Posttraumatic embitterment disorder

The posttraumatic embitterment disorder (PTED) is a pathological reaction to drastic life events and has the tendency not to stop. The trigger is an extraordinary although common negative life event as for example divorce, dismissal, personal insult or vilification. The consequence is severe and long lasting embitterment. This disorder is distinguished not by the content of the triggering event but by the temporal connection to the critical incident. Minutes before the person was healthy, minutes later they are chronically ill and severely affected. The German psychiatrist Michael Linden and others have emphasized the importance of embitterment. The posttraumatic embitterment disorder (PTED) is a pathological reaction to drastic life events and has the tendency not to stop. The trigger is an extraordinary although common negative life event as for example divorce, dismissal, personal insult or vilification. The consequence is severe and long lasting embitterment. This disorder is distinguished not by the content of the triggering event but by the temporal connection to the critical incident. Minutes before the person was healthy, minutes later they are chronically ill and severely affected. The German psychiatrist Michael Linden and others have emphasized the importance of embitterment. Embitterment is an emotion which is known to everybody as a negative feeling in reaction to negative life events. People understand what is meant by “embitterment” without professional knowledge, just as everyone knows what is fear or anger. Embitterment is, like anxiety, a reactive emotion towards injustice, insult or breach of trust. Embitterment is gnawing and has the tendency not to stop. In many cases, embitterment fades away, but in others it comes up again and again when the occasion is recalled. With greater intensity, it can limit the whole life and their environment with severe impairment. The following diagnostic criteria characterize posttraumatic embitterment disorder: