PTSD Can impact Ways Your Relationship

Your relationship may be negatively impacted if you have a partner or family member with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). You may feel your partner is unpredictable due to their constant feelings of being on edge due to trauma. To have a healthy relationship, you must discuss your feelings with your partner to ensure you both have open communication. However, recognizing how PTSD affects your partner's behavior can help you improve your relationship. 

PTSD can affect your partner's mental health, emotions, behavior, and physical health in ways that change throughout their journey. 

Managing the effects of PTSD reaches beyond merely the person who has been diagnosed, and how the diagnosis affects explicitly, your partner will depend on many risk factors. Today we will look at some of the most common ways PTSD can affect your relationship with your partner to help you better navigate your relationship together.

Change, Disappointment, & Loss

Partners of trauma survivors often experience disappointment, primarily if the trauma occurs during their relationship. You may feel your partner has changed due to the trauma and grieve the loss of the person you think they were before the event. You may even experience resentment towards your partner due to prolonged unresolved disappointment, which leads to a negative spiral in your relationship. 

Communication Difficulties

Trauma affects the brain's Broca area, which is responsible for putting feelings into words. When the trauma occurred, the brain did a lot all at once to protect itself at the moment. After the traumatic event, your partner may be unable to communicate their feelings with you or, at times, become triggered and feel unsafe. You may see this symptom as a form of distrust or a sign that your partner is uninterested in your relationship. 

Withdrawal & Detachment

A trauma survivor may detach and withdraw from the people they love. The brain can often feel disconnected from the body due to processing trauma. People with PTSD may feel embarrassed that they cannot cope with their trauma, resulting in feelings of shame leading to withdrawal. 

Sex & Intimacy

Intense emotions, whether fear or intimacy, affect the same regions of your brain. Your brain cannot differentiate between the experience of intensity and positive or negative emotion. For a trauma survivor, the intensity of sexual arousal can be so closely paired with the traumatic event that the brain shuts down, abruptly disrupting the moment. 

Trust

A trauma survivor's sense of self will often be shattered due to the experience of the traumatic event. While your partner may crave trust and safety in your relationship, fear of abandonment may make trust difficult. Relationships are built on trust and emotional vulnerability, which people with PTSD may struggle to regain. 

There Is Hope

If your partner or loved one has PTSD, a trauma therapist can help you gain the tools necessary to navigate your relationship successfully.