How do you explain cPTSD to people?

[enterthechair]

I suspect I have cPTSD and it's something I've shared with very few people, because it's hard to explain. Most people don't know the difference between cPTSD and PTSD.

I'm not able to give a quick 5 second soundbite answer on why I get triggered by seemingly innocent things. It would take a few mins to explain why I have multiple triggers. There isn't one event in my life that caused me to feel the way I do. It was a lot of smaller events over a long period of time that (at the time) made me feel vulnerable and worthless.

 

[Dark.Green.Feathers]

Experienced chronic/longterm trauma?

I don’t like saying diagnoses to people unless I know them well. More so the experience, cuts out confusion/ideas that are already there about XYZ.

A lot of bad things happened to me growing up, what brings it back/puts me back there can be unpredictable.

Stuff like that.

 

[enterthechair]

Experienced chronic/longterm trauma?

It's more like a death of a thousand cuts rather than specific traumatic events. Like the repetition of certain things happening over and over that have sort of molded a perception of who I am in my brain.

Like several years of being bullied in middle/high school because of my weight.
Then a few difficult in college (failing classes every other semester, dropping out twice, never fitting in).
Then a few years where I was chronically unemployed, stuck in a suburb without a car or any real life friends (though I fixed this now).

None of these things were 1 reportable offense, of something so bad that happened to me that I could make a report to the police. But all of these things together affected how I view my identity.

I am reluctant to use the word trauma to people. Because they may say "Oh, you haven't gone to war. You weren't sexually assaulted. You weren't poor. Why do you think you have cPTSD?". I don't think my life was harder than anyone else's. I'm just saying, that for whatever reason, I have triggers.

 

[PamelaS]

I suspect I have cPTSD and it's something I've shared with very few people, because it's hard to explain. Most people don't know the difference between cPTSD and PTSD.

I'm not able to give a quick 5 second soundbite answer on why I get triggered by seemingly innocent things. It would take a few mins to explain why I have multiple triggers. There isn't one event in my life that caused me to feel the way I do. It was a lot of smaller events over a long period of time that (at the time) made me feel vulnerable and worthless.

I have multiple severe tramas over a long period of time. Though I am not diagnosed CPTSD, I believe I could be. I have a hard time opening up to people who don’t get it. I have been judged and rejected over and over. In my opinion people don’t know what they don’t know because they have never been exposed to it. For example, you don’t truly understand grief unless you have experienced significant loss. I like to stay safe now by staying within communities that “get it.” Hope you find good information and experiences on this forum to guide you moving forward.

 

[Sideways]

Honestly? Most folks don’t actually understand PTSD either.

It's more like a death of a thousand cuts rather than specific traumatic events.

It’s really not.

It’s having been exposed to Criteria A chronically, and having PTSD and specific symptoms in addition to PTSD.

I'm not able to give a quick 5 second soundbite answer on why I get triggered by seemingly innocent things

Something as complex as a mental illness doesn’t lend itself to a 5 second soundbite.

That’s actually okay. You don’t have to explain every time. You don’t have to explain to loads of people.

It’s typically helpful for key support people in our lives (like a significant other and our therapist) to have an understanding of what we’re going through. To achieve that understanding, it takes clear, grounded, patient conversations over time.

That said, if you want something to say:

There isn't one event in my life that caused me to feel the way I do. It was a lot of smaller events over a long period of time that (at the time) made me feel vulnerable and worthless.

this seems like a good ‘soundbite’ for why you’re struggling.

 

[KA60]

Well this is not positive but there is too much blaming being told just get over it etc. I have lost tolerance for it so my boundaries can be tough.