PTSD and Relationships

PTSD and Relationships

 When you experience a trauma, you may develop symptoms of PTSD. Several of these symptoms can cause significant distress in a relationship. Regardless of the type of trauma, it is natural for this event to impact your relationship with others. There are several ways in which experiencing a trauma may impact your relationships. When you experience a trauma, you may feel hypervigilant. This means you may have a heightened sense of awareness around you to scan for a “threat”. However, often there is not a real threat, but due to the desire to stay safe and prevent future traumatic events, your brain may now perceive non-threatening situations as threatening. This may show up in a relationship as assuming your partner is angry about something based on their facial expressions or not wanting to go to a crowded place for fear of danger. This leads to arguments with your partner or disruptions to every day life. Anger is a common symptom of PTSD.  Often, this anger gets directed at people you love and care about, resulting in conflict with your partner and in other relationships. Following a trauma, people often have difficulties feeling safe, making it difficult to confide in your partner. This can lead to you feeling alone and disconnected and leaves your partner feeling as though you don’t care about them or don’t want to talk to them. If you experienced a trauma, it is also common to feel shame, guilt, and worthlessness or feel like you are unlovable or “bad” in some way.   This is painful. Connection within our relationships are healing. Through trauma therapy, either individually or as a couple, you can find healing from the trauma and reconnect with others.