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Is It Possible To Have Ptsd From Emotional Abuse

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When my male boss was angry and yelling at the staff one day, I became physically sick. I felt like I was right back where I was years ago in the same traumatic events, sitting and cowering on the garage floor, trying to placate the anger of a man towering over me.

Domestic Abuse Can Happen At Any Age

In 2019 over 280,000 people aged 60 to 74 experienced domestic abuse in England and Wales and one in five victims of domestic homicides were over the age of 60. Despite these worrying statistics, many surveys and studies undertaken regarding domestic abuse have excluded victims aged 60 plus. As reported by Age UK, the data regarding older victims of domestic abuse are stark:

  • According to the Crime Survey for England and Wales, about 189,350 older women and 91,137 older men experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2019
  • The majority of victims are female whereas perpetrators are predominantly male
  • Older people are almost equally as likely to be killed by a partner/spouse as they are by their children or grandchildren

Almost a quarter of young people exposed to domestic abuse are also demonstrating harmful behaviour themselves, and in 61% of cases the abuse is directed towards their mother.

Whilst it is normal for adolescents to demonstrate healthy anger and be challenging, this should not be confused with violence or threats, this is not acceptable. The Government defines this as adolescent to parent violence and abuse , which is any form of behaviour by a young person to control and dominate their parents. The aim is to instil fear, threaten and cause intimidation. Evidence suggests that it is increasing. Met Police figures show reports of child-to-parent violent offences increased 95% from 2012 to 2016.

I Now Accept That I Did Develop Ptsd From Emotional Abuse I Lived Through For Years But My Situation Fits Better In A Term That Is Becoming More Widely Known: Complex Ptsd

PTSD is generally related to a single event, while complex PTSD is related to a series of events, or one prolonged event. CPTSD is something that can arise out of emotional abuse, narcissistic abuse, and even toxic relationships.

CPTSD is a part of my daily life.

I worry that not only have my daughters witnessed a man mistreat a woman but that my sons have had a poor example to follow of what it means to be a real man.

I stayed for the sake of my children. Now, I blame myself for the effects staying long-term may possibly have on them.

Why did I stay? I stayed because I was isolated I was financially dependent on him I was sleep deprived I was told and I believed I was worthless I was worn down from constantly being on guard for the next attack.

I stayed because I was more afraid to leave.

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When Youre Ready To Begin Recovery

Emotional abuse can lead to mental and physical symptoms that shouldnt be ignored. But what works for one person may not work for another. And not everyone is ready to begin recovery right away.

When youre ready to take the next step, you may find it helpful to start with any of the following tips.

Physical Impacts Of Emotional Abuse

Brain Areas That May Be Adversely Affected By Childhood Trauma

Emotional abuse is also damaging to a persons physical health. Emotional abuse causes someone to be in a frequent or near-constant state of stress, which can lead to health issues down the road. One study found that those who experienced trauma were at a higher risk for heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, high blood pressure and heart attacks.

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People Also Ask: When Are You Ready To Start Recovery

PTSD can only be diagnosed after a month of symptoms, which must be severe enough to interfere with daily functioning. Within the first few weeks after a traumatic situation, you may experience PTSD-like symptoms, such as extreme stress and even panic. Although this time can be very challenging, its considered a part of a normal adjustment period to have symptoms like these in the month after a traumatic event.

You can consult a doctor or psychologist for support during this period if youd like some help getting through it. However, its only possible to be diagnosed with PTSD after having symptoms for at least a month.

Once youre diagnosed, its a good idea to start exploring treatment options as soon as possible.

Treatment Methods And Coping Mechanisms For Complex Ptsd

Bessel van der Kolk, a psychiatrist and researcher best known for writing “The Body Keeps the Score,” notes in a paper that complex PTSD requires what he refers to as phase-oriented treatment.

He breaks this down into six phases, all of which could require different types of medications and therapies.

Phase six addresses coping mechanisms, however you can find all of the phases below:

  • Symptom management: Medication is key for most people with PTSD, so seeing a medical professional is important. Meditation/mindfulness can be more damaging for some people with PTSD, and grounding tools tend to be more helpful.
  • Create narratives: This involves patience, and is done with the help of a licensed therapist, where you’ll learn to identify and describe feelings and habits in daily life. Many times, trauma patients will associate negative experiences with negative feelings, which can cause them to overreact to basic inconveniences. Identifying their feelings can help them understand that just because they feel stressed, it doesn’t mean that they are about to experience a traumatic situation.
  • Recognize repetitive patterns: Once patients learn to identify their feelings, they can identify the actions that they set in motion.
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    Eye Movement Desensitization And Reprocessing

    EMDR is a highly effective therapeutic option recommended by many mental health specialists for treating individuals struggling with PTSD. During an EMDR session, a therapist asks you to reflect on and think about the traumatic experience.

