If you’ve ever experienced a traumatic event you may have noticed that every year around the time of that event for a few days, or weeks, you start to have an increase in sensitivity, emotions, flashbacks, or even just hyperawareness of the impending anniversary. This is actually called “Anniversary Reaction” or “The Anniversary Effect.”
I noticed it around our 2yr anniversary from the dog attack. More so than normal, I had been having higher sensitivities and more things that were triggering memories from just before, on, or just after the day our family dog tried to kill my son. It really had me all sorts of out of sorts.
The truth was, I was struggling, and so was my son. When our bodies endure a traumatic it’s not just the memory and brain synapses that hold it, or bodies hold it, forever, unless we take the steps to process it and heal from it. But until we do, our bodies know. Our bodies are still stuck in a state of trauma.
So if you notice an uptick in ‘bad behavior’ aka, communication, from your child, take a deep breath and ask them if they need a big hug. Their body is holding that trauma and it knows the anniversary is coming. Give yourself some grace, give them grace. Lean into connection and love.
parentingPTSD 