Annotated Bibliography

Everyone has experienced a traumatic experience, whether that's abuse or having a loved

one pass away. People go through these experiences not realizing that they affect future

relationships and are unsure of how to deal with the trauma and this can be harmful not only to

the victim but to their partners in life as well. The type of trauma people experience has an

unconscious effect on relationships. Addressing our trauma and knowing how to deal with it to

improve romantic relationships. The question is, how does trauma affect romantic relationships?

This question is important because it helps victims and their partners know why a person is

acting a certain way. Going through a traumatic experience can explain behaviors but it doesn’t

excuse them and if we have a better understanding of our actions we can work on our behaviors.

Brandt, A. (2017, August 01). 4 Ways a Traumatic Childhood Affects Adult Relationships.

Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mindful-

anger/201708/4-ways-traumatic-childhood-affects-adult-relationships.

This article discusses the different types of attachment styles that emotional childhood

trauma can cause for some. The author describes how a parent treated their children can cause a

form of unhealthy attachments. It also shows that it's important to know what style the victim is

and to communicate this with their partner so that both parties involved in a relationship

understand certain behaviors. Trust issues can develop at a young age either from a parent

relationship or from a romantic relationship“When the person who is supposed to love and care

for you is the person who hurts you, it makes sense that you could grow up to fear both intimacy

and being alone.” When a person has gone through consistent neglect they develop this style

where they don’t trust others and oftentimes shut down emotionally and struggle to show

affection.
 This article was written from the viewpoint of a marriage and family therapist, showing

some of the psychological effects of childhood trauma. The author shows the viewpoint of the

surviver of trauma and how they will act when in a relationship. This information helps support

my claims and my point of view.This author helps develop the idea that trauma does change how

people view relationships and being affectionate towards others. This article has the rhetorical

aspect of ethos because the author has experience in dealing with victims of trauma and helping

people fix their relationships. The audience of this article would-be victims and their partners,

both parties need to understand the attachment styles present in their relationship and how to deal

with them. My source is credible to not only my specific question but to dealing with a form of

trauma.

Brickel, R. (2020, October 01). Loving a Trauma Survivor: Trauma's Impact on Relationships.
Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://brickelandassociates.com/trauma-survivor-
relationships/

The author goes into depth about how a person with trauma might interact in a

relationship but it shows how the trauma will affect the relationship such as the survivor

believing their partner is constantly against them and doesn't care. When trauma survivors have

been in a situation for a long time they start to believe what they are being told “Survivors often

believe deep down that no one can be trusted, that intimacy is dangerous, and for them, a real

loving attachment is an impossible dream.” When a person experiences sexual trauma they start

to believe any form of intimacy is dangerous. When a person has been in a toxic relationship

they start to depend on their partner and believe no one else will ever love them. The author also

advises on how to communicate from both sides of the relationship and the author also speaks on

why people need to get them with trauma.

 The author of this article is a family and marriage therapist so that helps make this a

credible source through ethos since she has the experience and knowledge to share these effects.

The viewpoint of this article is from a partner in a relationship because the author describes what

signs and actions will be present from the trauma survivor. The author helps guide people on

how to act when being in a relationship where trauma was involved. The article fits into the

debate because it helps us see the effects of trauma and the impact it has on people. The audience

the author is appealing to is the partners of trauma survivors, it's important for a partner to

understand why a person is reacting to a situation or not being emotionally committed to the

relationship and still have a guard up. My source is credible because it comes from a person who

has studied these things but also seen them in action.

Dillmann, S. M. (2015, November 16). Common Therapy Approaches to Help You Heal from
Trauma. Retrieved December 08, 2020, from
https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/common-therapy-approaches-to-help-you-heal-from-
trauma

The author of this article goes into detail about different types of therapy and how they

can be effective when dealing with trauma. With truama people often view it as an issue that

needs to be solved and when it's not solved people think something is wrong with them. The

author states, “the purpose of all trauma focused therapy is to integrate the traumatic event into

your life, not subtract it.” The point of dealing with truama and learning how to cope isn’t to get

rid of the trauma but to learn how to go through life without it affecting you as much. The author

shows that learning how to deal with trauma is a long process and somethings don’t work for

everyone so when one type of therapy doesn’t work a person shouldn’t be discourgaed but find

another healthy way to heal. The author speaks on therapy starting with pharmacotherapy and

even touching on hypnotherapy as a way to deal with trauma.

 The author of this article is a pyscholgist which helps give this source ethos and make it

credible information. The author shows the viewpoint of the ones seeking help, she is provind

them information with therapy and how they may help a person. The author also shows the

acidemic viewpoint because she is a credible source and knows what forms of therapy help

clients. The audience of this author are people who have been affected by truama and want to

learn how to cope and not let it control their lives.This source is credible to its audience and it

would be credible to others who might just know someone in therapy and want to learn how they

can help.

