In fact, their apparent disassociation from the event – or series of incidents – could be due to a defensive reaction known as
Avoidance and emotional numbing
Many people with PTSD try to push memories of the event out of their mind, often distracting themselves with work or hobbies. Some people attempt to deal with their feelings by trying not to feel anything at all. This is known as emotional numbing.
Moreover, people engaging in avoidance may have emotional numbing symptoms such as feeling distant from others, losing interest in activities they used to enjoy, or having trouble experiencing positive feelings such as happiness or love. Avoiding emotional experiences is common among people who have PTSD.
Trauma, prolonged stress, anxiety, depression and grief all contribute to feeling emotionally shut down. Nemmers says medication, while lifesaving for many, can also trigger a side effect of emotional numbness.
To conclude, amygdala response to pain is lower in individuals with PTSD, and is associated with emotional numbing symptoms. Lower amygdala reactivity to mild pain may contribute to the “all-or-none” reaction to stressful situations often observed in PTSD.
Impact of PTSD on relationships and day-to-day life
A person with PTSD can often seem uninterested or distant as they try not to think or feel in order to block out painful memories. They may stop them from participating in family life or ignore offers of help. This can lead to loved ones feeling shut out.
With PTSD and anger, common symptoms include irritable behavior and angry outbursts (with little or no provocation). These are typically expressed as verbal or physical aggression toward people or objects. Another potential symptom is reckless or self-destructive behavior.
Causes of Selective Mutism
Anxiety disorders or being too anxious because of stress. Poor home and family relationships. Early psychological problems that were not addressed properly. Low self-esteem issues.
Experiences of dissociation can last for a short time (hours or days) or for much longer (weeks or months). Dissociation may be something that you experience for a short time while something traumatic is happening. But you also may have learned to dissociate as a way of coping with stressful experiences.
Many trauma survivors feel unlovable because of the trauma they experienced. They might believe that they deserved what happened and that whatever made them deserve the trauma also makes them unworthy of love.
Avoiding reminders—like places, people, sounds or smells—of a trauma is called behavioral avoidance. For example: A combat Veteran may stop watching the news or using social media because of stories or posts about war or current military events.
It develops after a person experiences some form of trauma that causes intense mental and emotional symptoms, often unseen, PTSD is a silent scream. Common symptoms of PTSD include nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, social withdrawal, and insomnia.
Traumatic events: There could also be situational causes such as a break-up, divorce, or traumatic experience that can cause people to shut down emotionally in order to maintain everyday functioning, because if they were to feel the extent of their emotions it might be challenging for them to go on living their lives.
Intense emotions, such as anger, frustration, or sadness, can become overpowering and make it challenging to engage constructively in the conversation. Shutting down may be an automatic defense mechanism to protect oneself from further emotional distress.
Negative social experiences and overreliance on social media can make it more difficult to feel emotionally linked to other people. Sometimes a lack of connection might be related to the presence of a mental health condition such as anxiety or depression.
Let me start by telling you what you already know: shutting off your emotions effectively and entirely is nearly impossible. And in those rare occasions that it is possible, it does not come without severe and disastrous consequences.
The mental health conditions most often associated with emotional numbness are depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Emotional numbness can also come up in some dissociative disorders, which are connected with a personal history of trauma.
While many may assume that trauma dumping is typically exhibited by those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), this is not necessarily the case. In fact, those with PTSD are less likely to talk about traumatic memories or experiences with others.