The term "toxic stress" gets people in the door and listening. Everybody knows "stress." "Toxic" will get people thinking. And folks will be open to the new way of categorizing the three types of stress: positive, tolerable, and toxic: http://bit.ly/ri73ws. Yes, "child abuse" is too loaded and repellant. Language and how we use it is key to changing things. Thought-provoking interview from language expert, Boroditsky here: http://bit.ly/w5y3KQ. Also worth knowing is how English is a very "blaming"/punitive language in how it is currently used. And it is reinforced virally throughout the social body via all forms of mass and social media. Reality-TV is the worst. As Slutkin said in his presentation (tiny.cc/Slutkin) modeling behaviors are picked up by our mirror neurons and locked in by social pressures. So important to understand this is how it works.