Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) symptoms extend beyond standard PTSD, including difficulties with emotional regulation, a negative self-concept (worthlessness, shame, guilt), and relationship problems (trust issues, intimacy challenges), alongside core PTSD issues like flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance, and hyperarousal, stemming from prolonged trauma. Key signs also involve dissociation (feeling unreal), chronic emptiness, and physical symptoms like fatigue or chronic pain.
While there isn't one official list of exactly 17 symptoms, C-PTSD symptoms often include core PTSD issues (flashbacks, hypervigilance, avoidance, nightmares) plus difficulties with emotional regulation, self-perception (shame, worthlessness), relationships (trust issues, isolation), and severe dissociative or somatic symptoms (feeling detached, chronic pain) due to prolonged trauma, often presented as distinct points by various mental health sources.
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) feels like being trapped in a perpetual state of threat, marked by intense emotional dysregulation (anger, emptiness, shame), distorted self-perception (worthlessness, being permanently damaged), severe relationship difficulties (distrust, isolation), and feeling detached or unreal (dissociation), all stemming from prolonged trauma. Survivors often struggle with flashbacks, hypervigilance (always feeling on edge), hopelessness, and destructive behaviors, creating a fundamental disconnect from themselves and others.
What is complex PTSD?
PTSD includes symptoms of reliving the event, avoiding trauma reminders, and feeling on edge. Complex PTSD includes those symptoms but also requires additional symptoms like difficulty with managing emotions, feeling worthless, and withdrawing or feeling distant from others.
A comprehensive review of the litera- ture on complex trauma suggests seven primary domains of impairment ob- served in exposed children: attachment, biology, affect regulation, dissociation (ie, alterations in consciousness), behav- ioral regulation, cognition, and self-con- cept.
PTSD flashbacks are often triggered by things that remind the person of the traumatic event they experienced. These triggers can be external, such as sights, sounds, smells, or locations that are associated with the trauma.
Relaxation and sleep may become difficult, leading to symptoms such as insomnia or restless sleep. Additionally, hyperarousal can manifest as irritability, anger, aggressive behaviour, and difficulty concentrating due to racing thoughts or distractibility.
Pete Walker's “Complex Trauma: From Surviving to Thriving,” explores the four F's of complex trauma, fight, flight, freeze, and fawn, to help survivors understand their coping mechanisms and reactions, and begin to work towards actions that may better serve them in their life and relationships.
10 Things Not To Say To Someone With CPTSD
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) physical symptoms stem from chronic stress, involving digestive issues (stomachaches, IBS), chronic pain (headaches, muscle tension), sleep problems (insomnia), heightened senses, fatigue, and circulatory issues (cold hands/feet), all reflecting the body's overactive threat response, leading to physical distress alongside emotional turmoil.
Key Actions: Cut down on sugar and processed foods and replace them with more complex carbohydrates, such as wholegrain bread, porridge or brown rice. It is helpful to eat what is called a low Glycemic Load (GL) diet that avoids sugar and refined carbohydrates.
What is CPTSD?
This means that you might not even notice. Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), a condition born from prolonged or repeated trauma like childhood abuse or ongoing stress, often hides in plain sight. Its symptoms can feel like “just who you are” rather than signs of a deeper struggle.
Total occupational and social impairment, due to such symptoms as: gross impairment in thought processes or communication; persistent delusions or hallucinations; grossly inappropriate behavior; persistent danger of hurting self or others; intermittent inability to perform activities of daily living (including ...
Although much research has been undertaken on CPTSD recently, no consensus has been established on prevalence rates for CPTSD. Estimations vary widely, ranging from 1 % to 8 % in the general population and up to 50 % in mental health facility populations (Maercker et al., 2022).
Difficulty controlling emotions.
It's common for someone suffering from C-PTSD to lose control over their emotions, which can manifest as explosive anger, persistent sadness, depression, and suicidal thoughts. They may feel like they're living in a dream or have trouble feeling happy.
While C-PTSD is closely related to dissociation, it is not merely a dissociative disorder (Loewenstein, 2020). PTSD and dissociative symptoms are closely related but are not the same construct (Fung et al., 2023a).
With flop trauma response, a person becomes physically or mentally unresponsive — sort of similar to how an animal will play dead when they feel threatened. Some people become so overwhelmed with fear that they faint or physically collapse, while others will black out or lose consciousness.
CPTSD episodes can be triggered by certain environmental stimuli that evoke memories of past trauma. Specific locations, sounds, or even smells may trigger overwhelming anxiety or flashbacks. For example, an individual who experienced trauma in a particular place may find returning to that location excruciating.
While BPD and CPTSD do exhibit overlap in the type of difficulties across affect regulation, self-concept, and interpersonal relationships, there are also important distinctions that are reflected in how symptoms manifest for either CPTSD or BPD.
These symptoms include hallucinations, such as hearing voices or seeing things that aren't there, delusions, and disorganized thinking. In the context of PTSD psychosis, these positive symptoms often arise in response to trauma, amplifying feelings of fear, paranoia, and distress.
Proven structural changes include enlargement of the amygdala, the alarm center of the brain, and shrinkage of the hippocampus, a brain area critical to remembering the story of what happened during a traumatic experience. Functional changes alter activity of certain brain regions.
The symptoms of complex PTSD are similar to symptoms of PTSD, but may also include: feelings of worthlessness, shame and guilt. problems controlling your emotions. finding it hard to feel connected with other people.
Everyone responds to trauma in a different way, and different kinds of trauma can have different responses in the same people. The six main types of trauma responses are fight, flight, freeze, fawn, fine, and faint. All reactions to trauma are valid, but trauma should always be addressed in therapy.