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Welcome to Adaptable | Behavior Explained! Complex post-traumatic stress disorder, C-PTSD, is a devastating condition that affects some people who have lived through long-term trauma, such as months or years of abuse. It causes symptoms similar to PTSD but also other symptoms that lead to significant impairment in relationships and quality of life. C-PTSD can be difficult to diagnose but here are 15 characteristics to help identify C-PTSD.
I'm Kelly O'Horo, Attachment based EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA Consultant, and Advanced Trainer. I'm a mom of 5, Nonna of 5, wife, and a healer. I have the honor of spending my workdays walking along side people while they brave their healing journeys. I try to live with the generous assumption that we're all doing the best we can with what we know. Therapists are teachers for the "life stuff" and "emotional vocabulary" that may not have been learned due to gaps in our care givers capabilities. In the last 15 years I've learned that people are freaking amazing, resilient, and inspiring. Most importantly, we are hardwired for connection and for healing!
I hope to bring an authentic, compassionate, and unpolished approach while we explore a variety of topics such as parenting, marriage, relationships, dating, trauma, attachment, adoption, depression, addiction, anxiety, and love! There's a why for all behaviors and an explanation that makes perfect sense as emotion is at the root of it all.
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https://linktr.ee/kellyohorolpc
https://youtu.be/rLnARKekvgo
https://www.emdria.org/find-an-emdr-therapist/
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hi everyone I'm Kell ooro and this is
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adaptable Behavior explained hi
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everybody thanks for tuning in today's
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topic is about complex post-traumatic
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stress disorder this is not in the
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diagnostic and statistical manual it is
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not recognized it from that book but
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it's common language for mental health
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professionals to talk about presenting
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issues and clients from this lens and so
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this is a psychological condition that
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can develop uh in in response to
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prolonged exposure to trauma typically
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involving severe and sustained
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interpersonal abuse or neglect so unlike
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traditional post-traumatic stress
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disorder which is often associated with
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like a single traumatic event cptsd is
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linked to ongoing and chronic trauma so
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the features of the characteristics of
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complex PTS D or one like I said The
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Chronic trauma exposure key features and
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characteristics of complex
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PTSD unlike you know traditional PTSD
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are that it's not from one trauma or one
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single event it results from prolonged
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and repeated trauma and often includes
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experiences such as ongoing abuse severe
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neglect captivity or exposure to just
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chronic stress that doesn't relent the
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next piece that's a feature that's often
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associated with cptsd is developmental
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impact it can significantly impact an
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individual's development particularly if
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trauma occurs during those crucial
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developmental stages in childhood uh
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those 0er to five years are so critical
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uh for stability in the nervous system
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and it can affect a personality's
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formation the negative impact on one's
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self-concept our ability to emotionally
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regulate and of course as a result of
1:57
those features interpersonal
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relationship
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cptsd has diverse symptomology as it
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encompasses a broader range of symptoms
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Beyond those in just standard PTSD these
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can include uh emotion disregulation
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disturbances and self-identity so who am
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I in the world where do I fit and belong
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and difficulties forming and maintaining
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relationships and really pervasive
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beliefs about negative or negative
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beliefs about oneself there's often
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times also an assoc iated sense of
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defeat and helplessness in someone with
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cptsd they uh will feel profound despair
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often times due to the ongoing nature of
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the trauma and the difficulty in
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escaping it so the helplessness to
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remove themselves from situations going
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on and on is overwhelming there's also
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often times psychological fragmentation
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so the persistent exposure to trauma in
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cptsd can lead to this fragmented sense
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of self where people may experience
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dissociation or feel disconnected from
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their emotions their body or even a
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sense of of individual identity there's
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often times also additionally an impact
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on daily functioning it can profoundly
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affect a person's ability uh to do
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things like work study engage in social
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activities you know deal with our
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activities of daily living due to that
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pervasive and complex nature of the
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trauma's effects on the person and their
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nervous system having cptsd can often
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require comprehensive and
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multi-dimensional approach in treatment
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so there are treatment challenges in
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therapy that probably involve addressing
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multiple symptoms uh the impact on
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relationships and focusing often times
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on the emotion uh disregulation and the
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inability to change States and a chronic
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sense of being in hypervigilance or an
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affective arousal that is just hard to
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Main maintain uh to to bring ourselves
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back to more of a calm State and of
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course the primary thing that that is
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really affected is our
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self-identity uh as a far as where am I
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in relation to the world and these uh
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are so directly impacted from our
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attachment relationships and how things
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did or didn't happen when when when bad
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stuff happened to us when we were really
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little the interpersonal nature of
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trauma unlike traditional PTSD which you
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know like I said before is rooted in
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often times single traumatic events it's
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this interpersonal trauma it's what
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happened to me by my caregivers and and
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oftentimes what didn't happen to me so
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this can include experiences like
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emotional abuse emotional neglect
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chronic
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criticism physical abuse uh sexual abuse
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again captivity or prolonged exposure to
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these adverse conditions that are
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overwhelming to anybody during their
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development but happening over over and
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over again without relent the
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disregulation of emotions is often times
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what people struggle with the most with
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cptsd in that they can't feel a sense of
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calm they are phobic sometimes to a
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sense of calm and it can manifest into
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intense and unpredictable emotional
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responses mood swings that oftentimes
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affect the relationships occupations and
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ultimately challenges in managing stress
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so emotional disregulation is really the
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central feature of
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cptsd uh I am not able to be at a state
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of calm and it never seems to stop
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disturbances in self-identity is a key
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feature as well for people with C
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cptsd in that it leads to this
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fragmented or distorted sense of self
