Posttraumatic relationship experiences in women in South India

Abstract

Marriage is a socially binding intimate relationship between two individuals which is expected to be stable and enduring. In many cases, there can be severe difficulties questioning the quality of one’s married life such as IPV or other kinds of abuse or exploitation which could lead to a divorce. Although divorce legally dissolves the relationship, studies suggest that the stress caused by a traumatic relationship may not end after terminating the relationship. The resemblance of these symptoms to PTSD led to the proposed diagnosis of PTRS. In this study, seven participants who have been divorced due to domestic violence for at least a year were identified and interviewed regarding their past and present life situations. The emergent themes in the data pointed to several factors that may influence one’s married life, the decision of divorce and current life situations which can affect the amount of stress an individual might face concerning their past traumatic relationship. The factors influencing stress experienced during a traumatic marriage included involvement and support from ones’ family and in-laws, nature, and cause of abuse, stress-related to children, social support and the very decision to get a divorce. The process of overcoming fear, mistrust, and grief, social and family support, child custody, and related legal processes were factors that affected stress related to the process of divorce. The grief related to child custody, ability to rationalize the decision, career, remarriage and children’s future were some factors that influenced the stress these individuals experienced currently in their life.

Keywords

• traumatic relationship
• divorce
• stress
• ptrs
• family