Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Judith Lewis Herman was the first psychiatrist and scholar to propose Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) as a new disorder in 1992, within her book Trauma & Recovery and an accompanying article. CPTSD is a mental illness that occurs in response to complex traumas. Adults with CPTSD have sometimes experienced prolonged interpersonal traumatization beginning in childhood, typically by primary caregivers.

In order to be diagnosed with CPTSD (unofficially), you’ll need to have some signs of PTSD like:

·      flashbacks or nightmares

·      dissociation or memory lapses

·      reliving the traumatic experience

·      hyperarousal, or being on “high alert”

·      avoidance of certain people, places, or scenarios

·      feeling detached from yourself

·      somatic symptoms, like headache or upset stomach

The other CPTSD symptoms include: negative self-cognition, emotional dysregulation, and interpersonal hardships. Emotional dysregulation is perhaps one of the most difficult aspects of CPTSD and can lead to angry outbursts, impulsive behaviors, abrupt mood changes, high levels of anxiety, feeling a chronic lack of safety, or ongoing sadness.

Humans require safe people and safe places during childhood and adolescence in order for healthy brain development to take place. Many adult survivors of complex trauma, having experienced this loss of safety, had no agency over themselves or their environment during critical times in brain development. This loss of agency during their early years stunted their growth, depriving them of the opportunity to create the lives they deserved. Without the ability to understand what has happened, young survivors grow up to be adults who live in the same constant state of hypervigilance.

Healing CPTSD requires creating some new habits. Daily habits like meditation, yoga, and other self-care routines can help heal the wounds created by childhood trauma. Weekly therapy can also help. The role of the therapist is to help the person understand their situation, teach strategies to express one’s emotions, and cope with potentially stressful situations. The therapist can also offer tools to help people manage difficult feelings, or negative thoughts and behaviors. New habits afford adult survivors the profoundly empowering opportunity to reclaim their sense of agency, and sense of self-worth. Once equipped, they can day-by-day create their new lives, and look forward to their future. 

Call Heartwork Counseling Center to start healing your past trauma and reclaim your life.