Post-traumatic embitterment disorder (PTED) is defined as a pathological reaction to a negative life event, which those affected experienced as a grave insult, humiliation, betrayal, or injustice.
Prevalent emotions of PTED are embitterment, anger, fury, and hatred, especially against the triggering stressor, often accompanied by fantasies of revenge.
If left untreated, the prognosis of PTED presents as rather unfavorable, with those who have the disorder trapped in a vicious circle of strong negative emotions constantly intensifying one another and eventually leading into a self-destructive downward spiral.
The concept of PTED as a distinct clinical disorder has been first described by the German psychiatrist and psychologist Michael Linden in 2003,[1] who remains its most involved researcher.
A condition similar to PTED has already been described by Emil Kraepelin as early as 1915 by the name querulous paranoia as a form of traumatic neuroses, explicitly demarcating it from personality disorders.
[9] Bitterness (also called resentment) is defined as a basic human reaction in response to experiences of injustice, betrayal, or humiliation, consisting of emotions such as anger, wrath, hostility, disappointment, disgust, and shame.
They function as a cognitive reference system which structures the perception of the world, of oneself, of others, of what is important or not, what is right or wrong, and what is necessary to be done, and can involve both negative and positive feelings.
[13] Since core beliefs are a central aspect of an individual's identity, they are especially vulnerable to insults, humiliations, betrayal, and injustice, which are psychologically perceived as aggressions.
PTED will not subside on its own but rather intensify over time, leading patients into a self-destructive downward spiral of negative emotions constantly reinforcing one another.