There is growing recognition that the experiences of military service can have lasting impacts on veterans' mental health and wellbeing. One area of particular concern is the effect of combat-related trauma on romantic and sexual relationships. Prolonged exposure to life-threatening situations has been associated with increased risks for psychological distress, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicide. These conditions are also known to affect intimate relationships through their influence on cognitive processes, emotional regulation, interpersonal functioning, and self-esteem. The current research review examines how prolonged exposure to life-threatening scenarios may contribute to veterans' perceptions of sexual risk and safety within intimate relationships. We explore this topic using empirical studies from clinical, qualitative, and social psychology perspectives.
Prolonged Exposure to Life-Threatening Scenarios
Prolonged exposure to life-threatening scenarios in combat or other high-stress environments involves repeated confrontations with danger, violence, death, and physical harm. This type of experience can result in a range of negative outcomes, including PTSD, depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and suicidality. As such, it is critical to understand how these factors shape veterans' attitudes and behaviors towards sex and intimacy. Research suggests that prolonged exposure to life-threatening situations can lead to alterations in cognition, emotion regulation, interpersonal functioning, and self-perception, which may impact veterans' sexual risk and safety beliefs.
Military service members who have experienced combat or other life-threatening events may perceive themselves as less capable of managing risks associated with intimacy and may be more likely to engage in unhealthy relationship patterns (such as avoidance or overinvestment) to cope with the trauma they have experienced.
Cognitive Processes
Cognitive processes refer to the way people think about and interpret information. The research suggests that prolonged exposure to life-threatening situations can alter cognitive processes related to sexual risk and safety, particularly in terms of threat detection and appraisal. In combat settings, soldiers are constantly on alert for potential dangers that could threaten their lives, leading them to develop a heightened sensitivity to threats both inside and outside of the battlefield. These experiences can make it difficult for veterans to differentiate between real and imagined threats, resulting in hypervigilance and increased anxiety even when there is no immediate danger present. This can translate into a heightened sense of vulnerability around sexuality and intimacy, where veterans may feel a need to control all aspects of the situation to ensure their safety.
The experience of combat or other high-stress environments may lead to changes in memory functioning, making it harder for veterans to recall positive sexual experiences or to trust others due to negative memories or associations with betrayal.
Emotion Regulation
Emotional regulation refers to how individuals manage and express emotions. Prolonged exposure to life-threatening scenarios has been linked to decreased emotion regulation, which can manifest in several ways in the context of sex and intimacy.
Military service members who have experienced combat or other high-stress events may be more prone to experiencing intense emotions such as fear, anger, or sadness, which can interfere with their ability to engage in healthy sexual relationships. They may also have difficulty modulating these feelings, resulting in outbursts of violence or aggression towards their partner during intimate encounters.
Prolonged exposure to life-threatening situations may result in numbing or dissociation, where individuals lose touch with their own emotions and become desensitized to the needs and desires of their partners. These factors can contribute to difficulties in establishing and maintaining satisfying romantic relationships.
Interpersonal Functioning
Interpersonal functioning refers to the way people interact with others. Veterans' experiences in combat or other high-stress settings may impact their ability to communicate effectively and form close relationships with others. This is because they may struggle with social skills related to empathy, assertiveness, and conflict resolution, all of which are important aspects of healthy intimate interactions. In addition, prolonged exposure to life-threatening scenarios may lead to trust issues, making it difficult for veterans to feel safe enough to share vulnerable thoughts and feelings with their partners. These challenges can lead to difficulties in building and sustaining intimate connections that are based on mutual respect, understanding, and support.
Self-Perception
Self-perception refers to how people view themselves. Prolonged exposure to life-threatening events can negatively affect a person's sense of identity and self-worth, leading them to experience low self-esteem and feelings of shame or guilt. These negative beliefs about oneself can translate into a lack of confidence in sexual interactions, difficulty communicating sexual desires, and avoidance of intimacy altogether.
Some veterans may believe that they are unworthy of love or sex, leading them to engage in risky behaviors (such as infidelity) or withdraw from relationships entirely. Others may have difficulty trusting their own judgment around sexual safety, leading them to take unnecessary risks or ignore warning signs that could indicate danger.
How does prolonged exposure to life-threatening scenarios affect veterans' perception of sexual risk and safety within intimate relationships?
Research shows that prolonged exposure to traumatic events such as war can lead to changes in an individual's perception of sexual risk and safety within intimate relationships. Veterans who have been exposed to trauma may experience increased feelings of hypervigilance, which can manifest as difficulty trusting others and feeling unsafe in close relationships (e. g. , PTSD symptoms).