The Adjustments That Military Spouses May Face With a Deployment

Many Military spouses will feel as if they are experiencing an emotional roller coaster during deployment. Emotions can run high, sometimes as soon as deployment orders are received. Deployments can usher in negative, even traumatic thoughts and feelings – fear of separation, worries about the risks your military spouse may have to take, and/or worries regarding the immense household and family responsibilities left for the one staying behind.

Deployment can hit you hard if you are the one staying behind, holding everything together. Confronting intense emotions, and making the adjustments needed, can feel easier when you have support. Counseling can help.

Preparing Yourself and the Family

Everyone reacts differently when it comes to deployments. You may feel worried, angry, frustrated, overwhelmed, there can be many emotions involved. You may feel the urge to dissociate from your spouse, in the hopes of lessening the impact of being away from one another. All these feelings can be “normal”. 

Being prepared can help you to feel ready to do things differently around your home and in many other aspects of your life. It can also help you prepare your children for the changes and adjustments that deployments may create. This may not be easy for you. This is when support and understanding can be of the utmost importance.

Homecomings and More Adjustments

You may find that just as you and your children are “getting the hang of it,” your spouse comes home and begins to reintegrate into the family. This can mean making adjustments again. It is a misconception that when your partner comes home everything will simply “fall back into place”. You have had to adjust to so much change, it will take time to find your routine again. 

Everyone changes; you, your partner and children can change during those months. Homecomings can be a time of great happiness and celebration, though fear of change may cause you to approach homecomings with mixed feelings. You may have become accustomed to running your home and deciding for the family on your own; you may feel apprehensive about relinquishing your solitary decision-making role and feel a little overwhelmed when thinking about having to make decisions with another person again.. Routines may need to change, once again you may be faced with adjustment as your spouse becomes a part of the family’s everyday life once again.

Adjusting With Help

Post deployment can bring with it so many different emotions. You may feel guilty for being used to a life without your partner in it. You may also feel angry because their coming home is once again bringing more change, forcing you to readjust again. You may also continue feeling distant or dissociated in the hopes of being less affected by future deployments.

Deployment can mean a lot of adjusting and readjusting for military spouses. This can be extremely difficult, but having the right support can help. Carolina Counseling Services – Fayetteville, NC contracts with skilled licensed therapists. Call CCS today to schedule your first appointment!

Many providers are in network with Tricare and online appointments are available!

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