Sociopaths and Trauma Re-enactment: The Case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard
How Anniversary PTSD Manifests in People Who Can't Process Shame
When the Past Repeats Itself
Trauma is more than a memory. It’s catalogued in the nervous system that rewires your brain. In some way, shape, or form, trauma is something that stays with us lifelong and changes us for better or for worse.
One proof of the way trauma lives in the nervous system is through ANNIVERSARY PTSD.
I discovered my own anniversary PTSD when I was writing my memoir and after I experienced the most catastrophic event of my life: when my neighbor broke into my home and assaulted me for several weeks. I remember those dates very consciously, and when they arrived as anniversaries, so did the nightmares and night sweats, the waking in bed in a panic sure he was on top of me, the resurfaced flashbacks, the panic attacks and vomiting.
At the same time, I was in therapy in the middle of writing a memoir when I was attacked; as I was revisiting journals, I noticed a pattern: anxiety attacks I noted were happening on anniversaries of other sexual assaults in my life without me consciously recognizing the anniversary.
Anniversary PTSD, often called an anniversary reaction, refers to a resurgence of trauma-related symptoms around the date of a traumatic event or a period associated with it. The calendar date may act as an unconscious reminder, even when a person doesn’t consciously recognize the connection.
Symptoms can include anxiety, irritability, nightmares, intrusive memories, hypervigilance, emotional numbness, grief, difficulty sleeping, and a heightened sense of danger or vulnerability. Some people experience physical symptoms, withdraw from others, or find themselves repeating familiar emotional and relationship patterns.
In certain cases, the distress may affect decision-making or behavior without the person understanding why.
It can even manifest as TRAUMA RE-ENACTMENT.
It happens as PTSD for narcissists and sociopaths: people who can’t grieve or process shame due to their disorder with low emotional development.
Instead, narcissists and sociopaths project their pains onto others: they often do so through trauma re-enactment.