How can a parent's complex-PTSD affect children, teengagers and adult children?
Parents want the best for their children and do not want to harm them. So, the information below should be a reason for parents to seek help, not to feel guilty. Please seek support for yourself and family members.
Parenting
When a parent has complex-PTSD, parenting can become more challenging. Although they want to parent well (or like they used to), this becomes more difficult. They might experience symptoms which make home life very challenging:
- flashbacks
- chronic emotional distress
- feeling stuck in the past
- replaying negative experiences
- low confidence
- deep sadness
- rage
- extreme tiredness
- difficulty sleeping
- challenges trusting others
- fear for themselves and their loved ones
- hypervigilance
- dissociation.
Our free, research-based storybook explores many of these challenges and provides a springboard to important conversations between children experiencing a parent with C-PTSD and a caring adult (such as a parent, support worker, or clinician).
Secondary transference
Other family members can develop PTSD symptoms, because it can be potentially passed on (May et al., 2023). The Australian Government (Health Direct) provides the following information. Children and teenagers with PTSD may have similar symptoms to adults, but there can be some differences.
After experiencing trauma, children might:
a) lose skills they had previously mastered, such as speaking;
b) develop bedwetting after previously being dry at night;
c) become scared of the dark or of going to sleep; become unusually
clingy with parents or carers;
d) act out the event during play;
e) have distressing dreams or trouble sleeping; and/or
f) have extreme temper tantrums
Adolescents with PTSD may experience similar symptoms to adults, but they may also be more likely to:
i) increase risk-taking behaviour;
ii) engage in self-harm; and/or
iii) use alcohol or other substances to help them to cope.