Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The Genesis of Post Traumatic STRESS Disorder (PTSD)
FAMILY BETRAYAL
Recent studies show that childhood abuse (particularly sexual abuse) is a strong predictor of the lifetime likelihood of developing PTSD. One study showed that an average adult female is 6 times more sensitive to stress if sexually molested as a child.*
Some of us have very long-term relationships to emotional pain. We may have unresolved “loss-of-trust” experiences from childhood that keep us in an almost perpetual state of acceptance of pain as a permanent condition.
Many of us keep dragging the unfinished relationships of our past into all of our new relationships, then act surprised when they always end the same. We may be ill-equipped to deal with the feelings caused by the end of each new relationship. We may be unaware that almost all of our past relationships are incomplete or unresolved.
“Traumatized children are often wrongly treated for attention deficit disorder/hyperactivity.”Dr. Victor Carrion, Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science,Stanford University
If your intellect held the key to successful recovery, then you would be able to think yourself well. You would be able to rationalize and ‘understand’ your poor choices, and this make healthier choices. You are well aware that freeing yourself from the effects of your childhood trauma is just not that simple.
Unresolved grief from family betrayal is cumulative and negative.
True change comes from giving yourself permission to grieve the betrayal you endured by those who were to protect you. In your grief process understanding how your childhood fears transferred into your adult choices may help you understand and complete relationships that have ended or changed.
This may sound simple, and it is simple. Why then do so many people resist taking such simple and clearly-defined actions to bring about recovery?
The more familiar you become with your pain, the more likely that familiarity will create the powerful illusion that change is not necessary and that growth is not possible. You may even have convinced yourself that being truly happy is the “impossible dream.”
Access to your own happiness is directly linked to your ability to grieve and complete your own relationships with people and events.This process asks true courage of you, and is best done with a therapist trained in issues of childhood trauma, grief, and betrayal.
* References:
http://www.ptsdtraumatreatment.org/trauma-effects/effects-on-children/kids-ptsd-vs-add/
http://www.center4familydevelop.com/Complex_Post_Traumatic_Stress_Disorder[1].pdf
http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/916007-overview
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/pro/21/5/325/
