What’s the difference between ptsd and Cptsd

Hi! Thanks for asking.

The short version is that PTSD usually results from a singular traumatic incident and is reflected in emotional responses to that incident, while C-PTSD is a result of long-term sustained trauma and results in longer term behavioral issues.

The longer explanation, below the cut, is heavily referenced from Out of the Storm and Out of the Fog, sister websites detailing PTSD and C-PTSD. TW, of course, for descriptions of both and their potential causes.

Keep reading

can you explain the difference between ptsd and complex ptsd? i cant seem to grasp what cptsd is for some reason!! thanks eevee (hope you have a great day 💕)

an-actual-real-live-eevee:

all right, so the first difference is the cause. c-ptsd is caused by long-term captivity or entrapment and/or chronic maltreatment by a caregiver/person you rely on. ptsd is caused by a single traumatic event, like sexual assault, warfare, or a traffic collision.

the second difference is in symptoms. ptsd consists of four main symptoms: reliving the event (flashbacks/nightmares/triggers), avoiding situations that remind you of the event, negative changes in beliefs and feelings, and being hypervigilant, or hyperaware of your surroundings. c-ptsd has additional symptoms, which are: difficulty with emotional regulation, dissociation and/or the possible forgetting of traumatic events, distorted self-perception, distorted perceptions of the perpetrator, difficulty in relationships with others, and struggling with one’s system of meaning (i.e. having feelings of hopelessness and despair, or experiencing a loss of faith).

so, for instance, because my ptsd resulted from multiple things including long-term exposure to abuse, I’d be considered to have c-ptsd. but I just say ptsd because it’s easier.

anyway, I hope this helps!

A core dilemma of C-PTSD is that your longing for connection conflicts with memories that tell you relationships aren’t safe.

Arielle Schwartz, “The Complex PTSD Workbook: A Mind-Body Approach to Regaining Emotional Control & Becoming Whole” (via pdxyogini)

How to Support Someone With PTSD/C-PTSD

outsideperception:

***This also applies to people who are supporting those diagnosed with DESNOS or trauma-based disorders***

Be patient. This is the first step to being a strong foundation for someone with this ailment; it can take days, months or years for the one you love to open up about what happened, express general emotions or even leave the home. When you show that you are patient with them in every way, you are showing them that you love them through thick and thin.

Educate yourself about PTSD/C-PTSD. This can be said about any learning disability, physical disability, mental health issue or neurodiverse diagnosis. Go to support groups, do your research and ask questions to specialists. Most importantly, ask the individual you are supporting if they are willing to explain how they are impacted on a daily basis. Please note that not every sufferer will want to elaborate further.

Do “normal”/conventional things with them. It sounds a little overdone, but people with this disorder have gone through anything but a stable surrounding, environment or event. Taking them to a movie, a walk in the park, out to the beach, for a picnic, to dinner or lunch, social event, etc. will show them that they are deserving of something more than the trauma they’ve been through.

Be accepting about unsaid/mixed feelings. Remember, it’s really challenging for a majority of people with this disorder to completely vocalize what they’ve been through. It takes a lot of time, specifically for people with C-PTSD, to express their feelings because sometimes they just can’t find the right words to explain it.

Learn to be an attentive listener. I’ll be making a post about this in the near future. Ask the right questions without accusing language such as, “WHY do you feel ______.” Instead try an alternative such as, “What about _____ is making you feel _______?”. Try to avoid saying “everything will be okay” or generally invalidating their feelings. When you invalidate someone’s feelings, they ultimately feel like they can’t trust you and that you don’t take their feelings seriously.

Minimize stress at home – aim to make the home as comfortable as possible. The last thing someone suffering with a trauma-based illness needs is instability within their home life. Give them time to relax and decompress from the daily stresses.

Create structure/routine in every day life. Someone who has been through trauma (typically) craves structure and consistency in order to remember that they have control over their lives. Having a set routine helps restore a sense of self-empowerment and security in the person dealing with their trauma-based struggles.

Encourage their strengths and talents. This will help the sufferer see through a different lense; a lense that shows them their ability, especially their capability of recovering and moving forward. The more someone grows from their talents, the closer they are to establishing and strengthening their sense of self again.

(Intimate relationships) Assure them that you are there for them and love them regardless of their illness. When you tell the person you love that their illness does not define them and that your love transcends beyond that, their trust will rebuild. Abandonment issues are rampant in those with trauma-based illnesses (although at the same time, sufferers get in modes of prolonged self-isolation). The more you assure them and show it through your actions, the more that trust rebuilds and they are less likely to become co-dependent.

