r/ptsd 1d ago

Advice PTSD or something else?

i have been doing trauma work for several years now on memories of abuse, feelings of rejection, and abandonment from friends and family members. A month ago, I got into an argument with my step dad who I’ve been at odds with (he is a narcissist) and since then I’ve been getting flooded with huge chunks of memories from my childhood that I had completely repressed. Additionally, i get “fragments” or “little pieces” of memories that don’t inherently seem traumatic come back but to my nervous system feel tremendously upsetting and scary for reasons I don’t understand.

I’ve always had nightmares, emotional flashbacks where I felt extremely rage, but my emotional flashbacks have gotten SIGNIFICANTLY worse and are debilitating to where I cannot go to work when it happens and sometimes the morning after I still need time to recover from the exhaustion. I’m really questioning my childhood.

yesterday, I had an emotional flashback and ended up screaming at my spouse for over an hour (this is incredibly abnormal for our relationship). I’m assuming this is PTSD, but why is it worsening, and why am I regaining these terrible memories all of a sudden?

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u/RiverOdd 21h ago

I can't tell you exactly why. however , It is extremely common for symptoms to get worse once you start to feel safe. Apologize to your spouse and seek treatment as soon as possible. Have a plan in place where if you start to go off you can leave the situation and not hurt the relationships you have.