intuitive to use and the need to relate to a mechanism that is not intuitive on a regular basis, I believe, leads to cumulative trauma. If we understood how cumulative trauma works this could facilitate the development of machines that are not traumatising and perhaps a little more aligned with the nature of human consciousness.