Help them make new, happy memories. The last thing someone with PTSD/C-PTSD/DESNOS/etc. wants to think about is the past. Making new memories will help them move forward and start enjoying their new life.

Learn about the person’s triggers and stressors. Yes, they are different. In short, “a trigger is a symptomatic reaction from one of the five senses (sight, sound, touch, taste and smell) based only upon a direct connection to an actual traumatic event experienced,” while “a stressor is something that creates an increase in adrenaline that then triggers your internal stress response mechanism…Think iceberg of emotions: a buildup of negative emotion which peaks to a response, usually anger.“ (both courtesy of myPTSD.com). The more you become in tune with what is problematic to the person, the better you will get at navigating communication, help and support.

Be compassionate in how you approach things. It can be hard as the world tells us frequently to harden up; when you’re supporting someone who has suffered from trauma, yelling could be a stressor. Certain sayings can cause a downward spiral (especially if the perpetrator said those things verbatim, or the saying could be related to an event that the sufferer has gone through). Compassion is vital and lets the person know that they can trust you and continue to move forward.

Allow the person to talk about the past. Without saying, “Stop living in the past”. As mentioned in my previous post about what NOT to say to someone with PTSD/C-PTSD, that is an extremely invalidating and belittling thing to say to someone; sometimes the sufferer needs to talk about it in order to further their recovery.

Understand that trauma changes people. Once you can grasp that trauma really changes people and how they react to things, you can then begin to learn how to approach the person with a compassionate scope.

Know that identity confusion/issues are a common response with people who have trauma-based illnesses, especially in CSA survivors. It can take a lot of therapy and time for the dissociation and identity issues to subside; when you get more educated about trauma-specific illnesses, you’ll notice that this comes up a lot. Responding to someone who is confused about their identity, at that point in time, requires assurance. Telling them that you support their decisions and approaching it with openness will help clear their mind instead of making them feel like they’re going in a downward spiral.

Remain calm during emotional outbursts. This can be challenging because everyone has an innate fight-or-flight response. When you stay at the same tone of voice, give them some distance and say something such as, “Perhaps you need some time to decompress.” or “What can I do to help you?” the person will most likely start to gather themselves emotionally.

Apply self-care. In order to continue supporting someone with PTSD/C-PTSD, you need to care for yourself too, otherwise you’ll suffer from caregiver’s burnout. As they always say, “Take care of yourself or you can’t take care of anyone else.”

C-PTSD Symptoms

complexptsd:

Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a type of PTSD that is caused by severe, repeated trauma, such that involves captivity, manipulation, and entrapment. It is trauma that is long-term and involves an inability for escape. This trauma occurs long enough to deform one’s sense of identity and self.

There is no mandated list of criteria for C-PTSD in the DSM-5, but there are six clusters of symptoms that are currently used for diagnosis. These major, core symptoms of C-PTSD are:

Emotional Dysregulation – This involves severe mood swings/dysphoria, impulsive behaviour, self-harm, and suicidal preoccupations. This could result in explosive anger, or extremely inhibited anger, or both. It could also result in either compulsive or extremely inhibited sexuality (i.e. hypersexuality or sex repulsion/trauma-induced asexuality, or both.) This also involves difficulty expressing and communicating emotions.

Consciousness Instability – Forgetting traumatic events or reliving them is a part of a struggle with consciousness. Sometimes reliving trauma can be either through intrusive thought, or preoccupation with the trauma. This also involves dissociation, which can cause severe consciousness interruption and memory gaps.

Self-Perception Issues – The trauma that causes C-PTSD messes with the ego, so its symptoms results in a skewed perception of self. One might feel helpless, full of shame and guilt, like a constant victim or a horrible person, feel defiled and disgusting, and/or believe they are completely separate from other human beings altogether.

Distorted Views of the Perpetrator – Becoming preoccupied with a perpetrator, whether it’s allotting total power to them, developing a preoccupation with them (such as revenge or seeking to find others exactly like them), or clinging onto the idea of being special to the perpetrator, would all be examples of distorted views.

Struggle With Interpersonal Relationships – Avoidance, distrust, paranoia, a sense of inability to connect with others. One with C-PTSD might also be constantly searching for a ‘saviour’ figure, and could also go to great lengths for self-protection.

Loss or Change in System of Meanings – The beliefs one held before trauma changing or going away completely, such as religious faith, or one being succumbed with despair or feeling like there is no hope.

