PTSD and cPTSD

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

What is PTSD?

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that results from witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. People with PTSD have intense and disturbing thoughts and feelings related to their trauma that continue long after the event.

Symptoms

• Avoidance:
  • People with PTSD may take active steps to try to avoid any potential reminders of the traumatic event. This may include avoiding people, objects, situations, places, etc. that might trigger memories of the event. They may also resist talking about it or seeking treatment for it.
• Intrusion:
  • Intrusive thoughts such as repeated involuntary memories, nightmares, or flashbacks. Flashbacks can be so vivid that the person feels they are reliving the trauma in real-time.
• Negative changes in thinking and mood:
  • Someone with PTSD may experience overwhelming negative thoughts about themselves, other people, or the world; hopelessness about the future; memory problems, including gaps in the memory of the traumatic event itself; difficulty maintaining close relationships; lack of interest in things they once enjoyed; difficulty feeling positive emotions; or feeling numb.
• Changes in physical and emotional responses:
  • People with PTSD may be easily frightened, constantly on guard for a threat, and have self-destructive behaviors such as excessive drinking, trouble sleeping, trouble concentrating, irritability, anger outbursts, aggressive behavior, or overwhelming guilt or shame.
• For children 6 years old and younger, symptoms may include:
  • Re-enacting the traumatic events through play.
  • Nightmares that may include aspects of the traumatic event.

Causes

PTSD can develop when you experience, see, or learn about a significant traumatic event. In some cases, doctors aren’t sure why some people get PTSD. Like most mental disorders, PTSD is complex and probably a mixture of several things;

• Biologically inherited mental health risks.
• Temperament
• Stressful experiences, including the amount of trauma you’ve experienced.
• The way your brain regulates the chemicals and hormones your body releases in response to stress.

Risk Factors

You can develop PTSD at any age. However, some factors may make you more likely to develop PTSD after a traumatic event, such as;

• Experiencing severe or prolonged trauma
• Having experienced trauma earlier in life (such as childhood abuse)
• Having other mental health problems
• Having a job that increases your risk of exposure to traumatic events (military, first responders, etc.)
• Having a substance abuse problem
• Lack of a support system
• Having blood relatives with mental health problems

PTSD High Risk Traumas

The following are the most common traumatic events that cause someone to develop PTSD. However, many other traumatic events can cause someone to develop PTSD that are perfectly valid (i.e. medical trauma, natural disasters, surviving a fire, and many, many more).

• Combat Exposure
• Childhood Physical Abuse
• Sexual Violence
• Physical assault
• Being threatened with a weapon
• An accident

Treatment

The main treatments for PTSD are psychotherapy (talk therapy), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), cognitive processing therapy (CPT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and medication.

Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (cPTSD)

What is cPTSD?

Complex PTSD results from long-term trauma. Specifically, cPTSD often seems to develop in those who have been abused by someone who was in a caregiving or protective role for them. Examples include survivors of ongoing childhood sexual abuse by a relative or caregiver, or survivors of human trafficking. Other long-term traumas that can cause cPTSD include (but aren’t limited to): childhood neglect; ongoing/long-term physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; living in a war zone; or being a prisoner of war.

Symptoms

cPTSD symptoms include the same symptoms as PTSD plus an additional set of symptoms. See above for standard PTSD symptoms. The following are specific cPTSD symptoms:

• Lack of emotional regulation
• Dissociation
• Negative self-image, guilt, and shame
• Difficulty with relationships
• Distorted perceptions of the abuser
• Loss of meaning systems (long-held morals or beliefs may suddenly be lost/discarded, especially when something that brings up a traumatic trigger associated with that belief makes the person realize that their belief may have come from their abuser/from their trauma).

Risk Factors

Anyone can develop cPTSD, but some people are more likely to develop it than others. In addition to other past traumas, here are some other potential risk factors that may increase someone’s risk of developing cPTSD:

• Other underlying mental illness or family history of mental illness
• Temperament
• How your brain regulates hormones and neurochemicals, especially in response to stress
• Not having a support system
• Having a dangerous job

Sources

Much of this page was inspired by Mayo Clinic and Healthline articles (both in our list of Wiki 1.0 sources), but it has been condensed and simplified for you here.

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