Therapy for Trauma, PTSD, cPTSD

Trauma

Most people will experience trauma in their lifetime whether it’s a car accident, abuse or neglect, the sudden death of a loved one, a violent criminal act, exposure to the violence of war, or a natural disaster.

While some people can recover from trauma over time with the love and support of family and friends and bounce back with resiliency, others may discover the effects of lasting trauma, which can cause a person to live with deep emotional pain, fear, confusion, or posttraumatic stress far after the event has passed.

In these circumstances, the support, guidance, and assistance of a trauma therapist are fundamental to healing.

Trauma Symptoms

According to the four types of symptoms listed in the

DSM-5.

Avoidance Symptoms

Avoiding specific locations, sights, situations, and sounds that serve as reminders of the event
Anxiety, depression, numbness, or guilt

Re-experiencing Symptoms

Intrusive thoughts, nightmares, or flashbacks

Hyperarousal Symptoms

Anger, irritability, and hypervigilance
Aggressive, reckless behavior, including self-harm
Sleep disturbances

Negative Mood and Cognition Symptoms

Loss of interest in activities that were once considered enjoyable
Difficulty remembering details of the distressing event
Change in habits or behavior since the trauma

PTSD

Posttraumatic stress disorder – also known as PTSD – is a mental health challenge that may occur in individuals who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event such as a natural disaster, a terrorist act, an act of war, a serious accident, rape, or any other violent personal assault.

What are the Symptoms of PTSD?

People with PTSD often experience intense thoughts and feelings related to their traumatic experiences. These can last for a long time after the initial event. Many people with PTSD also relive the event through flashbacks and nightmares.

People with PTSD often feel intense emotions such as fear, anger, sadness, and detachment from friends, family, and community members. They often avoid people and situations that remind them of the traumatic event. Ordinary sounds or incidents such as a door banging or accidental touch in a crowd may cause a strong and uncontrollable reaction.

cPTSD
(Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder)

On the surface, it may seem like PTSD and Complex PTSD are one in the same. They both come as the result of something deeply traumatic, they cause flashbacks, nightmares and insomnia, and they can make people live in fear even when they are safe. But at the very heart of C-PTSD – what causes it, how it manifests internally, the lifelong effects (including medically), and its ability to reshape a person’s entire outlook on life – is what makes it considerably different.

Complex PTSD comes in response to chronic traumatization over the course of months or, more often, years. This can include:

verbal, emotional, physical, and/or sexual abuses
domestic violence or repeatedly witnessing violence or abuse
traumatic loss of a parent/caregiver
moving between foster homes
living in a war zone
being held captive
human trafficking and other organized rings of abuse

While there are exceptional circumstances where adults develop C-PTSD, it is most often seen in those whose trauma occurred in childhood. For those who are older, being at the complete control of another person (often unable to meet their most basic needs without them), coupled with no foreseeable end in sight, can break down the psyche, the survivor’s sense of self, and affect them on this deeper level.

For those who go through this as children, because the brain is still developing and they’re just beginning to learn who they are as an individual, understand the world around them, and build their first relationships – severe trauma interrupts the entire course of their psychologic and neurologic development.

When an adult experiences a traumatic event, they have more tools to understand what is happening to them, their place as a victim of that trauma, and know they should seek support even if they don’t want to. Children don’t possess most of these skills, or even the ability to separate themselves from another’s unconscionable actions.

The psychological and developmental implications of that become complexly woven and spun into who that child believes themselves to be — creating a messy web of core beliefs much harder to untangle than the flashbacks, nightmares and other posttraumatic symptoms that come later.

Another important thing to know is that the trauma to children resulting in C-PTSD (as well as dissociative disorders) is usually deeply interpersonal within that child’s caregiving system. Separate from both the traumatic events and the perpetrator, there is often an added component of neglect, hot-and-cold affections from a primary caregiver, or outright invalidation of the trauma if a child does try to speak up.

These disorganized attachments and mixed messages from those who are supposed to provide love, comfort and safety – all in the periphery of extreme trauma – can create even more unique struggles that PTSD-sufferers alone don’t always face.

You are more likely to develop complex PTSD if:

you experienced trauma at an early age
the trauma lasted for a long time
escape or rescue were unlikely or impossible
you have experienced multiple traumas
you were harmed by someone close to you.

Symptoms

Symptoms of cPTSD can overlap with symptoms of PTSD, but can also include:

difficulty with emotion regulation
feeling very angry or distrustful towards the world
constant feelings of emptiness or hopelessness
feeling as if you are permanently damaged or worthless
feeling as if you are completely different to other people
feeling like nobody can understand what happened to you
avoiding friendships and relationships, or finding them very difficult
often experiencing dissociative symptoms such as depersonalisation or derealisation
physical symptoms, such as headaches, dizziness, chest pains and stomach aches
regular suicidal feelings.

You may notice that some of these symptoms can also resemble other mental health disorders, such as borderline personality disorder, avoidant personality disorder, anxiety, dissociative disorders, or reactive attachment disorder and oppositional defiant disorder (children).

Because of this it is important to work with a therapist who is trained in identifying cPTSD so that you receive care and treatment that addresses the source of your symptoms.

If you or someone you know matches the trauma symptoms listed above, I am confident that I can support your healing with a safe, sustainable treatment plan and invite you to contact me today.