    While the patient does this, the therapist simultaneously asks them to focus on a flickering light, a finger moving back and forth, or other outside stimuli. EMDR is a unique treatment because it helps patients develop new and more positive connections to a traumatic memory.

    Impact Of Emotional Abuse

    8 Ways Emotional Abuse Traumatizes You

    The impact of emotional abuse can last long after the abusive relationship has ended.

    People who have experienced emotional abuse often struggle with trust issues, self-esteem issues, anxiety, depression, and even posttraumatic stress disorder .

    The mistrust and fear abusers instill in their victims can damage the victims ability to maintain healthy relationships.

    The fear induced by emotional abuse can make it challenging for victims to seek help, leaving them feeling isolated and alone. Because of this fear, they may also stay in abusive relationships longer than they would if they werent emotionally abused. Keeping them in the cycle of the abuse getting worse and worse.

    If you believe that you are struggling with the effects of emotional abuse, it is critical to seek out help. There are plenty of resources out there to help you cope and heal.

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    Ptsd From Emotional Abuse

    PTSD can originate from various forms such as physical abuse, domestic violence, community violence, physical neglect, emotional abuse, elder abuse, and sexual abuse. PTSD is an emotional response to a psychological trauma. Emotional abuse causes PTSD when it is a pattern that creates fear and often is used to control. It centers around manipulation, isolation, is demeaning or threatening, intents to shame and humiliate.

    Warning Signs:

    Narcissism And Emotional Manipulation

    Unfortunately, emotional abuse seems to go hand-in-hand with narcissism, whether it is the person with Narcissistic Personality Disorder perpetrating the emotional abuse, or experiencing it. It has been suggested that NPD is a direct result of some form of abuse or suffering ongoing trauma. The condition is not known to exist from infancy, nor is it known to develop without the presence of some type of abuse in one’s past, whether that came from a parent, a caregiver, or a loved one. PTSD, emotional abuse, emotional trauma, anxiety, and depression are often intertwined, leading to a rather extensive diagnosis for individuals. Fortunately, understanding that all of these disorders can be linked and related helps mental health professionals create a specific, targeted treatment plan. Such a plan can ease the symptoms of all of the disorders and hopefully halt a cycle of abuse and mental distress.

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    Relationship Ptsd: The Effects Of An Emotionally Abusive Relationship

    • Any kind of abusewhether it be physical, emotional, mental, sexual, etc.can lead to PTSD, as abuse is a highly emotionally distressing experience.
    • The overactivation of stress hormones causes the victim of abuse to experience a fight, flight or freeze response, which makes it near impossible for the individual to focus on anything else.
    • In the following weeks, months, even years, the traumatic event one experienced can get caught in their short-term memory and make it feel like the event is currently happening.
    • This causes an influx of PTSD symptoms like hypervigilance, anxiety, flashbacks, nightmares, and trouble concentrating.
    • A major key to healing from the abuse and alleviating harmful symptoms of PTSD is working with a counselor.
    • An especially effective form of therapy for relationship PTSD sufferers is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing .

    An abusive relationship can absolutely lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder . To understand why this is, it is first important to understand what trauma does to the brain and how it can impact ones mental and physical wellbeing.

    Signs That You May Have Developed Ptsd From A Past Relationship

    Areas of Treatment

    When thinking of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder , many minds go straight to war veterans, disaster survivors, or physical abuse victims. These are all true examples, however, PTSD can manifest in any situation of traumawhether that be physical, emotional, or psychological. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 7.8 percent of people in the United States will suffer from PTSD at some point in their lifetime. Unfortunately, women are twice as likely to experience PTSD as men.

    PTSD is an extreme anxiety disorder that is often manifested through intrusion, avoidance, and hyperarousal. 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.

    Here are 5 symptoms of relationship PTSD:

    1. Flashbacks Arguably one of the most characterizing symptoms of all PTSD, those who have been in an unhealthy relationship can also suffer from flashbacks or nightmares. A specific smell may transport them back to an awful memory or they may avoid specific people, places, or things that remind them of the past. The flashbacks can also occur in nightmares. These episodes bring back all of the memories full-force and it may feel like the trauma has just happened, reopening healing wounds.

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    Create A Safe Peaceful Environment In Your Home

    You can make your home a safe, peaceful place by doing simple things. Burn candles or diffuse essential oils that calm your nerves. Lavender, chamomile, and peppermint are all known to be effective. Dim the lights, put on some soft music, set up a meditation corner, do anything you can to make your home your sanctuary. Do whatever it takes so you can become confident in your environment.

    Healing from the trauma of emotional abuse is not a linear process. You might have moments, or years, that will feel like progress, and then something triggering can happen like the death of a loved one that can bring these PTSD symptoms back in some capacity. Learning your trauma triggers, as well as what works for you to support yourself when youre feeling triggered, can be supportive in your healing. You deserve help and healing.

