This is going to be a long haul, okay? I will break this into sections so that it isn’t so much to take in at once. When you see (☆☆☆☆) it means there is a break in information, and you can step away if need be, without getting lost.
⚠️TRIGGER WARNING: READ AT OWN DECRETION⚠️
!!This should in no way be used as a diagnosis!!
People diagnosed with Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD or CPTSD) are often victims of prolonged childhood trauma that questions their sense of security and of self (Davis, 2019), usually spanning months if not years. This could be a result of emotional, physical, or mental abuse; sexual abuse; domestic violence; growing up in a war zone or being held captive; or human trafficking; among others. This trauma stops the part of your brain that regulates emotion, the amygdala, from growing as it should, stunting its growth at only 80% of its true size (Garrett, 2019). The growth of the children’s brain is also damaged because the child’s neurological and psychological development, leaving the function of their brain permanently damaged for the rest of their life. Because of this it is considered a Developmental Trauma Disorder, or DTD, because the effects aren’t usually seen until later in life, after the child can escape the traumatic situation. Often, children that have experienced these traumas can be classified as ACEs, or as experiencing Adverse Childhood Experiences.
CPTSD is not acknowledged in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Five (DSM-V or DSM-5), but rather grouped together with standard Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Because of this error, Complex PTSD isn’t accepted as its own stand-alone disorder and most do not get diagnosed with it unless psychologists/psychiatrists accept it as its own disorder (Davis, 2019). This, however, can be very detrimental to those who actually have the disorder, since the symptoms of CPTSD are much more severe than those of PTSD (Garret, 2019).
Physical Symptoms of CPTSD:
Some of these are symptoms I personally have and others are ones I have read about/researched:
Risk of developing immune issues, diabetes, and heart diseases in the future
Increased levels of adrenaline which causes shaking and high blood pressure
Headaches and/or migraines
Loosing large chunks of time throughout the day for no reason
Sleeping with hands on/around your neck or touching your neck excessively
Raise in body temperature
Worsening of PMS symptoms
Auditory processing problems
Emotional/Mental Symptoms of CPTSD:
Some of these are symptoms I personally have and others are ones I have read about/researched:
Compartmentalizing way too well
Wonder if you manipulate people to love you/feeling like you are genuinely unlovable
Too good at adjusting to new circumstances/can make a home in the worst situations and have no problem with it
The irrational side and rational side of yourself constantly fighting (knowing you are freaking out over nothing but being unable to stop it)
Unexplainable feeling of doom/dying early
A. Lot. Of. Anger. And. Barely. Contained. Rage.
Good in a crisis, only to fall apart later and/or over little things
A delayed grief process (mostly due to being unable to regulate your emotions well)
Basic inability to control emotions (aka light switch emotions)
Extremely violent intrusive thoughts
Somatic/emotional flashbacks (unlike PTSD, there is not a visual component to these flashbacks)
Imagining yourself in horrible situations where you get all the sympathy (side effect of not being loved enough as a child)
Extreme attachment issues on both sides of the spectrum (isolation and clinging)
Feels like no one knows you truly/don’t trust anyone/can’t tell people how they feel
Manic/depressive episodes
Obsessive need for revenge
Hypo/Hyper sexualizing yourself
Mistaking hypervigilance for being an empath
Associating unrelated things to trauma
Little to no memory of childhood/time before trauma
Other mental illnesses including depression, anxiety, maladaptive daydreaming, age regression, suicidal thoughts, borderline personality disorder, dissociative disorders, somatization disorder, etc.
Loss of hope/inability to feel hope
Chronic nightmares/night terrors
Hyperarousal (easily startled)
Feeling like you are never enough for others/constantly trying to prove that you are (aka overcompensating)
Panic attacks/anxiety attacks
Some of these are symptoms I personally have and others are ones I have read about/researched:
Problems with religious beliefs/faith
Feeling as if there is a gaping hole physically in the center of your chest, often agonizing
Often imagines a little child hiding within your skin/beside you watching at all times
Very good with/kind to/understanding of children and strangers
Imagining scenarios at night to calm yourself enough to fall asleep
Things can’t touch your neck
People can’t stand behind you
Rewatching/rereading movies/TV shows/books repeatedly
Psychoanalyze everyone you meet
Extremely careless with own life but extremely protective over anyone else’s, especially those you care for
Looks for a hero/rescuerer/parental role to fulfill for friends
Feeling intense jealousy over those who got help
Hating intimacy (emotional or physical)
Drawn towards hard sciences/mental sciences
Intense need to be loved but hating it/not looking for it
The profound sense that you are okay with being the villain and you may even strive to be one (and not in the cute ‘I’d love to be Loki way’,, but rather completely fine with betraying/hurting/killing others)
Sitting on the floor of your shower because you can’t even imagine standing up
Having a problem with authority, either by hating it and acting out or being terrified of it
Never let yourself stop moving long enough to be in your own head/too scared to allow yourself to think
You cannot escape flashbacks until you deal with your trauma head on. I will tell you right now I have been healing from mine for 3 years and I’m not even halfway done. Just be patient. You have to rewire your entire brain all over again. It’s going to be hard because those with CPTSD have no 'model’ for what it’s like (Garrett, 2019), but you’ve got this. I believe it you <3
Heal your inner child (I do this by doing thing I never did as a child. I jump on my bed. I have dance parties alone in my room. I sneak snacks at midnight. I run with my arms wide and wave them like airplane wings. Whatever your healing looks like, do it)
SAMHSA’s National Helpline: 1-800-662-4537
NAMI Helpline: 1-800-950-6264
NIMH Helpline: 866-615-6464
Mental Health America Hotline: text MHA to 741741
Crisis Text Line: text CONNECT to 741741
National Suicide Hotline: 988
https://cptsdfoundation.org/2019/09/03/what-is-complex-post-traumatic-stress-disorder-cptsd/
https://www.psychalive.org/injured-not-broken-why-its-so-hard-to-know-you-have-cptsd/
https://themighty.com/topic/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/habits-living-with-complex-ptsd
THESE ARE NOT DIAGNOSTIC TESTS. DO NOT TAKE THE RESULTS OF THESE QUIZZES AS A SURE-SIGN THAT YOU HAVE CPTSD
Main post can be found here.
titsay
blakekathryn
jbbartram-illu
areudirty
annaxmalina
kianamaiart
snowghoul
izzy806
baratheonpilled
