Is avoidance a hallmark of trauma?
Yesenia Osinski
2025-07-24 14:58:59
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Avoidance is a common reaction to trauma.
It feels natural to want to avoid thinking about or feeling emotions related to a traumatic event.
Avoidance is one of the main symptoms of PTSD and C-PTSD.
It often maintains the other symptoms of PTSD.
Over time avoidance generalises as a way cope.
Your life can become shutdown due to avoidance.
It can stop people attending trauma focussed therapy to get better.
It can stop people forming relationships.
It can stop them from working, from getting a job.
Avoidance makes PTSD symptoms worse.
Ernestina Bernier
2025-07-15 13:41:26
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It is common to want to avoid things that remind you of a traumatic event. But avoiding thoughts and feelings can make it hard to recover. Emotional avoidance is when a person avoids thoughts or feelings about a traumatic event. Avoiding reminders—like places, people, sounds or smells—of a trauma is called behavioral avoidance. If you go out of your way to avoid thoughts, feelings, and reminders related to a traumatic event, your symptoms may get worse. Using avoidance as your main way of coping with traumatic memories can make PTSD symptoms worse and make it harder to move on with your life.
Rick Gutkowski
2025-07-15 08:39:43
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Avoidance is one of the most common symptoms of PTSD. Avoidance is one of the many defense mechanisms we have as humans to help us avoid danger and threats. Avoidance can seem like a helpful behavior to people living with PTSD because it allows them to avoid uncomfortable or distressing emotions or sensations. We don’t like the way these distressing symptoms feel, so we naturally find ourselves trying to avoid them. Ultimately, the more you avoid your anxiety and the things that make you anxious, the worse your anxiety and avoidance become. Avoidance can relieve uncomfortable and distressing symptoms in the short term, but this relief comes at a cost. Avoidance is one of the most common features of PTSD. It can significantly affect your quality of life with the condition. Although avoiding your triggers can seem like it’s keeping you safe, it’s likely worsening your anxiety and PTSD symptoms.
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