I think you're right. Acute stress can cause harm, but that normalises pretty quickly.

When the state of stress is prolonged and there is a chain of stresses..... over time they deplete resources and the stress becomes chronic stress. If you skip this phase, the next state is distress. This is even more serious.

Negative interactions with certain individuals can leave lingering negative energy. Unfortunately, avoiding such people is not always possible. So, perhaps, these experiences have contributed to the current situation.

Communicating with a negative person leaves a memory of the negative phrases they have uttered. These phrases can be worked with and their negative influence removed.
I'm going to have to do another post..... ))