From the article by Psychotherapist Susan Anderson.
Any of these issues ( 40 features of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of Abandonment) can emerge in the aftermath of abandonment trauma stemming from childhood and adulthood losses and disconnections. The post traumatic symptoms of PTSD of Abandonment share sufficient features with PTSD to be considered a subtype of this diagnosis category.
As with other types of post trauma, PTSD of Abandonment is a neuro -psycho – biological condition, a so called “limbic disorder” or “disease of the amygdala” with symptoms that range from mild to severe. Its earmarks include –
Intensive feelings of insecurity – a major source of self sabotage in primary relationships and in goal achievements.
Tendency to compulsively re-enact abandonment scenarios through repetitive patterns ( i.e. abandoholism – being attracted to the unavailable)
Diminished self esteem, heightened vulnerability, and an easy sense of shame.
PTSD of Abandonment leaves its victims with a need to buttress their flagging sense of self with defence mechanisms that can be automatically discharged, and whose intention is to protect the narcissistically injured self from further rejection, criticism, or abandonment. These habituated defences tend to become maladaptive in that increase the need for immediate gratification which forestalls the achievement of long range goals – a vicious shame cycle.
Victims tend to have emotional flashbacks, flooding them with feelings ranging from mild anxiety to intense panic in response to triggers that they may not be conscious of. Once abandonment fear is triggered, they can feel momentarily overwhelmed, and some experience what Daniel Goleman calls “emotional high jacking” a difficulty in reining in ones emotions. If emotional high jacking occurs frequently enough, its chronic emotional excesses can lead to unsparing self criticism as well as give rise to secondary conditions such as chronic depression, anxiety, obsessive thinking, isolation, negative narcissism and addiction.
Susan Anderson finishes with this statement –
The list above is designed to be descriptive rather than exhaustive of the many issues related to PTSD of Abandonment