Greenberg, M. (2019, August 13). How Traumas Create Negative Patterns in Relationships.

Retrieved November 20, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-

mindful-self-express/201908/how-traumas-create-negative-patterns-in-relationships.

This author shows some negative effects that trauma has on relationships, it describes

how a victim reacted to trauma at the moment and also how they will react in relationships.

When some goes through trauma there are a few steps the brain goes through“Unprocessed

traumas or ongoing serious chronic stressors can cause the primitive brain networks involved in

survival and threat response to hijack your brain into a ‘fight, flight, or freeze’ state.” Depending

on what a victim did when facing trauma will have priority over the other reactions. If the victim

usually went into freeze mode, in the relationship the victim will shut down and disconnect from

their partner. This author also shows that trauma can create a bias of relationships. Past

relationships or seeing dysfunctional families can lead people to see certain actions in a bad light

and think their partner is doing something wrong.

This article again has the viewpoint from psychology but it also has the viewpoint from a

victim because it describes their actions. This shows the viewpoint of a surviver of trauma and
the mental state they are in. This fits into the question because it allows us to look at how a

victim will react when they are faced with a struggle within their relationship and how they

retaliate. Again this article has ethos because the author is a psychologist but it also helps

provide context for a person’s actions. This article is targeted more towards the victims of trauma

to understand their behaviors and why they are doing certain things. This source is credible to the

audience but also to people who just want to learn more about the effects of trauma.

Millán, K. (2020, October 06). Trauma and Its Effect on Relationships. Retrieved December 02,

2020, from https://www.hartgrovehospital.com/trauma-effect-relationships/

In this article, the author covers types of trauma by explaining that there are people who

may experience a traumatic event such as death but there is also complex trauma which is when

traumatic events are repeated or when new trauma is continually experienced, this is things such

as domestic violence. The author goes into detail about traumatic events that happen during

childhood to help develop an adult's attachment style. Attachment styles determine how close we

get in relationships and they can affect our communication with people. As a child, your parents

and the people around you help with knowing whom to trust and they also shape if the world is a

safe place. The author also shows that trauma that happens in adulthood can shape how we view

the world as a whole and our partners get to witness the biggest impacts of trauma. The author

also touches on how if both partners go through the trauma they may deal with it in different

ways and this could either help the relationship or harm it.

This article was written from a behavioral clinic that has spent decades helping people

with mental health and learning how to cope with the trauma. The author writes from the

viewpoint of a trauma survivor and shows how they may be impacted by trauma. This author has
an ethos to give them credibility, since the article is written by a counselor at a mental health

clinic they know how trauma impacts people. This fits into the debate because it helps show

how trauma at certain stages in life can impact our development and how we approach situations.

The author of this article is appealing to anyone who wants to learn about impacts but it also

appeals to survivors, to understand why they attach to people in a certain way. This source is

credible because there is a background to the institute that the article comes from.

Newsonen, S. (2016, June 13). How Trauma Can Lead to Positive Change. Retrieved December
09, 2020, from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-path-passionate-
happiness/201606/how-trauma-can-lead-positive-change

The author of this article speaks about post traumatic growth and that growing within

your trauma and coping doesn’t mean suppressing your feelings but rather letting those feelings

come through and learning what they mean. The author states, “post-traumatic growth is about

accepting the trauma as a part of who you are.” Growth has nothing to do with getting rid of the

traumatic experiences but rather learning how they are now a part of their life and has changed

who they are. The author writes this article off of information from a trauma researcher by the

name of Stephen Joseph who says that traumatic growth can lead to a positive change. The

author describes which positive changes can come about from growth and even gives a writing

exercise that can help with developing deep feelings.

The viewpoint the author provides is from a psychological perspective, because the

changes that are mentioned come from a study. The viewpoint is also from the person who went

through trauma. The study done was with people who went through experiences such as assault

victims, and even war veterns. This source fits into my debate because my question is on what

the effects of truama is and this source explores the positive effects of trauma. The source

provides ethos which helps with the credibility of the article, the author is using a study done by
a professor and presenting the information. The audience the author is trying to appeal to is

people who have gone through experiences and wanting to learn how things can get better. This

source is credible to anyone who wants to learn about the different ways trauma can affect a

person.

I am learning more about how trauma affects people’s relationships and what can be done

to help deal with it. I need to find more sources on how the victims' actions affect their partners

and get that viewpoint. There are a few viewpoints that can be identified with this question such

as the victims and their partners but also from a psychological viewpoint and different types of

trauma affect people in different ways. My sources have been on psychology websites and

provide credible information on how behaviors can be explained through trauma. After doing

some more research I was able to find sources that went into detail about different ways to deal

with trauma and I also was able to find sources that shined a positive light on how trauma can

impact a person which can also help a romantic relationship.