Unpacking the Self: Exploring How Spouses of Trauma Exposed Professionals Struggling with Post-Trauma Symptoms Navigate a Sense of Personal Identity
Date
2023-12-21
Authors
Buss, Jessica
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
How spouses of Trauma Exposed Professionals struggling with post-trauma symptoms navigate a sense of personal identity, and the mechanisms by which identity is processed and understood, is largely underrepresented within the literature. The current study examined the ways in which five TExP spouses, whose partners were struggling with post-trauma symptoms, actively navigated identity in these contexts, including the agentic and intentional mechanisms they employed in their navigation. Participants shared their personal experiences with the researcher, who then collated and co-constructed those experiences into six themes: 1) the experience of identifying as the ‘protector’ and 2) identifying as the ‘preventor’ (embodying one or both of these roles in an effort to mitigate/manage damage and protect); 3) the importance of seeing self as more than the singular role of ‘spouse’; 4) engaging others outside of oneself in order to access new perspectives on selfhood; 5) recognizing that one’s own needs are important and valuable; and 6) the experience of having one’s needs take a backseat role.
Description
Keywords
Trauma-Exposed Professional, TExP Spouse, Identity