Divorce is undoubtedly one of the most difficult life-changing events that any person can go through. The journey of divorce has many ups and many downs that makes navigating it particularly grueling. Most people going through divorce feel overwhelmed and struggle to make sense of something that they thought was unthinkable. Divorce can feel surreal and the emotional turmoil that it leaves on a person can be devastating.

Divorce can impact us negatively in both emotional and physical ways, with a lack of sleep and motivation, headaches, increased blood pressure and a lack of appetite being common physical symptoms. Emotionally, it’s an absolute rollercoaster and can leave people feeling depressed and anxious.

In fact, divorce can lead to people developing symptoms of PTSD and most of the time, this goes undiagnosed and untreated. Why is this? Why do many people believe that divorce trauma cannot possibly bring on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

For decades, PTSD has only been associated with ‘Big T’ trauma experiences that are life-threatening or cause serious injury. PTSD was mainly thought to only be caused by things like rape, war, extreme physical harm from experiences like car accidents, and other such traumatic happenings.

This view on the experiences that were behind PTSD means that most people going through a divorce put their feelings down as natural for what they were going through. As a result, many simply internalize their emotions and don’t get the professional help that they really need.

Luckily, there has been a recent shift in the way that we view PTSD and the experiences that can cause it. Things like a loss of a loved one and divorce are finally getting the recognition that they deserve when it comes to developing the symptoms of PTSD.