C-PTSD

Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

C-PTSD is caused by ongoing trauma. 

​​​​Events that can cause C-PTSD include:

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While PTSD and C-PTSD have overlapping symptoms, the two conditions may also present differently.

​Many traumatic events (e.g., car accidents, natural disasters, etc.) are of time-limited duration. However, in some cases people experience chronic trauma that continues or repeats for months or years at a time. Some have suggested that the current PTSD diagnosis does not fully capture the severe psychological harm that occurs with prolonged, repeated trauma. Treatment considerations for those with such complex trauma histories are reviewed.

An individual who experienced a prolonged period (months to years) of chronic victimization and total control by another may also experience difficulties in the following areas:

• Emotional regulation. May include persistent sadness, suicidal thoughts, explosive anger, or inhibited anger.

• Consciousness. Includes forgetting traumatic events, reliving traumatic events, or having episodes in which one feels detached from one's mental processes or body (dissociation).

• Self-perception. May include helplessness, shame, guilt, stigma, and a sense of being completely different from other human beings.

• Distorted perceptions of the perpetrator. Examples include attributing total power to the perpetrator, becoming preoccupied with the relationship to the perpetrator, or preoccupied with revenge.

• Relations with others. Examples include isolation, distrust, or a repeated search for a rescuer.

• One's system of meanings. May include a loss of sustaining faith or a sense of hopelessness and despair.

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