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Turning Leaf Blog

“It’s all My Fault” – Why do I Blame Myself for My Trauma?

1/13/2019

3 Comments

 

​Written by: 
Kaycee Beglau, PsyD

Why do I Blame Myself
Traumatic experiences profoundly affect us in deeply personal ways, in part, because they make us feel out of control in this world, feel unsafe with others, and even unsafe with ourselves. We start to feel unsafe with ourselves, for example, when we question our own judgments, lose trust in ourselves, or carry a sense of inner badness, defectiveness, or self-disgust. We may find ourselves asking questions like, “Why did this happen to me?” or “What did I do to deserve this?” Sometimes, this inner sense of being to blame or of having some kind of inner “badness” is so significant, it makes us question or lose faith in our spiritual belief system. For example, we may say “I’m so awful, not even God could love me.”
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Inevitably, those who have experienced trauma find themselves trying to sit with and make sense of a tangled knot of intense emotions. These can include feeling anxious, frightened, alone, angry, sad, depressed, guilty, and ashamed. When these emotions are accompanied by thoughts of self-blame or self-hatred, it’s like pouring gasoline on a blazing fire. For example, when we are already feeling sad and alone, to think thoughts like, “It’s all my fault” or “I should have done something different” only makes us feel more depressed and isolated from others. So, in this way, a vicious cycle of negative, intense emotions and social isolation is perpetuated.

Why is blaming oneself for traumatic experiences so common even though it can make us feel so much worse? To outsiders, it may seem obvious it is not our fault or even absurd that these kinds of thoughts could be believable to us. But, the truth is, there are many understandable reasons why we can tend to blame ourselves. These reasons often center around themes of either 1) Needing to have a sense of control or 2) Needing to have a sense of meaning. Following is a list of some examples of underlying (or unconscious) reasons why we can hold on to self-blame after traumatic experiences:

  • It feels better to believe we either did have control (e.g., I caused this because I am bad) or that we could have had control (e.g., if I didn’t make him angry with me, he wouldn’t have hurt me). Essentially, if we feel like we have control then it can feel like we can prevent future traumas from happening and we will ultimately be safer.
 
  • If we were raised in families where, as children, we were blamed when bad things happened, this may feel like a natural “role” we readily take upon ourselves.
 
  • It can feel easier to blame ourselves than to ponder philosophical or spiritual questions about why bad things happen to good people. We can preserve our spiritual beliefs or our framework for how we make meaning out of life that way.
 
  • It can feel safer to be angry at ourselves than others that we love or even at God or the world.

With this being said, it makes perfect sense to me why some end up carrying around this sense of self-blame despite how much worse it can make things feel. On the other hand, it has been my experience that those who carry these feelings around the most are also the ones who carry a tremendous amount of shame and who are the most likely to be suffering from other serious symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This may be because the shame is so powerfully painful, it can keep us from talking about or coping with the traumatic experiences in ways that could ultimately be healing and freeing. The shame keeps us wanting to avoid the trauma-based thoughts, feelings, and memories and from sharing these with potentially helpful others because it can be so frightening and painful. However, the avoidance only ends up keeping us trapped inside ourselves, without being able to get the support needed to face, process, and ultimately resolve the feelings of shame or guilt and to heal from the traumatic experiences themselves.

If you find yourself relating to these experiences of self-blame, I encourage you to find someone you can trust (even just a little bit at first), whether that is a friend, a relative, a spiritual or religious leader, or a licensed therapist and start to take the healthy risk of sharing your story with someone. Its going to feel very scary and painful at first, but over time, having someone hear your story and accept it without judgement can help you start to resolve these feelings of shame, self-blame, and self-hatred and to move forward in your life. 

3 Comments
Anees link
5/15/2020 04:11:15 am

There are pains and situations that paralyze or prevent you from enjoying life fully. In this article, there are certain techniques on how to overcome traumatic experiences and bad times and live fully.

There are traumatic memories and situations that hinder us or prevent us from enjoying our life. But does this feeling have to be definitive? Should we get used to it and continue our life like this? We are able to overcome what has hurt us so much or help those who suffer to overcome it.

Reply
Nicole Bikowitz
11/12/2020 12:15:18 am

It was like this entire article/post was reliving my life and it still does. I worry about what kind of mother I will be in my children's eyes because of it. I need change and I need someone to talk to. It's ok if I don't hear back in regards to this response. Sometimes I just feel I need someone who will listen. Thank you for your time.
#Help Me Live Again #For my babies. #For My Family and With God By Ourside

Reply
Anneke
9/24/2022 10:20:41 am

On reading, it seemed that there was an item left off the list of possible reasons why we blame ourselves for trauma. I think that we can blame ourselves to protect ourselves from fully acknowledging the sense of catastrophic loss that can come from our experiences. The loss of a dream, important identity, social role or a family member / partner / valued friendship can be utterly catastrophic. Yet often it seems that we don't have space to deal with the extreme pain of a lost dream or goal. There can be an expectation that we'll just adapt somehow, heal around the wound and find something else to give our lives meaning. But when trauma destroys our imagined future it can be utterly devastating. Most people won't fully realise how painful and frightening it can be. I think self-blame can act as a protection from fully accepting that things will never be the same and we might never get back what we have lost. If it's our fault, then we can keep fighting, and maybe if we try hard enough then we'll 'redeem' ourselves by getting back what we lost.

I firmly believe that a lost future is one of the hardest aspects of trauma to deal with. Society is notoriously awful for this: think of how many 'inspirational' documentaries exist about someone achieving some incredible feat after experiencing a trauma. When we fail to achieve the miraculous I think it reinforces the sense of shame and blame. In a way, our failure to 'transform' our lives in the present can make the traumas of the past seem worse. I think blaming ourselves for trauma can therefore paradoxically get worse as time goes on, reinforcing PTSD and deep shame and cutting us off from sources of support.

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  • Home
  • Services
    • Trauma-Informed Therapy
    • Children, Teens, Parents, & Families
    • Culturally Sensitive Care
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    • Online Sexual Assault Survivor Group
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  • Fees
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  • Contact
  • Join Our Team
    • LSW Training Program