Understand CPTSD Symptoms and their Impact on Love Life
Experiencing traumatic events alters the way you view the world, and that includes your most intimate relationships. If you or a loved one struggles with complex PTSD and romantic relationships, you aren’t alone. Complex PTSD triggers can make navigating the waters of your love life more challenging, even when things are going well.
When you have complex PTSD, you might struggle by repeating traumatic events in new relationships, withdrawing from partners, and practicing avoidance behaviors when it comes to intimacy. Triggers like betrayal, isolation, and intense emotions can compound these issues. Trauma-focused therapy from a qualified mental health provider may be needed to move past it.
Icarus Behavioral Health has a deep understanding of complex post-traumatic stress disorder and offers the therapies you need to implement healthier coping mechanisms. Keep reading to learn more about how your experiences impact romantic relationships, and how our programs offer proven support for CPTSD recovery.
Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and Interpersonal Relationships
Complex PTSD symptoms cause people who struggle to repeat some of the same mistakes in their interpersonal relationships over and over. When emotional dysregulation occurs, it is often relationships that suffer. Make sure that you don’t repeat any of these patterns as a result of your mental disorders.
Repeated Trauma in New Relationships
One of the most challenging patterns for people with complex PTSD is not repeating the patterns of the past. Oftentimes, it feels comfortable to be in a relationship similar to the ones you were in when all of your traumatic events took place. You may pick partners who are similar to an abuser.
Some research indicates that people act this way to prove mastery over a difficult situation. The study goes on to say that you may reenact these traumatic relationships as a way to change the other person and thus feel better about yourself.
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Withdrawal from Relationships and Self-Isolation
However, it’s important to think about the impact of PTSD triggers in relationships. While some people will have challenges maintaining existing relationships, others avoid closeness and intimacy at all costs. The world has proven to be an unhospitable place.
They can’t imagine the possibility of allowing a new person close to them.
Many people with complex trauma feel isolated without realizing that their lackluster love life is of their own design. You may feel like a partner can’t be trusted or experience triggers that lead you to feel a pervasive lack of safety. As a result, you withdraw from what could be a meaningful relationship.
Complex PTSD and Romantic Relationships: Avoiding Emotional Intimacy
If you do manage to hold onto intimate relationships, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re in the clear. You may find yourself struggling to maintain emotional intimacy because you feel unsafe when it comes to being close to someone. A history of trauma predicts that your new bonds will be the same as past experiences.
Unfortunately, a pervasive sense of loneliness plays into your Complex PTSD while also ensuring that your romantic relationships are hindered.
4 Complex PTSD Triggers that Impact Intimate Relationships
Mental health professionals can often see the patterns playing out as a result of your common complex PTSD triggers. Noting what impacts your view of the world and when you might be at risk for sabotage in your relationships is key to starting a healthy relationship.
1) Betrayals Prove that Relationships Are Risky
One of the most common complex PTSD triggers in relationships is the feeling of betrayal. Inevitably, you will eventually hit a snag in a relationship where someone makes you feel as though your feelings and experiences don’t matter. They might betray your trust, lie to you, or cheat on you.
All of this serves to reinforce that relationships are risky. It makes you feel more justified in putting the relationship on the back burner and can make you less likely to pursue romantic relationships moving forward.
2) Reminders of Traumatic Memories Cause Reactions
There are two ways you might handle experiences that remind you of past trauma: shutting down or lashing out. Both are common with complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Sleep disturbances and night terrors from CPTSD can also be triggering. To move past these early reactions to triggers and reminders of past abuse, you may need the help of a qualified mental health practitioner.
Keep in mind that it’s common to dissociate or distance yourself from these reminders. That can lead to more isolation which triggers emotional trauma and distress.
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3) Isolation Compounds Problems in Relationships
Oftentimes, people who meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) definition of post-traumatic stress disorder feel like they’re completely alone in the world. Nobody understands them and they have a real difficulty when it comes to connecting with partners romantically.
The problem is that this distance may not make them feel as safe as they imagine it will. It compounds the feeling of being misunderstood and hinders the healing process. This is why it can be beneficial to bring in a mental health professional to navigate therapy with a committed partner.
