What is C-PTSD and What are its Symptoms?

Complex PTSD is a traumatic stress disorder. One experiences the symptoms of PTSD, along with additional symptoms. CPTSD can occur due to repeated exposure to trauma, often of an interpersonal nature. 

Symptoms of PTSD

The symptoms of PTSD include: 

• Hypervigilance: Feeling on edge constantly, worried that something triggering might occur and staying alert all the time

• Nightmares and flashbacks: Reliving the traumatic experience whenever a trigger arises or while you’re asleep

• Avoidance: Avoiding anything that reminds you of the event

• Difficulty concentrating: Brain fog, feeling like you’re just going through the motions, inability of remembering certain memories associated to the event

• Dissociation: Sense of being detached from your environment, memories, and feelings

• Desire to isolate themselves: Everything feels like a possible trigger, so you may try to isolate yourself

You can read up more about PTSD here.

Symptoms of CPTSD

Along with these, CPTSD includes:

• Inability to regulate: difficulty controlling your emotional responses to triggers

• Negative self-perception: Feeling excessive shame, guilt, anger and blaming yourself. Could also show up as low self-esteem

• Loss of belief systems: Losing trust in belief systems such as religion or other long-held beliefs because they now seem meaningless

• Difficulty maintaining secure attachments: Because CPTSD is usually interpersonal, you find it very difficult to maintain healthy relationships with friends, family, or lovers

Another symptom is somatisation of the trauma, which is how your body stores your trauma. This may manifest as:

• Nausea

• Tremors

• Fainting

• Dizziness

• Chronic Fatigue

• Tinnitus

• Hypertension

• Cardiovascular disease

• Poor sleep hygiene.

There has been a study conducted that mentions multiple comorbidities with PTSD and CPTSD, which are medically unexplainable i.e., there is no physical reason for the symptom, and yet the client struggles with it. 

While PTSD often occurs due to one traumatic event, CPTSD results from polytrauma or repeated trauma exposure such as abuse, war, childhood neglect, sexual assault, etc. You are more likely to develop CPTSD if you have experienced a traumatic event early on in life; it was inflicted by someone you know and met often. 

Some of the possible triggers for those struggling with CPTSD are often interpersonal, such as perceived rejection or abandonment. These triggers are unique to the kind of trauma that the person has been exposed to. 

PTSD and CPTSD are your body preparing you for any danger. It’s just that the response is very inappropriate for the level of perceived danger. You may respond via the 4-Fs: Fight, Flight, Freeze, or Fawn. 

Fight:

Can show up as:

• Anger

• Tense muscles

• Teeth grinding

• Physical conflict

• Hitting a pillow or a wall

• Wishing to injure or kill someone

• Yelling, arguing, or attacking verbally

Flight:

Can show up as:

• Getting agitated

• Avoiding or fleeing confrontations

• Feeling suffocated

• Pupils dilating (being able to see more vantage points for exits)

• Feeling nervous

• In extreme cases, bodily fluid elimination (sweat, but also vomit, urine, faeces, etc.)

• Excessive physical activity

• Avoiding responsibilities 

Freeze:

Can show up as:

• Body being completely paralysed due to stiff, rigid muscles.

• Immobility due to low blood pressure and heart rate, resulting in limp muscles and fainting

• Dissociation, a state in which we are less connected to our bodies and may feel distant or disconnected.

• Being at a loss for words or blanking out during an argument

• Feeling stuck in place

• Panicking and believing/being unable to move

• wishing to retreat to a safe space

• Not directly dealing with the threat, but escaping/disconnecting from your body through other means (bingeing, smoking, sex, picking hair/nails, TV/video games, gambling, Facebook, phone, etc.).

• Feeling very sleepy all the time

Fawn: 

Can show up as: 

• People-pleasing

• Finding it difficult to say no.

• Feeling bad/guilty about having limits or boundaries

• Negative self-talk or putting yourself down

• Being unable to prioritize yourself or your needs

• Being overly complimentary or submissive

• Going along with what everyone else wants because it is the easiest option/ option with the least conflict

• Having a hard time setting boundaries

A therapist can help you understand how trauma manifests in your behaviours. If you feel like you relate to any of these, talk to a therapist at Amaha today.