What is complex trauma?

[cupfish]

I did not volunteer to go to war. I was born into it. If you sign up for the military and bad things happen, that is part of the deal. It is different. It is a risky choice, being a solider. Or a cop, or firefighter. A soldier's trauma was entirely avoidable, so for me it is the voiceless victims -- the children -- who suffer more. Sorry, it's just how I feel.

By the time any human gets PTSD, from any source, they have my full compassion. Never a question.

 

[Recovery4Me]

A soldier's trauma was entirely avoidable

voiceless victims -- the children

We am probably tougher than the soldiers, the accident victims, all the adult sufferers because we were robbed of childhood and emerged victorious in spite of having our minds twisted from the crib. This is where the most suffering lies, with the people who were brutalized as children

I am not part of your collective. I am not tougher than those paraplegics that I took care of, nor the soldiers that screamed, "Cover." and trembled under the desk or in the doorway within my class period after taking out the invisible enemy. Nor am I tougher than any I met while I lived on base, nor could I match the courage of our secret section that rescue the civies, the homeless vet on the corner or those resting within the graves of Arlington. But what I do have is the respect to those who gave their minds, bodies, and sometimes soul in circumstances beyond their control...to save others.

I have a voice now...I am not part of your "we".

 

[anthony]

I am going to say something controversial: when I hear about adults who have gone through trauma and are suffering from PTSD I think I had experienced their total trauma events by about age 4.

Not controversial IMHO... but a little misguided. You're associating cPTSD with childhood trauma, when that is far from the fact. cPTSD is an outcome to when a person lives through complex traumatic situations. Childhood abuse by itself is not necessarily complex, and in fact, a very slim minority of abused children who get PTSD, actually fit cPTSD.

Interestingly... you compared yourself to soldiers. The facts are stacking up quite quickly that soldiers of multiple operations fit cPTSD more than PTSD due to the exposure and complexity of the trauma they're experiencing, and worse yet to your own believed controversy, they're becoming more standard fitting cPTSD than those with childhood trauma.

The problem with all this right now, is that there isn't a cPTSD diagnosis, and the original conceptions of this diagnosis were based by a childhood sufferer arguing for inclusion within diagnostic manuals, though those manuals have limitations on crossing between personality disorders which are related to adolescence and below. That very aspect is also in much dispute presently, as research is discovering that personality can, and does, actually change in adulthood when exposed to complex traumatic situations.

An example of this, is that cPTSD always included POW's, yet to be a POW you are typically an adult. By definition presently, you can't be diagnosed with personality reformation as an adult because it was always stated it happened prior to adolescence. The DSM has dropped its Axis system as a result of much new research on personality formation, more so, personality change after adolescence. Stay tuned to see what develops with the DSM over the coming decades.

So what you're saying isn't controversial, and actually not very accurate either in the scope of research and conclusions being formed in the last 5+ years about personality and complex traumatic effect. You're going to be quite shocked I think once a cPTSD diagnosis and subsequent data continues to form, as you will see a lot of adults who endure combat, those taken hostage for prolonged periods as an adult, those who get snatched up at 17 or so and sent into the sex trade industry for years before they may escape, and so forth, all fall into cPTSD.

Childhood trauma will be a minority of cases for it. It's like people perceive combat trauma is a majority for PTSD, when that is far from factual. It is a minority for PTSD diagnosis, civilian trauma is the majority.

 

[Lucycat]

yet to be a POW you are obviously an adult.

Disagree. I believe there were many POW children in WW2 and these days there are many child-soldiers.

 

[Nyssa]

@cupfish,

Sometimes I'm in the mood to believe I had it the worst.

My intellect disagrees with that line of thinking. Comparing levels of pain contradicts my world and ethical views. Still, sometimes, I can see my brain forming that vindictive thoughts of "I've been through the worst".

I noticed this line of thinking comes from a certain emotional state. As a set of rationalization to pre-existing emotions I tend to ignore. So I have come to see that layer of thoughts as a useless (if not dangerous) process. I'd rather ignore it and look at the emotions themselves.

For me, there's the feeling of outrage looking at what was done. The hurt of not having been heard and helped. My current feeling of isolation, coming from the lack of love and connection with others in my present life. Well... that's about it.

None of this has much to do with other people's traumas and suffering... It's about my pain, the way I deal with it, and the way others see it or fail to see it.

It helps me to focus on my underlying emotions like that. Otherwise, I tend to get stuck in a downward spiral where I am more and more angry and frustrated at... my past, others, humanking, life. I've been there, it doesn't end well.

Of course, this is just me. Your opinion on this is not necessarily fueled by emotions that would be worth exploring.

 

[KwanYingirl]

This is not a contest. Fair is NOT giving each person the same thing;?fair is giving each individual what THEY need.

 

[Chava]

those who get snatched up at 17 or so and sent into the sex trade industry for years before they may escape, and so forth, all fall into cPTSD.

Childhood trauma will be a minority of cases for it.

Not sure how CSA is different. Plus it would wreck the sense of safety since the designated protectors never existed. But understandably, also room for issues like personality disorders too. The CPTSD model describe by Judith Herman, whether that will ever resemble what sticks or not, fits for a lot of people who've endured ongoing abuse within the home. It's not quite like personality disorder...fuzzy areas around "self" and "other" but also dissociation, whether mild or to a degree that can also be considered a dissociative disorder.

 

[anthony]

You need to research personality disorders and the cross over between them and cPTSD concept models. Sorry, but not going to explain it all again here, it exists in discussions here and elsewhere on the web, books and such.

 

[Chava]

I have researched it, thanks.

 

[anthony]

Then you know the contention between cPTSD and personality disorders, and what constitutes diagnosis for a personality disorder, hence I stated 17 years of age and not CSA generally.

 

[TonyG]

I have to say that we all are suffering, I don't think there is a scale for trauma, mine is pretty bad, but I had a normal up bringing, I have friends that Were deployed in war zones over the last ten years the burden they carry is something I can not imagine, You are also suffering. The thing we all have in common is how we feel about what we have done and seen, I have images in my head I have carried for thirty years yet I can't imagine how you are feeling, you can't honestly say that a soldier that had his mate die in his arms could not feel what you are feeling, I sat with someone while he bleed to death and his best mate was sitting next to him dead with horrific injuries, I don't think anyone of us can really know how someone else feels about there trauma.

 

[Deleted member 29899]

I just found this site a few minutes ago. I have only read a few responses, there are so many... Am excited about finding this forum. I have been on another site for PTSD and no one knew what this is or has C-PTSD. Really- it is somewhat of a different ball game. Instead of being sick from one horrific trauma, I am sick from many many traumas over the course of a lifetime and no one quite related. Not one person was afraid to go to bed, like I am every single night, nor were any of them afraid to wake up every day. I live in constant hypervigilance. They are absolutely hurting for sure, I do not minimize that but no one quite related. I was searching online for 'I am afraid to sleep' and 'myptsd' came up. I hope I can find tips for survival here, and meet some nice people. I am literally trying to survive.