Trauma’s Impact on Your Relationship

Trauma can affect every aspect of a survivor’s life. Whether it’s complex trauma from childhood or something that happens in adulthood, it can make emotional regulation difficult.

This can impact how a person is in relationships. It can also have a lasting effect on how well they feel about themselves and the world.

1. It Makes You Less Trusting

Trauma can impact a person’s ability to trust and be open. This can be especially true if the trauma happened in childhood. People who experience complex trauma, like sexual or physical abuse, narcissistic abusive relationships, chronic illness, poverty, and long-lasting emotional dysregulation, can have trouble in several areas including building close relationships with loved ones.

For example, a trauma survivor may have difficulty trusting others with their feelings and can easily become triggered by things that don’t make sense in the context of their trauma history. For instance, a trauma survivor who experienced prolonged childhood neglect can react to their partner going out of town for work as if they are abandoning them.

You ought to get guidance from a dependable friend, relative, or counselor as well. They can help you understand the precise symptoms you are having and can also properly steer you. Fildena Professional and Fildena 150 addresses trauma-related problems and improves mental health.

It is important to get help from a mental health professional who can provide trauma-informed care, such as psychotherapy or eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). With the right support, it is possible to build healthy, trusting relationships. It’s just a matter of knowing the signs to look out for and seeking out the help that you need. It’s worth it!

2. It Makes You Less Open

Trauma can make it hard to connect authentically with a partner. The experience of trauma alters your view of the world and yourself on so many levels — changing thoughts, emotions, and the nervous system. It can also impact your ability to feel hope or trust in life, as well as your capacity for intimacy and a sense of purpose and meaning.

Survivors often believe deep down that they can’t be trusted, that relationships are dangerous and that real love is impossible for them. As a result, they may come across as angry or defensive. They might struggle to express their emotions and act out in ways that are difficult for others to understand.

It’s also common for survivors to avoid certain people or situations as a way to protect themselves. However, this only leads to a cycle of avoidance that can worsen symptoms and lead to the development of PTSD. Avoidance behaviors can also make it harder for survivors to find support in a relationship, which can prolong healing. The good news is that, with the right treatment plan and support, it’s possible to break out of this rut and reclaim your relationships.

3. It Makes You Less Communicative

Trauma can make it hard to communicate with your partner. Especially with large ‘T’ traumas (like terrorist attacks, natural disasters, or sexual assault) and strain traumas (which are more subtle but long-lasting stresses like racism), it can feel difficult to explain why you’re acting differently in certain circumstances without sounding defensive or overreacting.

A lot of the time, people experience trauma and don’t realize that their nervous system is responding to a past event. This can cause them to blame others for behavior that’s a response to past trauma.

When someone experiences trauma, they often develop a tendency to avoid situations and circumstances that remind them of their traumatic experience. This can leave them feeling isolated and makes it harder for them to get the social and emotional support they need. In addition, trauma can cause them to react emotionally and physically in unpredictable ways. This can be difficult for their partners to understand and can lead to misunderstandings or even fights. This can damage their relationship. It can also impact the way they interact with their partner in intimate moments, such as sex.

4. It Makes You Less Secure

Trauma can make people feel disconnected and distant from their loved ones. They may avoid being close physically, or they might have extreme emotional reactions to sexual intimacy. They may even believe deep down that they can’t trust or let anyone in.

Traumatic experiences can also alter the way a person views their environment and themselves, leading them to believe that they can’t control or predict what’s around them (learned helplessness). They might think the world is unsafe and that others are dangerous. Or they might believe that they are damaged and unlovable.

Regardless of whether the trauma is emotional, physical, or sexual, it can leave long-lasting effects on a person’s nervous system. These are not only visible in how the survivor relates to other people, but they can also impact the person’s ability to regulate their emotions and maintain relationships with others. This can lead to feelings of isolation, resentment, and anger. And if left untreated, it can lead to substance abuse or self-harm. For this reason, it’s important to talk about trauma and PTSD with your partner.

5. It Makes You Less Available

When trauma affects your emotions and physiology, you may feel more insecure about relationships. You might be fearful of being rejected or abandoned, so you limit your time with other people and don’t share intimate experiences. In addition, you might have difficulty responding to bids for conversation or resolving conflicts.

Whether your trauma is related to the event itself or unresolved events like abuse in childhood, chronic stress from unemployment, or living with racial microaggressions, it can impact how available you are in a relationship. You may overreact to relationship ups and downs with primitive, emergency responses that leave you flooded with anxiety.

You may also turn to impulsive self-soothing behaviors like drinking or drug use, gaming, shopping, or even unhealthy work patterns to manage your feelings. These behaviors leave you less available for your partner and can create feelings of resentment over time. The key to overcoming trauma is finding a therapist who can teach you healthy coping mechanisms and mindfulness practices. It’s also important to understand vicarious traumatization—or what happens when the experiences of one person are absorbed by another.