PTSD develops as parents become dysfunctional. PTSD develops when parents are constantly fighting with one another, day in and day out. The parent could go in the other direction and direct all their attention to the child, thereby producing a feeling of suffocation or worse yet, the feeling that the child is relied on to fix the parent (s) issues. When a child sees a parent cry, their first response is to help make the situation better, but with divorce they cannot.

More and more television shows depict sex, infidelity, divorce, violence, drugs and coarse language. The parent might not be monitoring games played or peers the child associates with, and the most available babysitter is the television. It is not unheard of that when a child approaches the front door, they remember the turmoil in their home, and in their mind-eye they see the abuse or hears the words over and over again.ДЄs parents are mending themselves or their relationship, many times supervision for the children is not available. Children who are rarely angry seem to be angry either more often or anger more quickly and could exhibit their anger and sadness in physical ways such as fighting.ДЄ child might have recurrent nightmares of parents fighting, threating each other and the continual tone of high tension in the home (that constant feeling of impending doom). A childвЂ™s inability to sleep could bring a whole new set of problems such as concentration in school, staying focused long enough to learn a new concept, falling or failing grades, and/or a possible change in personality. This could be evident in the childвЂ™s sleep patterns tossing and turning, not being able to get to sleep or stay asleep. A feeling of sadness so pervasive that there is nothing that brings a feeling of joy.ДЄ child who worries about their safety, home, future and the future of their family might have difficulty expressing those feelings.

A decrease in interest or activities once enjoyed.

Intense distress related to the distress- this distress could be seen in physical symptoms, for example stomachaches, headaches, and possibly the reduction in their immune system and chronic sickness.

Acting or feeling as if the fighting, yelling, crying, and even worse the non-communication, is happening over and over again.Recurrent dreams of fighting in the home, fear of loss of one or both parents, the thought that if one parent does not want the other then perhaps that parent would not want them either.Recurrent and persistent memories of their parents leaving, one or both parents crying, the fear of loss of money, verbal and physical fighting, and the criticizing and humiliation of the other parent.Many children who reside in a home where parents are getting a divorce might experience one or more of following symptoms that could create PTSD: Changes in perception of the situation and/or the increase of situation that might produce the fears.Avoidance- trying to avoid the situation that provokes the memories.Intrusion- the re-experiencing of the trauma or traumatic event.There are three different groups of symptoms I would like to make you aware of: It is this reliving of the event and the fear of uncertainty for their safety and the safety of family members that could produce PTSD. The primary concern of collaborative divorce attorneys, mental health specialists and financial specialist is not to have a child relive each and every fight in their dreams while sitting in class or watching an identical event on television or trying to working it through by speaking with friends. How can you explain that their home, a sanctuary, has turned into a war zone. In many homes divorce is discussed out-loud, with cursing, screaming, throwing things, slamming doors or an unspoken event of a parent not returning home or sleeping in another bedroom. Many times we think we can shield a child of such pain however, this is not always possible.ДЄ loving parent might try to explain the hostility in the home to their child. This compromised situation might be the death of a loved one or a pet or the divorce of a childвЂ™s parents. That event could be an accident that a person is involved in or witnessed, a catastrophic event such as the continual news accounts of bombings, wars and plain crashes, or a situation in the family where a childвЂ™s safety or the safety of a family member is compromised. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a reaction to a traumatic event.

Growing up with parents who fight