Complex post-traumatic stress disorder is entirely treatable with the right combination of compassion, patience, and trust. Someone can work to disempower the trauma that cripples them and practice positive coping skills in the context of well-rounded support and guidance.
Survivors with C-PTSD and dissociative disorders often require therapy for more than ten years on average. An additional number of years (up to several more) are all too often lost on ineffective or harmful therapy and receiving several misdiagnoses before ever obtaining a proper one.
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (or C-PTSD) is a serious medical condition, which can be categorised as a lifelong illness. In some cases, employees diagnosed with C-PTSD silently suffer during their daily work-life.
Months or even years later, the individual may be easily triggered by places, noises or events, making it difficult to live a normal life. Fortunately, an individual's life doesn't have to be defined by their trauma. With professional help, it's possible to get back to normal after a traumatic event.
CPTSD causes lack of trust, shame, and voicelessness.
Complex trauma survivors — those with CPTSD — often have a distrust of self and others. They may feel like a burden to people, have shame, and be unable to make choices or have a voice for self.
Studies have shown that PTSD actually does affect the functions of the brains in multiple ways. The effects of trauma on the brain impact three areas of the brain that are impacted the most are the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. These areas all play a part in regulating emotions and responding to fear.
Flashbacks can last for just a few seconds, or continue for several hours or even days. You can read some tips on how to cope with flashbacks on our page on self-care for PTSD.
As people age, their PTSD symptoms may suddenly appear or become worse, causing them to act differently. It may be unsettling to see these changes in a loved one, but it's nothing to fear. Changes are common and treatment can help.
Exposure to complex trauma in early childhood leads to structural and functional brain changes. Structural changes alter the volume or size of specific brain regions.
Complex PTSD can make it difficult to trust others. Some people stay in unhealthy relationships because the situation is familiar. If their trauma involved abuse, their feelings about their abuser may be complicated. Or they may obsess about their abuser or focus on revenge.
If you have complex PTSD, you may be offered therapies used to treat PTSD, such as trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) or eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing (EMDR). You'll also be offered treatment for other problems you may have, such as depression or alcohol addiction.
If left untreated, complex PTSD can become life-threatening. It raises the risk of developing anxiety, depression, addictive behavior, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts. Chronic pain, fatigue, and changes in eating and sleeping patterns are all possible physical health problems.
A PTSD rating may become permanent and total if the VA determines that it meets the 100 percent criteria and there is zero chance of improvement.
With support, the use of self-care techniques, and treatment such as psychotherapy if needed, an individual with CPTSD can maintain healthy relationships.
It is generally related to a single traumatic event. Complex PTSD, on the other hand, is related to a series of traumatic events over time or one prolonged event. The symptoms of complex PTSD can be similar but more enduring and extreme than those of PTSD.
PTSD can be divided into four phases: the impact phase, the rescue phase, the intermediate recovery phase, and the long-term reconstruction phase. The impact phase encompasses initial reactions such as shock, fear, and guilt. In the rescue phase, the affected individual begins to come to terms with what has happened.
A large genome-wide association study (GWAS) has identified a collection of genes associated with PTSD, and these genes overlap with those identified as increasing the risk of developing schizophrenia.
You are more likely to develop complex PTSD if: you experienced trauma at an early age. the trauma lasted for a long time. escape or rescue were unlikely or impossible.
Therefore, it is possible that post-traumatic sequelae more complex than PTSD – i.e., cPTSD – may lead to nuanced psychotic symptoms, such as cognitive/excitative symptoms.
People with PTSD can make wonderful parents, just like anyone else. Something that many people with PTSD may not consider, however, is that once they become parents, their kids could trigger their PTSD.
Living with PTSD brings intense emotional pain. Complex PTSD comes from many incidences of interpersonal trauma. This results in often unbearable hurt as you consider all of the people in your life who have let you down or abused you. Sometimes, it can feel as if it's a gaping wound in your soul that will never heal.
Individuals with cPTSD tend to have a more stable sense of Self but struggle with consistent feelings of low self-worth, guilt, and shame. Individuals with BPD, on the other hand, have a more unstable sense of Self – they may not know who they are at their core and frequently change their interests and hobbies.
How common is CPTSD? Community surveys conducted in the United States and Germany suggest between 0.5% and 3.8% of the population experience CPTSD at any given time. Some 7.3% of people are estimated to develop CPTSD during their lifetime.
Most people who go through a traumatic event will not develop PTSD. About 6 out of every 100 people (or 6% of the U.S. population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives. Many people who have PTSD will recover and no longer meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD after treatment.
Signs of PTSD of Abandonment
Fear of being left behind or abandoned. Inability to form healthy relationships in the teenage or adult years. Low self-esteem and feelings of self-worth. Anxiety and insecurity.