{"id":93172,"date":"2019-09-20T15:36:26","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T22:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93172"},"modified":"2019-09-20T15:36:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-20T22:36:26","slug":"posttraumatic-embitterment-disorder-and-meditation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/09\/20\/posttraumatic-embitterment-disorder-and-meditation\/","title":{"rendered":"Posttraumatic Embitterment Disorder and Meditation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
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Post traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED) is a newly\ndescribed reactive disorder. It is a special form of maladjustment reaction\nproposed by the German Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Linden of the University of\nBerlin in 2003.  PTED was introduced as a new concept for a subgroup\nof Adjustment Disorders. It can also be described as an Adaptation disorder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Embitterment is a persistent feeling of being let down\nor insulted, or feeling revengeful but helpless. The feeling of bitterness is\nalways associated with a burning sense of unfairness or injustice, a protesting\nfeeling of having been wronged without cause. It signifies an aggressive\nprotest against a felt and perceived injustice, and is a goad to desperate,\nsometimes reckless, efforts to gain redress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr.  Linden recognized embitterment as a unique human\nemotional experience. Feeling embittered is a prolonged emotional state of hate\nand anger caused by the belief that one has been treated unfairly. Dr. \nLinden states that similar to anxiety or depression, embitterment must be\nunderstood as a dimensional phenomenon, which becomes pathological when\nreaching greater intensities, when it is associated with additional symptoms,\nand when daily role performance is impaired.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Linden states that PTSD is caused by a physical threat\nto one\u2019s life; in PTED it is hypothesized to come from a threat to one\u2019s basic\nbelief system. PTED is thus, like PTSD, not characterized by a particular type\nof stressful events, but by a distinct psychological process (experiences of injustice\nand humiliation) and by a highly specific psychopathological profile\n(embitterment). Elevated rates of PTED may occur in times of major social\nchanges that force people to reorganize their personal biographies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The PTED patients are suffering from severe, multiform, and\ndisabling symptoms. The trigger event in PTED is an exceptional, though normal\nnegative life event that is experienced as a violation of basic beliefs and\nvalues. The predominant emotion in PTED is embitterment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Core criteria of Post traumatic Embitterment Disorder are:\n(1) a single exceptional negative life event precipitates the onset of the\nillness; (2) the present negative state developed in the direct context of this\nevent; (3) the emotional response is embitterment and feelings of injustice;\n(4) repeated intrusive memories of the event; (5) emotional modulation is\nunimpaired, patients can even smile when engaged in thoughts of revenge, and\n(6) no obvious other mental disorder that can explain the reaction. Additional\nsymptoms are feelings of helplessness, self-blame, rejection of help, suicidal\nideation, dysphoria, aggression, down-heartedness, seemingly melancholic\ndepression, unspecific somatic complaints, loss of appetite, sleep\ndisturbances, reduced drive pain, phobic symptoms in respect to the place or to\npersons related to the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Posttraumatic Embitterment Disorder may occur in times of\nmajor social changes that force people to reorganize their personal\nbiographies. According to Professor Harald Ege Post-Traumatic Embitterment\nDisorder is the most appropriate psychological diagnosis for victims of\nworkplace conflicts, particularly bullying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Linden proposes wisdom therapy\u201d as an approach to treat\nPTED. Wisdom therapy is a form of cognitive therapy based on recent\ndevelopments in the field of wisdom psychology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does Meditation therapy help in Posttraumatic embitterment\ndisorder? According to Prof. Dr. Michael Linden (Personal Communication,\n2019) if meditation helps to distance oneself from what happened, or to\ninduce thoughts of forgiveness and consolation with what happened, it will be\nhelpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mood impairments, somatoform complaints, withdrawal from\nsocial contacts, aggressive violent thoughts are common in Posttraumatic\nembitterment disorder. In addition self blame self criticism, free\nfloating anger, bitterness, wrath, malice, and unforgiveness affect their\nfunctionality.  These conditions impact mental and moral well-being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dunn & Sensky (2018) indicate that rumination which is\nlinked with chronic embitterment impairs executive functions and\nproblem-solving. Rumination is a maladaptive pattern of thought (Sluder, 2013).\nMindfulness allows individuals to disengage from rumination by directing\nattention to the present moment (Segal et al. 2002 Deyo et al., 2009).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mindfulness is associated with interpersonal\nforgiveness (Karremans et al., 2019). Mindfulness enhances forgiveness (Oman et al., 2008). Meditation\nhelps to reduce violent thoughts. In addition meditations such as\nloving-kindness meditation increase social connectedness (Hutcherson et al.,\n2008). Furthermore     mindfulness-based therapies are\neffective in somatoform conditions (Lakhan & Schofield,\n2013). Moreover Spiritual meditation which is based on mindful practice\nhelps to reduce negative feelings in PTED and increase spiritual confidence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ruwan M Jayatunge M.D.\u00a0 Post traumatic Embitterment Disorder (PTED) is a newly described reactive disorder. It is a special form of maladjustment reaction proposed by the German Psychiatrist Dr. Michael Linden of the University of Berlin in 2003.  PTED was introduced as a new concept for a subgroup of Adjustment Disorders. It can also be described […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dr-ruwan-m-jayatunge-m-d"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}