Complex PTSD and Trauma

[Mo34]

Someone asked me to post up this website, it's got a lot of good information on complex PTSD and trauma and some I think on BPD.

https://www.eggshelltherapy.com/

There's certainly a lot of things that resonate with me.


There is also a ACE test - Adolescent childhood experience test.

https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/psy...-questionnaire
http://www.theannainstitute.org/Find...CE%20Score.pdf

[Ronnie_Pickering]

Interesting site

[Pink*Lady]

Thanks for posting this Mo34. I've read a few sections on the site which make sense.

[Moksha]

I knew someone from this site who had PTSD. The effects are dreadful

[AnxiousExtrovert]

I have mentioned to a Dr previously that I think I could have a degree of complex PTSD. I had read about it before and the case was regarding some unresolved traumas as a child.
From my understanding the difference between the complex and regular PTSD is that PTSD is usually something specific and the effects are a relatable period after the situation. Whereas complex PTSD isnt so specific and maybe not as individually extreme but its an unhealed repetative trauma that could be from many years ago.

One of the big factors in the case I was reading about was regarding emotional neglect and abuse as a child.

[Mo34]

I had a chat with a pathfinder CPN the other week and she said ppl keeping bandying different labels at me so i'm always none the wiser.

When i said about complex PTSD and personality disorder she said there basically the same thing. Just some psychologists/shrinks term it cPTSD and some PD.
Which I found a bit of a revelation to be honest.

[GhostOnMagneticTape]

I was diagnosed with complex PTSD 2 years ago, it makes sense to me now delving back into my childhood living with a neurological disability plus the pre verbal and adolescent trauma I experienced.

I believe many people do not realize they have complex PTSD from their childhood. Social anxiety is a symptom of my traumatic neglectful childhood, so it maybe a similar case for some people on here who have experienced trauma, neglect or abandonment when they were younger, no matter how mild or severe. We all react to traumatic and stressful situations in so many ways that can set the foundations of developing mental health difficulties if not addressed and treated early on in life.

Edit - This is an interesting Youtube channel about Complex PTSD - CPTSD & AVOIDANCE: Do You Struggle in GROUPS? (Resilience Series) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bSqxUvoVnk

Edit - Just like to add, dissociation (spacing out, disconnecting etc) is a common theme for people with PTSD. I do it often, I may pace around, stuck in a cycle of rumination about certain events that happened to me in my past or I sit and stare at an object for a few minutes feeling numb.

[GhostOnMagneticTape]

https://www.verywellmind.com/ptsd-an...sorder-2797528

Why Are PTSD and SAD Related?

A number of theories have been proposed to explain why PTSD and SAD are related. First, the symptoms of PTSD may make a person feel different, as though they can't relate or connect with others. A person with PTSD may have difficulties communicating or interacting with others for fear of coming into contact with trauma-related reminders. All of this may feed the development of SAD.

In addition, many people with PTSD feel high levels of shame, guilt, and self-blame, and these feelings may lead to SAD. Finally, there is evidence that SAD among people with PTSD stems from depression. People with PTSD often experience depression, which may lead to social withdrawal, isolation, and a lack of motivation that could contribute to the development of SAD.

Overall, research suggests that the link between PTSD and SAD is complex, stemming from multiple factors including a person's genes, history of trauma, and psychological vulnerabilities, like fear of being negatively evaluated by others. Further studies will hopefully help experts tease apart the precise relationship between PTSD and SAD.

[GhostOnMagneticTape]

Interesting insights.

[choirgirl]

There's rather a lot of detail here.

Hm.

[Tonkin]

This is very interesting.

I don't think I suffered too much as a child. But I was very sensitive so maybe what I did "suffer" affected me more than I realize, as to me, at the time, it was a big deal.

[Moksha]

Originally Posted by Tonkin

This is very interesting.

I don't think I suffered too much as a child. But I was very sensitive so maybe what I did "suffer" affected me more than I realize, as to me, at the time, it was a big deal.

Yes, my thoughts exactly. Looking back, I wonder if I did emerge from my childhood, teens and twenties with slight PTSD. I was safe and loved, never physically or sexually abused, and so on. Because of this, and because I know people who were abused, I feel guilty for even considering it. But trauma can, possibly, take other forms. Looking back to my 17-year-old self, it’s not a pretty sight. I was so full of fear and shame that I was almost hysterical. And it was constant from eight or nine to my early 30s. I wonder if such things can leave you scarred? Maybe that level, and intensity, of shame and fear really is traumatising?

[choirgirl]

I've realised (it's taken a while!) that the social anxiety symptoms are pretty much emotional flashbacks to times when I felt I was being rejected by peers or parents or whoever. I think some of us are naturally less robust than others, so it doesn't take as much. How to deal with them is ... the next challenge.

^^Well, some people say an invalidating environment can cause problems, so it's not just about obviously abusive things.

[choirgirl]

https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/int...-stuck-1211145

This is a fantastic article. Wow, this is what happened to me for nearly two decades.

[Tonkin]

Very good point ^

[AnxiousExtrovert]

@nanuq

As you know this is what I've been thinking myself.

I do have SA, I fit all the symptoms for SA. But my SA seems to have developed more or complicated a lot from the cptsd type things that fit my overall development and symptoms more.

[choirgirl]

^^^I do have the negative thoughts, but it's not just about the thoughts. Sometimes even before the negative thoughts have time to take hold it's panic stations. There have been some times the CBT homework has helped, it's variable.

[Dougella]

^^^^ I think you're right about that. Knowing what you might be dealing with is important to be able to get the right types of help or know how you might make progress.


For example I watched a talk by a woman who suffered very badly with anorexia for many years and was in hospital in her 30s and was actually getting worse with the normal treatment plan. While she was there she was assessed and diagnosed with autism and her treatment team were able to alter her plan to take this into account and she finally started to improve. She is now recovered from her eating disorder but if the professionals treating her hadn't considered assessing her for other things maybe she never would have been able to make that kind of progress.