It is possible, real, and valid to experience PTSD after an abusive relationship. Living in a toxic relationship can take an extreme toll on mental health, and the negative effects of that relationship often last far after a break up.
Research has shown that in extreme cases, some who experience a broken heart go on to develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
If your relationship had abuse, exposure to threat, domestic violence, or chronic psychological abuse you may have relationship trauma. A breakup can feel more traumatic when there is a history of past trauma making you more vulnerable. This will create a risk for relationship PTSD.
Symptoms of PTSD
Intrusive symptoms such as persistently re-experiencing upsetting memories, nightmares, or flashbacks. Avoidance behaviors of feelings or external reminders.
People can have PTSD even though they do not recall the experience that triggered the problem. As a result, such people may live with PTSD for years without realizing it.
Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. You may need to get professional help if these thoughts are making it hard for you to go about your daily life.
Stressful life events such as a breakup or divorce can sometimes trigger prolonged and severe emotional distress. Experiencing depressive and other symptoms following the end of a relationship is sometimes diagnosed as an adjustment disorder with depressed mood, also sometimes referred to as situational depression.
They are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, according to Mental-Health-Matters.
It's not only the case that a serious break-up affects our personality; our personality also influences the way we are likely to respond to such a split.
Broken heart syndrome, also known as stress cardiomyopathy or takotsubo syndrome, occurs when a person experiences sudden acute stress that can rapidly weaken the heart muscle.
If you're in a toxic relationship, the trauma can have immediate and lasting effects on your emotional well-being. In some cases, people in these types of relationships develop relationship post-traumatic stress disorder, or relationship PTSD.
While breakups hit women the hardest, they tend to recover more fully. Men, on the other hand, never fully recover. Women experience more emotional pain following a breakup, but they also more fully recover, according to new research from Binghamton University.
Dissociation is a way people, to varying degrees, disconnect from their thoughts and feelings in order to avoid pain or traumatic memories.
These include such choices as drinking excessively, doing drugs, overeating, self-harm, gambling excessively, or becoming a workaholic. You may be tempted to do whatever you can to avoid feelings of loneliness and pain, but it is essential to find healthier ways to cope.
“Feeling lovesick isn't a clinical condition, but it is a biological response, which can produce a host of physical symptoms... including heart palpitations, shortness of breath, stomach pain, loss of sleep, and depression,” explains Sarah Gundle, PsyD, a clinical psychologist who specializes in breakups and trauma.
Many people feel disappointment, grief, and a sense of failure when a relationship ends. Break-ups often mean a big change in your daily routine; this abrupt change can feel overwhelming. In addition to your routine, who you spent time with may change as well.
Along with low mood and anxiety, heartache might cause you significant stress, and may make you feel shocked, constantly drained, hyper alert, and you may even experience physical pain. These can occur as the result of the hormonal and emotional upheaval caused by a breakup.
Also called relationship PTSD, post traumatic relationship syndrome (with the acronym PTRS) is the occurrence of being impacted by the trauma of a relationship. It differs from standard PTSD in that avoidant coping is less common, and it's more common to cope through emotions.
People with PTSD have intense, disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. They may relive the event through flashbacks or nightmares; they may feel sadness, fear or anger; and they may feel detached or estranged from other people.
For example, women with PTSD are more likely to feel depressed and anxious, as well as have trouble feeling or dealing with their emotions. They also tend to avoid activities and things that remind them of whatever traumatic event they suffered through.