C-PTSD & PTSD

Have you experienced a traumatic event? Are you suffering from lingering fear and anxiety? Do you feel like you no longer have any control over how you think, feel and behave?

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.

It is believed that PTSD affects nearly four percent of the U.S. adult population. While it is usually linked with veterans who’ve experienced combat, PTSD occurs in all people regardless of age, race, nationality or culture. In fact, women are twice as likely to experience PTSD than men.

What Is Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)?

You may have heard the term complex PTSD, or C-PTSD, and wondered how it’s different from PTSD. The simplest way to think about it: PTSD often develops after a single traumatic event — a car accident, an assault, a natural disaster. Complex PTSD develops after trauma that was repeated or prolonged, often over months or years. Childhood abuse or neglect, domestic violence, human trafficking, and long-term exposure to war or captivity are common causes.

People with C-PTSD experience the core symptoms of PTSD — flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance — but often with additional struggles layered on top:

• Difficulty managing intense emotions or feeling numb much of the time
• A harsh, persistent negative view of yourself (“I’m broken,” “I’m unlovable”)
• Trouble trusting others or maintaining close relationships
• Feeling detached from your body or the world around you

If that sounds familiar, it doesn’t mean you’re “too damaged” for therapy to help. It means your nervous system adapted to survive something prolonged — and with the right support, it can learn a new way of being.