Dr. John A. King describes sudden emotional eruptions from PTSD that hit with no clear trigger. His approach: radical honesty with his partner Melissa and kids. He apologizes, asks them to help find clues, and treats the outburst as a chance to build connection instead of walls.
I talk about in Deal With It going from 0 to 100, bang, and all of a sudden you're on, you know, you're tense, you're agitated, you're paranoid, you're yelling, you're screaming, you're raging against the world and you don't know why. Sometimes you do. You can highlight a movie, a song, a smell, an action, a word, and a trigger that sets you off. But sometimes you don't. And they're the ones that befuddle me. And they're the ones to hardest have a conversation about. Because it was something you go, okay, great. I've got not, not got to eat that or go there or do this, or I saw that coming. And, but it's the ones that you don't know why. So how do you handle it? How do I handle that? I'm just honest. I'm honest with Melissa and I'm honest with my kids. I said, listen, I'm sorry. I don't know what caused that. Let's talk about it. What happened? Could you see anything that might clue us in? And we make it a bridge-building exercise with Dad and towards Dad. Not a wall-building exercise away from Dad, and that's a big and a massive difference.
