A traumatic experience is an event that causes severe physical, mental, emotional distress or injury to someone. It may be a one-time occurrence or recurring incidents. In military settings, soldiers are often exposed to life-threatening situations which can cause them significant stress and fear. These experiences can have lasting impacts on their mental health, behavior, and relationships. When individuals engage in future relationships after such encounters, they tend to look for partners who provide safety and security.
This search for protection could negatively affect their decision making process leading to unhealthy relationships. This article explores how prior traumatic experiences influence later relationship choices in military contexts.
How do prior traumatic experiences influence later relationship choices?
Trauma can change people's perceptions and behaviors. After experiencing a traumatic event, individuals may develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, depression, nightmares, flashbacks, and other psychological issues. They become more cautious, vigilant, and anxious about their surroundings as they try to avoid anything that reminds them of the trauma. Such symptoms lead to hypervigilance, paranoia, withdrawal from social activities, and difficulty trusting others. These changes affect how individuals interact with their romantic partners.
They may become overly possessive, jealous, controlling, suspicious, or hostile towards their lovers due to past negative experiences. They may also seek out dominating partners who will protect them against potential threats or abuse. The resulting power imbalances in these relationships make it challenging to build mutual respect, communication, intimacy, trust, and sexual satisfaction.
Trauma survivors may find it hard to establish emotional connections with their partners since they have difficulties expressing their feelings openly and honestly. They may feel like they cannot rely on anyone else except themselves, making them less likely to share their thoughts, worries, hopes, dreams, and fears. This lack of communication leads to resentment, frustration, and misunderstandings between partners, further weakening the relationship bond.
Some soldiers may use drugs or alcohol to cope with their painful memories. Their substance abuse may cause them to behave aggressively or violently towards their loved ones, leading to domestic violence and abuse.
How can military personnel manage traumatic experiences?
Seeking professional help is crucial for managing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other related mental health issues that arise after trauma. Therapy sessions provide a safe space where victims can process their feelings, learn coping strategies, and develop better ways of dealing with stressful situations. Family support groups are also helpful as they provide guidance and encouragement during difficult times. Secondly, engaging in physical activities such as exercise, sports, yoga, meditation, and mindfulness practices helps alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression by releasing endorphins into the body. Thirdly, developing healthy habits such as eating well, sleeping enough, and avoiding triggers of flashbacks can improve overall mental wellbeing.
Building social connections with friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, and acquaintances can reduce isolation and loneliness which often accompany trauma victims.
Prior traumatic experiences influence later relationship choices in various ways. Survivors become more cautious, fearful, controlling, suspicious, possessive, jealous, violent, domineering, uncommunicative, and secretive about their past. These behaviors negatively affect intimacy, trust, communication, respect, sexual satisfaction, and emotional connection between partners. To mitigate these effects, survivors should seek professional help, engage in physical activities, adopt healthy habits, and build social networks. Doing so will enhance their overall quality of life and improve their future relationships.
How do prior traumatic experiences influence later relationship choices in military contexts?
In recent years, researchers have increasingly focused on how past trauma may affect soldiers' romantic relationships during their deployment. Several studies suggest that individuals with a history of trauma are more likely to experience difficulties establishing and maintaining healthy interpersonal connections, including marriages and friendships (Kim et al. , 2017).