Differentiating Complex Trauma

[BloomInWinter]

Found what seems to be a strong explanation of Complex Trauma;

"What is complex trauma and what makes it different from other forms of psychological trauma? Complex trauma generally refers to traumatic stressors that are interpersonal, that is, they are premeditated, planned, and caused by other humans, such as violating and/or exploitation of another person."

Source: Dr. Christine Courtois, 'Understanding Complex Trauma, Complex Reactions, and Treatment Approaches'
http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/cptsd-understanding-treatment.html

What definition helps you?

 

[Sethe]

I don't know that the trauma from my parents was planned. My ex?- maybe.

Hmm, "...chronic interpersonal victimization. Such abuse is often founded on problematic and insecure attachment relationships..."

Yeah, this fits.

"Parents and other caregivers who abuse exploit a child's physical and emotional immaturity and dependent status to meet their own needs or do so in response to their own inadequacies or distress, quite often their own history of unresolved trauma and/or loss."

Yup.

"...complex traumatic events and experiences can be defined as stressors that are:
(1) repetitive, prolonged, or cumulative (2 ) most often interpersonal, involving direct harm, exploitation, and maltreatment including neglect/abandonment/antipathy by primary caregivers or other ostensibly responsible adults, and (3) often occur at developmentally vulnerable times in the victim's life, especially in early childhood or adolescence, but can also occur later in life and in conditions of vulnerability associated with disability/ disempowerment/dependency/age /infirmity, and so on."

Agree.

Wow, I want to quote this entire article. This is/was my life.

"Such complex stressors are often extreme due to their nature and timing: some are actually life-threatening due to the degree of violence, physical violation, and deprivation involved, while most threaten the individual's emotional mental health and physical well-being due to the degree of personal invalidation, disregard, deprivation, active antipathy, and coercion involved."

Oh God and the aftereffects!

GOOD article, Bloom!

All quotes from: http://www.giftfromwithin.org/html/cptsd-understanding-treatment.html

 

[Sethe]

I'm really not sure which definition helps me. I'm a little triggered by the article, so I'm gonna take a breather.

 

[BloomInWinter]

Yeah, got triggered the first 4 or 5 attempts to read it...still can't do the whole article yet. Profoundly speaks to my experience.

 

[kenny price]

I was in the gay community scene for 20 years, and that caused complex trauma. I was young, attractive, rich and promiscuous.

 

[anthony]

I was in the gay community scene for 20 years, and that caused complex trauma. I was young, attractive, rich and promiscuous.

Kenny, how exactly does being gay, rich, young, promiscuous and within a gay community equal complex trauma, may I ask?

 

[scott_1971_h]

Part of complex trauma involves having no viable escape. Being gay certainly does not automatically mean trauma (other than the socio-political environment it is immersed in). Maybe interpersonal exploitation, which is definitely prevalent in the "Gay Community" (<-- could you be more specific), but I think you have been more traumatised by the familial relationships you have had than the ones you have had since.
Scott

 

[scott_1971_h]

Reading the article, I was wondering if they had had my mother in a straight jacket for an hour or two. Lordy, no wonder I have PTSD... and I am *FURIOUS* that so many people knew exactly what was going on and did NOTHING WHATSOEVER to help. Rather triggered...
Scott

 

[jeeps for now]

Early life trauma begets more trauma later in life, partly because of risk-taking behaviors. In my case, my dysfunctional family of origin maintained my traumatized 'affect' through miscategorizing me into a helpless role, while society at large condemned that 'affect'. It's a double edged sword.

 

[scott_1971_h]

I was in the gay community scene for 20 years, and that caused complex trauma. I was young, attractive, rich and promiscuous.

Umm just one more thing... I've been all those things except rich, and that was AFTER I had developed PTSD...

 

[Klmisc]

It's difficult finding the balance and acceptance in yourself between who you are and what your experience has been. More importantly, not using your past as a definition of who you are but why you are. As important as it is for us to be able to label our experience and define it, it still doesn't make it go away. I have found in the past three years that the only thing that makes it better is by allowing yourself to be as happy as you possibly can be. The fear of happiness is what hooked me for decades... It can be really amazing to learn who you actually are, especially when it's for the first time.
My first trauma happened when I was an infant and continued into my '30's. This article totally describes my childhood.

 

[just me here]

the real clincher for me was when I read that a common experience of those of us with the "diagnosis" of CPTSD is the experience of having a family support system that suddenly and permanently reverses to become a source of stress, even to the point that seeking support from the family group brings only punishment and anger.

When that happened to me, I was not immediately plunged into a life of PTSD, but it affected every interpersonal relationship I have ever had since, and left me unprepared for the "normal" stresses of life and vulnerable to the big ones that came along later.

I guess I see the distinction in the cumulative nature, the build-up that leads to the sobbing on the side of the road after a close call in traffic that would only make most people curse or flip someone off, maybe road rage a little .