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survivors May struggle with uh a
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cohesive and stable identity of self
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experience disruptions of their
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perception of who they are what they
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value not knowing what they need or how
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to have purpose and and decide what's
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going to be best for them because they
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have so much self-doubt often times and
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of course this ends up presenting many
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challenges in relationships forming and
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maintaining relationships is such a
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critical part of our Lives as humans and
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it can be really challenging for people
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with cptsd they oftentimes have trust
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issues uh difficulties with boundaries
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fear of vulnerability is why would they
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feel safe in the world when nobody has
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been honoring or loving of their
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emotional experience and so therefore it
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it instills in them a a pervasive sense
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of lack of trust and this is necessary
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in in Secure attachment relationship so
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when we have this at the Forefront of
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our sense of self it impacts our
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personal and our professional
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relationships and it can lead to many
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challenges in forming secure attachment
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in
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relationships another thing that happens
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with people with cptsd is some pretty
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significant cognitive distortions and so
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they might think things cognitively that
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aren't in line with if you asked a
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hundred people on a street corner did
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you think it looked this way they may
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not match up they may see it as a
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different perspective and so we call
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that a a a cognitive distortion they
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these can include persistent feelings of
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Shame guilt worthlessness as well as
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beliefs about what they see in the world
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and and specifically to oneself and
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others the thing that bothers people
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with cptsd often is this chronic state
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of hyperarousal or hypoarousal or in
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simpler terms like a chronically anxious
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state or sometimes a chronically
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depressive State and so they just they
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deal with this disregulation of arousal
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levels and not a and they're not able to
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find themselves in a in an optimal level
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of arousal where they can think and feel
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at the same time and this can Manifest
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this can manifest as
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hypervigilance exaggerated startle
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responses difficulty
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relaxing um which is that hyperarousal
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that constant state of being in motion
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and not being able to tolerate a sense
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of Stillness or oftentimes feeling of
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feelings of numbness or dissociated from
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their emotional experience or worse than
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that emotionally completely shut shut
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down and disconnected from their their
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bodies from an emotional state and this
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is often because that's what people
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needed to learn to do during the times
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of trauma and that's how they survived
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their experiences and so those responses
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although necessary at the time are now
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obsolete often times people adopt
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survival coping mechanisms with
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cptsd because they have to they have to
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survive their ongoing trauma and they
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haven't learned ways that are healthy or
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functional to do so so these mechanisms
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look like dissociation often times
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extreme avoidance sometimes
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self-destructive behaviors like
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substance abuse or compulsions or even
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addictions that are that are now causing
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a secondary issue in our bodies so these
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coping strategies while initially
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they're adaptive and and oftentimes the
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only thing that was available to the
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person at the time can become entrenched
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and affect you know our daily
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functioning and and ultimately
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relationships and people tend to have a
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lot of judgment about these coping M
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mechanisms and so we want to unshame
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that and recognize that although we
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needed to learn something that was
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useful at the time we can start to
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become willing to give up those
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adaptations and learn something that's
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more functional and healthy for today's
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circumstances now the last thing I want
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to talk about is when we are at a
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prolonged state of stress in our lives
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with and people with cptsd often have
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that prolonged stress our increase in
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our cortisol levels and our adrenal
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response is not meant to be prolonged
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it's meant to be short acting and when
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people with cptsd are dealing with their
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nervous systems in such prolonged ways
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this becomes not only a psychological
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condition but it becomes a physical
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health condition and so often times our
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our stress creates an impact on our
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physical health and so it's been linked
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to this stress has been linked to a wide
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range of health issues like
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cardiovascular problems autoimmune
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disorders an increased vulnerability to
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other mental health conditions and so
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these adverse childhood experiences that
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stack up in our nervous systems can
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cause these physical health issues and I
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have another episode on the adverse
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childhood experiences that if you want
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to take a look at that you're more than
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welcome to for a deeper dive into this
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topic But ultimately we're not meant to
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be in a state of chronic stress and
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there is help if you want to look into
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this and there are ways to heal from
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complex post-traumatic stress disorder
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and I will be going into a deep dive
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into another episode on those ways of
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healing so I hope that you found this
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helpful uh and now can understand the
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difference between just post-traumatic
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stress disorder and complex
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post-traumatic stress which is prolonged
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uh exposure to stress in the body based
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on oftentimes developmental trauma that
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impacts our health in in our in our
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lives and thank you so much for tuning
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in I appreciate your time I hope that
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you found this helpful please like and
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share this episode if you found it
11:35
interesting or perhaps someone else
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could benefit and most of all don't
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forget to lead with love it'll never
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steer you
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[Music]
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wrong
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[Music]
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