can guilt cause ptsd?

Content/Trigger Warning: Please be advised that the article below might mention trauma-related topics such as abuse that could potentially trigger.

Over the last few years, mental health professionals have focused on how trauma presents itself in clinical settings.  Among the traumas that had been further explored, emotional abuse is one of them.  One of how emotional abuse occurs is “projecting” guilt onto somebody within a relationship.  However, just because guilt exists within a relationship, it does not necessarily mean that a person is going to develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Oftentimes, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and trauma are used interchangeably as the same thing.  If one considers whether or not they have developed Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as a result of guilt or some other form of emotional abuse, then it is important to know the symptoms that are considered when determining if a person is experiencing the clinical defection of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.  As defined in the DSM V (the diagnostic manual that therapists and other mental health providers used to diagnose clients), Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is determined by the following features:

• Someone has been exposed to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.
• Exposure to this event is by directly experiencing the traumatic event, witnessing it, learning about it from a close family member or friend, or being exposed to repeated adverse details of the traumatic event.
• The person will experience intrusive or involuntary symptoms associated with this traumatic event such as recurrent memories that cannot be controlled, nightmares that cannot be controlled, flashbacks or other situations where the individual feels as though the events are occurring again, and feeling “triggered” or overwhelmingly distressed by reminders of the traumatic event (American Psychological Associations, 2013).

This definition is very limited in what it can explain when it comes to traumas that exist in the realm of emotional abuse or other toxic relationship dynamics (including those where the use of guilt as a form of manipulation exists).  That being said, someone who has been in an abusive relationship (romantic, platonic, or family) can still experience trauma as a result of emotional manipulation tactics, including the use of guilt to promote wanted/desired behaviors or decreased unwanted/undesired behaviors.