4) Difficulty Controlling Emotions Leads to Arguments
One of the complex PTSD symptoms to be on the lookout for is difficulty controlling your emotions. Until you can develop healthier coping mechanisms, you might have strong reactions to any perceived slight in the day-to-day of your relationships. As a result, you might lash out at your partner and act upset or angry.
These intense emotional reactions can give your partner whiplash because they never know what will set you off or how you will respond to a given situation. It leads to more arguments which make you feel unsafe — and the cycle starts all over again.
Our Treatment Options for Complex PTSD Triggers in Relationships
Complex trauma treatment typically requires professional treatment from an experienced clinician who can help you implement new coping strategies and think differently about your traumatic events or prolonged trauma. However, there aren’t any one-size-fits-all solutions that are guaranteed to help you manage emotional regulation.
Trauma-Focused Psychotherapy as a First Step
For many people, the very first step is to enroll in talk therapy with a therapist who understands your experiences. Whether you are dealing with childhood abuse, domestic violence, or something else, it helps to have a safe space where you can talk about it and process emotional distress.
Trauma-focused therapy is proven to be successful with post-traumatic stress disorder and is also proving to be a gold standard of treatment for complex PTSD symptoms in people of all ages. This is usually a short-term intervention that helps you process a traumatic event.
It focuses heavily on cognitive behavioral therapy principles that interrupt the triad of your thoughts, feelings, and actions that keep you stuck.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Therapy for Intense Memories
If you find it extremely difficult to talk about the traumatic event that you lived through, then EMDR therapy may be the better fit. This is also a short-term therapy aimed at helping you reprocess the memories to minimize flashbacks and dissociative episodes.
When it comes to the efficacy of EMDR therapy for mental health disorders, it’s important to note that early research demonstrates that it’s more effective than fluoxetine for relieving symptoms. This style also alleviates depression associated with complex trauma.
Group Therapy and DBT Skills
Inevitably, you will find that there are PTSD triggers in relationships that you simply can’t avoid. It’s part of the nature of being close to someone when you have interpersonal trauma. The good news is that you can learn to manage your mental health conditions so that you don’t respond explosively and aren’t tempted to withdraw.
Dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) skills like mindfulness and emotional regulation are often taught in a group therapy setting where you can learn from one another. You may engage in this therapy as part of an inpatient or outpatient treatment setting, depending on what level of care you need following a series of traumatic experiences.
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Get Effective Help for Complex Trauma at Icarus Today
When you’re ready to deal with C-PTSD for both you and your romantic partner, it’s time to seek help from a team that understands. Icarus Behavioral Health specializes in trauma-related disorders. Our experienced clinical team offers the gold standard of treatment for anyone who is struggling to move past trauma and to have healthy relationships.
Our enrollment team is here to answer your questions about inpatient and outpatient treatment options for complex trauma. We can verify your insurance benefits for trauma treatment in a quick phone call and help you get into the treatment program you need to heal. Reach out to us today to learn more!
References
- Levy M. S. (1998). A helpful way to conceptualize and understand reenactments. The Journal of psychotherapy practice and research, 7(3), 227–235.
- Dagan, Y., & Yager, J. (2019). Addressing Loneliness in Complex PTSD. The Journal of nervous and mental disease, 207(6), 433–439.
- Mijaljica, G., Bäärnhielm, S., Theunis, E., Dyster-Aas, J., K Arnberg, F., & Ramel, B. (2024). Utredning, handläggning och behandling av PTSD och CPTSD [PTSD and Complex PTSD – Assessment, management and treatment]. Lakartidningen, 121, 23091.
- Shapiro F. (2014). The role of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in medicine: addressing the psychological and physical symptoms stemming from adverse life experiences. The Permanente journal, 18(1), 71–77.
- Oppenauer, C., Sprung, M., Gradl, S., & Burghardt, J. (2023). Dialectical behaviour therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (DBT-PTSD): transportability to everyday clinical care in a residential mental health centre. European journal of psychotraumatology, 14(1), 2157159.
