A few years ago Michael Linden coined a new term he called posttraumatic embitterment disorder,5 which, he says, occurs in some people following a single negative life event that continues to cause prolonged bitterness, anger, feelings of injustice, and distress for an extended period of time. (He gives Captain Nemo from Jules Verne’s book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea as an example, if you can cast your mind back to your childhood readings.) Linden’s patients had great difficulty letting go of feeling wronged and would spend an inordinate amount of time ruminating about the circumstances surrounding the emotional injury. It became a debilitating obsession for them. I am not a big fan of pathologizing human emotions, so I am not par-

ticularly interested in the “disorder” aspect of Linden’s observations (nor has it been accepted by the field as an actual diagnostic category), but I do think he makes a very good point about the risk for some of us of getting locked into a pattern of obsessing about wrongs done to us. I have encountered this quite frequently among clients who were incredibly bitter about an ugly divorce and simply could not let it go, even several years later. I also saw this in individuals who felt wronged by their workplace. When I worked for the military, I always knew which clients were experiencing workplace embitterment. They would invariably walk into our first appointment with reams of papers documenting their fight for justice in light of a perceived wrong: a promotion denied, receiving a black mark on their performance appraisal, being reprimanded for something they had not done. They were often right-an abuse of justice had taken place-but what was striking was their obsessiveness-they were consumed by this event and could not move on, even if it cost them their health, their marriage, and their career. So, without necessarily adopting Linden’s diagnostic label, I invite you to

reflect on this-are you holding on to something that may be causing you more harm than good? Seeking the help of a personal counselor can be very helpful in helping you grieve the loss and pain you are feeling.