PTSD & CPTSD

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PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) can occur after trauma – when the body and brain keep acting like the trauma is still happening even when the danger is over.

 

This can look like Flashbacks or intrusive memories, nightmares, being easily startled or always “on edge”, feeling numb or detached, avoiding things/people/places that remind you of the trauma.

 

CPTSD (Complex PTSD) is similar, but reflects a deeper impact on someone’s sense of self. Whereas PTSD comes from singular events, CPTSD usually develops from long-term, repeated trauma, such as childhood abuse or an abusive relationship.

 

CPTSD affects how someone sees themselves and the rest of the world, how they trust and feel safe and how they regulate their emotions and is accompanied by feeling negatively about themselves.

 

Understanding whether someone is presenting with symptoms for PTSD and CPTSD allows therapy to focus on what will help with emotional regulation and reduction of symptoms. A diagnosis is not required in order to have trauma therapy.

 

Recovery from PTSD or CPTSD is not about getting over it, or forgetting about it, it’s about understanding the symptoms in order to start to regulate them, processing the trauma – either directly or through examining your resulting beliefs, to reduce symptoms, and developing new strategies and ways of thinking to help you go forwards in life.