• 💖 [Donate To Keep MyPTSD Online] 💖 Every contribution, no matter how small, fuels our mission and helps us continue to provide peer-to-peer services. Your generosity keeps us independent and available freely to the world. MyPTSD closes if we can't reach our annual goal.

paranoid when angry

Status
Not open for further replies.

stranger2myself!

Policy Enforcement
lately theres been a few different times when i was very angry and worked up about something and i start to think that certain people are trying to upset me, but than later on after ive calmed down, i realize that they werent doing anything on purpose to try to upset me. why does this happen? anyone else have this? how to help?
 
Ahhhh.... Dysreg, my old friend :wtf:

Why does emotional Dysregulation happen? You have PTSD?
(I know. The sheer number of times I facepalm with this one... Dammit. Right. That.)

Both of the following from Ptsd diagnosis
Summation
Criterion E

Criterion E is quite behavioral, such as suddenly yelling at people, getting into fights, reckless or self-destructive behavior (dangerous driving or a sudden urge for extreme sports) excessive drug or alcohol use, self-injurious and suicidal behavior. Criterion E also covers threat potential, such as thinking you will have a heart attack at any time, will die or other accident waiting to happen. You may be jumpy, hyper-aware of your surroundings, suspicious of others and have a difficult concentrating, remembering simple things or even doing multiple things at once like you once could. This all often leads into sleep problems, sleeping a couple of hours nightly or changing your sleep patterns completely.
Actual symptom set
E. Marked alterations in arousal and reactivity associated with the traumatic event(s), beginning or worsening after the traumatic event(s) occurred, as evidenced by two (or more) of the following:
  1. Irritable behavior and angry outbursts (with little or no provocation) typically expressed as verbal or physical aggression toward people or objects.
  2. Reckless or self-destructive behavior.
  3. Hypervigilance.
  4. Exaggerated startle response.
  5. Problems with concentration.
  6. Sleep disturbance (e.g., difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless sleep).



Why do you blame others for causing your Dysreg? Whole lotta possible answers to that one!

When I’m looking at the pieces involved in something I do, especially a pattern I’m recognizing & wanting to change... I generally like to break it down and look at what I’m benefitting/achieving by doing so. Because if I know what I’m getting out of it? It’s a helluva lot easier for me to start substituting better choices / healthier options, that achieve the same thing in ways that don’t f*ck up my life.

So just to get you started on that one? A few ideas to look at below. But the most important thing is; What do YOU think you get out of blaming others / seeing others as deliberately provoking your anger?

- Avoidance is one of the most common. If there’s a “cause” right here, right now... it lets us avoid looking at our trauma as a cause or factor (Which is CritC, by the by; “Criteria C is specifically about persistently avoiding anything related to your trauma, avoiding talking, feeling or having memories about the event. Distraction techniques are internal avoidance cues, avoiding places or people who arouse recollections of your trauma.“)... and not a symptom to be managed, but a valid/justifiable reaction.

- Another common one is the escalating nature of anxiety & panic. Anxiety does NOT want to calm down. It wants to kick things into high gear! Now! Now! Now! GO-GO-GO!!! <<< That’s not an inherently bad thing. The fight/flight response is a survival mechanism, that in an emergency isn’t just useful, it’s lifesaving. A person wants their adrenaline response to shift from 1st gear, to 5th gear, without stalling out or grinding gears. But when there isn’t an emergency? But everyday life? That mechanism kicking over is NOT useful, and a major pain in the ass. It takes a lot of practice to be able to back it down / ground & center one’s self, when every alarm bell is ringing... and especially in the beginning of learning to do so? Anything and everything can be “fair game” for anxiety/panic to latch onto to justify it’s response, to let it spin up harder and faster. Learning to recognize Cognitive Distortions & Core Beliefs are a wicked tool to “catch” yourself using, because as you find the fibs your adrenaline is using to justify itself? It becomes a whoooooole lot easier to reality-check, and de-escalate, instead of spinning yourself up, or just being along for the ride.

Primary cognitive distortions (negative thinking styles)
Solving the problem: reframing negative thoughts
Solving the problem: reframing negative thoughts


- A common self defense mechanism, meanwhile, is “the illusion of control”. Especially when someone has a “helpless” component in their trauma... Different ways of FEELING in control can start cropping up in your life, like whack-a-mole. So, instead of an out of control adrenaline surge, for no reason? Aha! THEY did it! On purpose! It’s them! Not Me! <<< Ironically, we have far more real control over ourselves than anyone else on the planet, so a symptom spike to be managed is a much stronger position to take... but it FEELS stronger/more in control, for most people, to target someone else. Emotions just don’t logic so hot.

So that’s a few possible pieces that might be factors in why you start getting paranoid when angry / and only later realize they weren’t to blame & weren’t trying to make you upset. But just a few to get you started.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top