    A doctor may diagnose PTSD if you experience excessive levels of fear or stress for at least six months and your symptoms affect your daily living. Post-traumatic stress disorder treatment is typically most successful when treated with a combination of talk therapy and prescription medications, including antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, benzodiazepines, or beta-blockers.

    Reviewed On: May 11, 2022

    When To Get Professional Help

    Finding the right therapist after emotional abuse can be extremely helpful. If you or a loved one are experiencing severe symptoms of PTSD or other mental health conditions, consulting with a therapist to determine if treatment would be helpful is a good idea. Locating a professional who is experienced and well-versed with the effects of emotional abuse, including the mental and physical warning signs, is important. It may take a long time to feel like you have processed the abuse, and there is never a wrong time to start or get back into therapy again.

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    What Specific Issues Might Relationship Ptsd Cause

    In general, people with PTSD have intense disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their experience that last long after the traumatic event has ended. Those with PTSD may avoid situations or people that remind them of the traumatic event, and they may have strong negative reactions to something as ordinary as a loud noise or an accidental touch.

    The National Domestic Violence Hotline noted that experiencing abuse from a relationship can leave a person feeling:

    • Overwhelmed or anxious
    • Teary without reason
    • Wary or uncomfortable

    Beyond reliving the abuse in their minds, they may also fixate on certain words or thoughts and blame themselves for what happened. Often, individuals suffering with PTSD have interpersonal issues with the people close to them. A September 2018 Clinical Psychology Reviewstudy found that individuals who have PTSD and their partners both may lack emotional and physical intimacy.

    What’s more, those who end up experiencing PTSD might also be diagnosed with other psychological disorders. Depression is a common co-occurring diagnosis in people with PTSD. According to an article published by the Department of Veterans Affairs , people who have or have had a PTSD diagnosis are three to five times more likely to have a depressive disorder. Additionally, researchers of a July 2020 Psychiatric Quarterly study in the United Kingdom also found that those with PTSD presented with different types of anxiety disorders, psychosis, and substance use disorders.

    Negative Alterations In Cognition And Mood Symptoms

    Trauma Causes Emotional Dysregulation: Here’s How to Heal It

    This category of symptoms is varied but mainly involves mood and emotions. It can include dissociation to the point of memory loss.

    Ongoing negativity is typical, involving a pessimistic worldview and a negative emotional state. People can also experience a feeling of numbness, detachment, and possible inability to feel happiness, excitement, and other positive emotions.

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    What Is A Traumatic Event

    Traumatic events may include a natural disaster, serious accident, terrorist act, war or combat, rape, or being threatened with death, sexual violence, or serious injury. The traumatic experience could also be secondhand, such as learning about the death of a close family member or result from repeated exposure to horrible details of the trauma, such as a social worker’s exposure to child abuse cases.

    How Is Ptsd From Emotional Abuse Detected

    PTSD can be diagnosed by a doctor with expertise in mental disorders, like a psychologist or psychiatrist. After speaking with the person who is experiencing PTSD symptoms, the doctor will make the diagnosis.An individual must exhibit all of the below symptoms for at least one month to be identified with PTSD:At least one symptom that has resurfacedThree or more avoidance symptomsTwo or more hyper-arousal symptomsSymptoms make it difficult to attend work or school, spend time with friends, or complete crucial duties.

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    Possible Treatment For Ptsd

    There are a few treatments available for PTSD. PTSD from abuse often requires more extensive treatment, as you are not working to recover from a single event, but for a longer period. Each trauma you have endured must be processed and healed. Recovery may not only require an extensive period of therapy but can require you to create strong, firm boundaries regarding your relationships with family, as a family is often the source of physical or emotional abuse. Many people close to you will be unable to see the abuse and may not understand your perspective. Compounding trauma is not impossible to recover from, but does demand a lot of introspection, rewiring, and healing. For this reason, if it is possible, clients are encouraged to remove themselves from the source of the abuse during treatment, to make sure harmful thought patterns and experiences do not hinder the healing process. Counseling is one of the most common treatments for PTSD, and a variety of support group or talk therapy sessions is likely the first course of action.

    How Does Ptsd Develop From Emotional Abuse

    601 best Complex PTSD: Post

    PTSD doesnt always develop because of emotional abuse, but it definitely can be a result. Emotional trauma is a common outcome when someone has been manipulated, abused, or gaslighted. This form of abuse may involve verbal insults, exertion of physical or mental control, or causing fear to the point where you socially isolate yourself.

    There are several risk factors that mean youre more likely to develop PTSD after experiencing emotional abuse. For example, you might develop symptoms of PTSD from emotional abuse if you:

    • Already live with mental illness
    • Engage in substance abuse
    • Dont have an effective support system
    • Have a history of trauma, particularly during childhood

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