Outside of the six clusters of general symptoms, the other symptoms often associated with C-PTSD are:

Revictimization – Those with C-PTSD are particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Many will be revictimized if they are not taught how to read red flags, as those with C-PTSD may seek to relieve trauma without realizing it because they don’t know anything else.

Hypervigilance – Increased anxiety and sensory input will make the survivor hyperaware of everything in their environment. This may result in paranoia, in extreme jumpiness, etc. Someone with C-PTSD will be constantly feeling like they are in a dangerous situation, and thus be hypervigilant due to that. (This may cause someone to be constantly in fight mode, or flight mode, or freeze mode, etc.)

Unexplained Physical Symptoms – Hypervigilance exhausts the body. This is what most professionals believe leads to chronic pain, gastrointestinal issues, headaches, nausea, chest pain, and various other physical symptoms that range from mild to severe. This pain cannot be explained by other existing medical conditions.

Dissociation – Degrees of dissociation range. It is common for those with C-PTSD to deal with chronic dissociation, which can lead to emotional numbness, feeling unable to focus, inability to connect to one’s identity or reality (depersonalization and derealization), and memory loss. To a severe degree, it may result in identity splitting, which would lead to comorbidity with Dissociate Identity Disorder.

Substance Abuse – It’s not uncommon for those with C-PTSD to struggle with substance abuse, whether it’s alcohol, drugs, smoking, etc. Some may also use sexual contact in the same way.

Attachment Issues – C-PTSD can cause various problems with attachment, including hyperempathy or a lack of empathy, an inability to accurately perceive other people’s motives, isolation, seeking out codependency, feeling unable to depend on others at all, and not knowing where personal boundaries lie for themselves or others.

Cognition Problems – Executive dysfunction, inability to pay attention, communication problems, sensory overload, object impermanence.

C-PTSD (Complex Post traumatic Stress Disorder)

betterthandarkchocolate:

The symptoms of PTSD apply well to people who have experienced a discrete or short-lived traumatic event, such as a motor vehicle accident, natural disaster, or rape. However, the symptoms of PTSD do not always completely map onto the experiences of people who have experienced chronic, repeated, or long-lasting traumatic events, such as childhood sexual and/or physical abuse, domestic violence, or captivity (such as being in a prisoner of war camp).

The traumatic events connected to Complex PTSD are long-lasting and generally involve some form of physical or emotional captivity, such as childhood sexual and/or physical abuse or domestic violence. In these types of events, a victim is under the control of another person and does not have the ability to easily escape.

Symptoms of Complex PTSD

The following symptoms stem from exposure to a chronic traumatic event where a person felt captive.

Emotion Regulation Problems- People with Complex PTSD experience difficulties managing their emotions. They may experience severe depression, thoughts of suicide, or have difficulties controlling their anger.

Changes in Consciousness- Following exposure to a chronic traumatic event, a person may repress memories of the traumatic event, experience flashbacks, or experience dissociation.

Changes in How a Person Views Themselves- Symptoms in this category include feelings of helplessness, shame, guilt, or feeling detached and different from others.

Changes in How the Victim Views the Perpetrator- A person with Complex PTSD may feel like he has no power over a perpetrator (the perpetrator has complete power in a relationship). In Complex PTSD, people might also become preoccupied with their relationship with a perpetrator (for example, constant thoughts of wanting revenge).

Changes in Personal Relationships- These symptoms include problems with relationships, such as isolating oneself or being distrusting of others.

Changes in How One Views the World- People exposed to chronic or repeated traumatic events may also lose faith in humanity or have a sense of hopelessness about the future.

Complex PTSD can be a debilitating condition. Most people with Complex PTSD also meet the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis. They may also be at greater risk for abusing substances as a way of trying to cope with severe emotional pain. Many people with Complex PTSD also engage in deliberate self-harm. If you have been exposed to a chronic traumatic event, it is important to seek out help.

Childhood trauma can affect a person so greatly because of its prescence in the time of developmemt. Events that would normally change a person become embedded in every fiber of one’s identity. It is this time of life which is so crucial to your entire future. This is the unique nature of C-PTSD, which doesn’t merely change a person, it creates them. It builds every trait, interest, and understanding of the world with this toxin. Nothing is unaffected or unaltered because all there is to alter was created by the trauma. Moving forward is not moving back to before the trauma, it is in every essence a rebirth and reeducation of life itself. To move on we can not erase, because to erase trauma’s effect we in theory erase ourselves.

Understanding Childhood C-PTSD (via karenopico)