It's important to respond with kindness if they continue to push you away. Do your best to do so without judgment. Continue to show them that you do care for them and love them. Allow them to see you want them to know they are not alone and you can see they are struggling right now.
feelings of worthlessness, shame and guilt. problems controlling your emotions. finding it hard to feel connected with other people. relationship problems, like having trouble keeping friends and partners.
Those with cPTSD will “push” away from an intimate relationship to prevent feeling “unsafe”. People with cPTSD often prefer being alone and will avoid relationships, friendships, or family because they may trigger fears of threat.
Trouble Areas for People with PTSD
The “solution” they often choose is avoiding closeness and pushing loved ones away “for their own good.” They might also find fault with everything their friends and loved ones do, for the same reason. Drug and alcohol abuse is another refuge for sufferers.
Invalidate or dismiss their experiences. Compare their experiences. Blame them. Shame them.
Partners may feel confused or angry as well as emotionally unheard. Unfortunately, because feeling unsafe is at the core of emotional avoidance, many with cPTSD may feel misunderstood by those in their lives, which can cause them to further isolate themselves. A lack of trust.
Often, the triggering of old trauma wounds ignites a sense of being overwhelmed. People become flooded with feelings of anxiety and may experience panic attacks. The only way they can calm their distress is to push the other person away and create some distance.
Fear of intimacy
Pushing people away is one way of avoiding intimacy. In fact, this avoidance can act as a defense mechanism for people afraid of getting hurt in relationships. This could be because a past relationship ended badly, perhaps with rejection or even bereavement.
Trauma survivors with PTSD may have trouble with their close family relationships or friendships. The symptoms of PTSD can cause problems with trust, closeness, communication, and problem solving. These problems may affect the way the survivor acts with others.
Overview. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event.
Complex PTSD and emotional flashbacks
If you have complex PTSD you may be particularly likely to experience what some people call an 'emotional flashback', in which you have intense feelings that you originally felt during the trauma, such as fear, shame, sadness or despair.
Emotional Neglect is Complex Trauma
Childhood trauma takes several forms, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and emotional neglect. Emotional neglect is complex trauma that can result in complex post traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD).
Symptoms of complex PTSD
avoiding situations that remind a person of the trauma. dizziness or nausea when remembering the trauma. hyperarousal, which means being in a continual state of high alert. the belief that the world is a dangerous place.
By isolating themselves, PTSD sufferers can avoid negative responses or continued efforts to explain feelings. Self-isolation may not be a conscious choice. As individuals struggle to deal with their feelings, being alone seems like the easiest option.
If you have PTSD, this higher level of tension and arousal can become your normal state. That means the emotional and physical feelings of anger are more intense. If you have PTSD, you may often feel on edge, keyed up, or irritable. You may be easily provoked.
Pushing people away in these cases may cause a temporary relief from anxiety or agitation, but the tension that has bubbled up is likely to recur unless the root causes are addressed. Pushing people away again and again is a frequent sign of mental health problems such as depression and trauma.
According to Orloff, most people on the receiving end of trauma dumping will feel anxious, stressed, helpless and even depressed after the conversation. "People may feel better after trauma dumping, but the person they dump it onto feels horrible," she says.
Avoidance is a typical trauma response. It is a coping mechanism that you may use to reduce the adverse effects of trauma, such as distressing thoughts and feelings. It is entirely natural to want to not think about a traumatic event or your emotions related to it.
This is the premise of trauma bonding. Some theories suggest this is our subconscious mind trying to resolve old wounds. Even minor traumas, like the feeling “my parents never heard me,” can lead you to be attracted to, or hypersensitive to, someone who struggles to be present with you.
Complex trauma survivors — those with CPTSD — often have a distrust of self and others. They may feel like a burden to people, have shame, and be unable to make choices or have a voice for self. This lack of trust becomes ingrained in who you are; you believe everyone is untrustworthy.
Complex PTSD Can Devastate Romantic Relationships
Your romantic relationship may be one of those areas. C-PTSD may make your partner unable to fully trust anyone, even those who are closest to them—and that could include you.
A PTSD spouse can feel isolated, alienated and frustrated from the inability to work through the problems and help their partner. Partners may feel hurt or helpless because their spouse has not been able to get over the trauma. This may leave loved ones feeling angry or distant toward their partner.