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Does your partner have recent or past trauma? Do you have questions about symptoms or behaviors you cannot understand? Do you feel at a loss for how to help? It is common to feel confused, afraid, helpless, and alone when your spouse is experiencing the effects of trauma. In this article, Tish will explain what trauma is, how trauma may have affected your spouse, and what you can do.
What is Trauma?
The dictionary defines trauma as experiencing a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Trauma is an event such as an accident, disaster or an assault that brings a real or perceived threat. Often trauma disrupts or shatters core assumptions or beliefs held about the world or people. The person feels a sense of fear, helplessness or horror (Trauma and Shock).
What is PTSD?
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder that may occur when a person has experienced or witnessed a traumatic event. People may have intense emotions such as sadness, fear or anger. They may have repetitive and vivid flashback or nightmares that replay the trauma. There might be an intense compulsion to avoid people or places that remind them of the traumatic event (Paerkh, 2017).
Signs and Symptoms of Trauma to Look for in Your Spouse:
INTENSE OR UNPREDICTABLE FEELINGS:
Your spouse may feel more moody or irritable than typical. They might be anxious, nervous, grief stricken, or fearful.
PATTERNS OF THOUGHT AND BEHAVIOR CHANGE
They may have repetitive and vivid flashbacks or nightmares that replay the events. These triggers can occur for no reason and anxiety symptoms may follow. Your spouse may notice shortness of breath, tightness of chest, heart palpitations, or racing thoughts. Your spouse might experience brain fog where they find it difficult to make decisions or to concentrate. They may experience a change in eating or sleeping patterns.
SENSITIVITY TO SURROUNDINGS:
You might notice that loud noises, certain smells, or sounds trigger fear, anxiety or panic. This is often followed by fear the event will occur again, or by flashbacks of the original event. Any kind of stimuli to the senses related to the event can trigger this kind of response. Your spouse may not always be aware of what flipped the primal brain’s switch of remembered trauma leading to present moment hyper-vigilance.
STRAINED RELATIONSHIPS
Oftentimes there is strain on the marriage and other relationships. There may be increase in conflict and disagreements in marriage or with your spouse’s friends or co-workers. You may see your spouse withdraw or isolate, pulling away from their normal social activities (2016, April 28).
SYMPTOMS OF TRAUMA
At its core, trauma is experiencing stress to such a degree that it overwhelms the mind and body’s ability to cope. Trauma causes stress. Stress has powerful effects on the body and can exacerbate already existing medical conditions
Stress-Related Physical Symptoms (May Include the Following but are Not Limited To):
Stress Effects the Physical Body
headaches/migraines
Irritable Bowel Syndrome trouble
Headache
Muscle tension or pain
Chest pain
Fatigue
Change in sex drive
Stomach upset
Sleep problems
Stress Effects Mood/Anxiety
Restlessness
Lack of motivation or focus
Feeling overwhelmed
Irritability or anger
Sadness or depression
Stress Effects Behavior
Overeating or under-eating
Angry outbursts
Drug or alcohol abuse
Tobacco use
Social withdrawal
Exercising less often
Digging Deeper…is it Trauma?
Trauma is experienced differently by different people. Our understanding and perception of events is the reality that we experience. Trauma is a reality of how the brain, body, mind interaction are effected by a sense of fear, helplessness or horror. If your spouse has this result from an event than the experience was indeed traumatic.
Exposure to an upsetting traumatic event is required for a diagnosis of PTSD. However, this exposure could happen indirectly rather than first hand. For instance, a person could learn the details about the tragic death of a close family member, or a police office may be repeatedly exposed to horrific details of child abuse cases (Paerkh, 2017).
Perhaps you wonder why your spouse experienced trauma from what they experienced. It may feel confusing because those same events may not seem very distressing to you. There is no one size fits all. Two people could experience a car jacking and one individual experiences trauma intense enough to develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While the other individual feels distressed, but does not develop lasting symptoms....
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17 авг 2019
