International Journal of Trauma Research and Practice - Anger Study_0

Shay, J. (2002). Achilles in Vietnam: Combat trauma and the undoing of character. NY: Scribner.Spinaris, C. B., Denhof, M. D., & Kellaway, J. A. (2012). PTSD in U.S. corrections professions: Prevalenceand impact on health and functioning. Florence, CO: Desert Waters Correctional OutreachProgram.From the Trenches: Experiences from our Fellow PractitionersThe Stalking WifeRobert Rhoton, Psy.D.The following case demonstrates how a dysregulated sympathetic nervous system can interferewith perceptions, behaviors and relationships. When the threat response system of the body is repeatedlyactivated then behavioral adaptations can occur that seem pathologically like anger and control issues. Itmust be remembered that the human nervous system is unconscious (blind) to rationality when activatedin perceived threat, and drives people to the instincts for survival and movement? Threat unconsciouslyconditions instinctive muscular and behavioral reactions below the level of conscious awareness. If thisstate of perceived threat is pervasive, repetitive, and intense or a combination of such, the human socialengagement system can become compromised. This compromised social engagement system can adverselyimpact secure attachment and relationships by increasing volatility, aggression, and the creation of anunhealthy relational architecture in the lives of individuals and families.Presenting SituationA 28-year-old Hispanic woman, married, mother of three children 9, 7, and 4 years of age wasself-referred for treatment due to her husband threatening to leave her. She had been stalking him at work,going through his phone and appointment book looking for evidence that he was being unfaithful. She wasvery anxious and expressed being depressed as well as overwhelmed much of the time with the relationshipwith her husband. She was firmly convinced that he was having an affair, and was actively trying to catchhim in the act. It was not an unusual occurrence for the wife to call her husband 18-20 times a day, makeunexpected drop-in visits to his employment, or to follow him when he was involved with any afterhourswork, church, or social activities, such as playing basketball with some of his male friends.Family life for this woman had been relatively stable; she was raised in the same home from thetime she was brought home from the hospital until she married. She met her husband when she was asenior in high school and he was a junior in college. They married a few months after she graduated highschool. Since the birth of their second child the wife had become increasingly discontent with the relationshipand the husband and wife were both frustrated.The client reported that she had an ideal childhood; she and all of her cousins grew up on thesame block and there were always family activities with other family members to look forward to hangingout with. By the client’s account, her father’s three brothers and two sisters lived on the same block andbetween the six families boasted 31 cousins. She mentioned that there had been a history of incest, but itwasn’t any “big deal”. It appeared to be a common family occurrence for the cousins to have highly eroticand sexualized relationships. The incest reported by the client was always cousin to cousin, and did notinclude the parents or aunts and uncles of the children.IJTRP | Summer 201434