When Someone You Love Has PTSD: What Happens to the Rest of Us
PTSD doesn’t happen to one person. It happens to a system. A family. A friendship circle. A marriage. A neighborhood. A workplace. Trauma radiates outward, and the people closest to the blast absorb the shock in ways that rarely get named. We talk about veterans, survivors, first responders, victims of violence. We talk about symptoms, treatments, triggers. But we almost never talk about the people who live beside PTSD—the spouses who flinch at slammed doors, the children who learn to tiptoe around moods, the friends who don’t know whether to call or stay away, the siblings who feel helpless watching someone they love disappear behind a wall of vigilance or withdrawal. This is what happens to the rest of us. 1. We become interpreters of invisible storms People with PTSD often live with a nervous system that reacts before they can. Their loved ones learn to read micro‑expressions, tone shifts, and silences like meteorologists tracking pressure systems. Is today a high‑alert...