Really interesting stuff, Christy. I would imagine many children who suffered abuse or had parents with narcissistic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder would have C-PTSD. So, quite a lot of people.
For sure. The stats say 1-8% of people worldwide have C-PTSD but I would bet it’s a lot more than that.
It’s interesting to me that the DSM 5 does not recognize C-PTSD as a separate diagnosis from PTSD (and the DSM is problematic for many reasons) but the WHO does. Perhaps because of this, many people with C-PTSD are misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, and personality disorders.
That’s so interesting. Have you read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk? Lot of research suggests that what we diagnose as anxiety disorder or depression are really just symptoms of underlying trauma. And if we don’t address the trauma, we’re only ever treating symptoms.
As I read this, suddenly my eyes became unexpectedly transfixed on how the abused become the abusers in an endless cycle of violence. The endless emotional dysregulation that results becomes the chaos and pain of lifetimes. And then, someone like you suffering through this cycle, breaks it and shows others a way, not toward perfection (its striving for its own violence) but toward ease, inner freedom, and self-acceptance, long deserved and yearned for. I also kept thinking how liberating it would be for a world of others to understand this C-PTSD/PTSD distinction. May your audience grow fast!
That’s so sweet of you to say, Renee. I really do hope to create a community here for other survivors so we all might feel less alone. I’m grateful to have the tools to break the cycle of generational trauma for myself and my children (and their children.) It’s really sad to think of how many people before me never found peace.
Some might call it a freight train you are bringing to a screeching halt. May others who circle into your orbit have the courage to pick up the tools you are showing.
I was diagnosed with C-PTSD a couple of years ago after struggling with depression and anxiety for decades. Getting a correct diagnosis was a game-changer for me because nobody had ever told me it was an option and I didn’t understand why talk therapy wasn’t working for me like it was for other people. Now that I know, I have a therapist who specializes in trauma and I’ve seen so much growth in the past couple of years just from that. It makes me grieve for what my life could have been if I would have had a correct diagnosis from the get-go.
I understand completely. I tried so many things that just didn’t work and it made me feel defeated. I’m glad that you’ve been able to find some relief...what tools have been most helpful to you (if you don’t mind sharing?)
The first trauma therapist I worked with took me through the CPT model, which is traditionally used with veterans experiencing PTSD (if I remember correctly). It focused on narrative writing around the most traumatic event and re-reading it daily to add sensory details and highlight negative thinking patterns so they could be rewritten. For example, “if I hadn’t done X, this wouldn’t have happened” might become something like, “Poor choices on my part don’t give someone else the right to Y.”
This was really helpful for me to stop minimizing and it also made me realize that what I thought was my “worst” trauma was actually not the trauma that I had nightmares about, which in turn helped me dig into the real root cause, which I had just been keeping pushed down for decades.
Writing in general has been a game changer for me, especially doing my morning pages. It gives me a safe place to express the rage and grief and work through my feelings. I do a lot of personal writing in public, but those pages are just for me to get it all out.
I just started working with a new therapist who is trained in EMDR, which I’m really excited to try because I try to intellectualize everything instead of processing the emotions attached to the experience. My previous therapists have always told me that I’m very self-aware, which is frustrating when you don’t have the tools to do anything with that awareness.
Exactly! Self awareness is great but knowing something logically doesn’t make you *feel* different! I get it. I haven’t tried EMDR but I’ve heard good things. Psychedelic-assisted therapy has been the game changer for me but I love hearing what helps others too because everyone responds best to different tools.
Thank you for sharing this. I think you might like looking at Dr. Veronica Mead's work on trauma and its relationship to chronic illness. She compiles a lot of research on her website, a lot of it driven by her own need to understand her late diagnosis of ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome.) https://chronicillnesstraumastudies.com
Oh, thank you for sharing that! I will look her up. I had a partial hysterectomy back in February because I had several very large fibroids wreaking havoc on my body and I was shocked to learn that girls who were abused were more likely to develop fibroids, endometriosis and/or have premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Ah yes, I worked with a subject last year who shared the same thing. Trauma and a nervous system stuck in fight/flight/freeze can be really hard on our bodies. I think doctors are just beginning to understand this more deeply. I hope you find some helpful resources and solidarity in Dr. Meade's work.
Really interesting stuff, Christy. I would imagine many children who suffered abuse or had parents with narcissistic personality disorder or borderline personality disorder would have C-PTSD. So, quite a lot of people.
For sure. The stats say 1-8% of people worldwide have C-PTSD but I would bet it’s a lot more than that.
It’s interesting to me that the DSM 5 does not recognize C-PTSD as a separate diagnosis from PTSD (and the DSM is problematic for many reasons) but the WHO does. Perhaps because of this, many people with C-PTSD are misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, and personality disorders.
That’s so interesting. Have you read The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk? Lot of research suggests that what we diagnose as anxiety disorder or depression are really just symptoms of underlying trauma. And if we don’t address the trauma, we’re only ever treating symptoms.
Yes, that’s a fantastic book. It’s been a while since I read it, so it’s probably time for to reread. It’s pretty interesting stuff.
As I read this, suddenly my eyes became unexpectedly transfixed on how the abused become the abusers in an endless cycle of violence. The endless emotional dysregulation that results becomes the chaos and pain of lifetimes. And then, someone like you suffering through this cycle, breaks it and shows others a way, not toward perfection (its striving for its own violence) but toward ease, inner freedom, and self-acceptance, long deserved and yearned for. I also kept thinking how liberating it would be for a world of others to understand this C-PTSD/PTSD distinction. May your audience grow fast!
That’s so sweet of you to say, Renee. I really do hope to create a community here for other survivors so we all might feel less alone. I’m grateful to have the tools to break the cycle of generational trauma for myself and my children (and their children.) It’s really sad to think of how many people before me never found peace.
Some might call it a freight train you are bringing to a screeching halt. May others who circle into your orbit have the courage to pick up the tools you are showing.
Silence is a violence. You're breaking that, too!
❤️❤️❤️
I was diagnosed with C-PTSD a couple of years ago after struggling with depression and anxiety for decades. Getting a correct diagnosis was a game-changer for me because nobody had ever told me it was an option and I didn’t understand why talk therapy wasn’t working for me like it was for other people. Now that I know, I have a therapist who specializes in trauma and I’ve seen so much growth in the past couple of years just from that. It makes me grieve for what my life could have been if I would have had a correct diagnosis from the get-go.
I understand completely. I tried so many things that just didn’t work and it made me feel defeated. I’m glad that you’ve been able to find some relief...what tools have been most helpful to you (if you don’t mind sharing?)
The first trauma therapist I worked with took me through the CPT model, which is traditionally used with veterans experiencing PTSD (if I remember correctly). It focused on narrative writing around the most traumatic event and re-reading it daily to add sensory details and highlight negative thinking patterns so they could be rewritten. For example, “if I hadn’t done X, this wouldn’t have happened” might become something like, “Poor choices on my part don’t give someone else the right to Y.”
This was really helpful for me to stop minimizing and it also made me realize that what I thought was my “worst” trauma was actually not the trauma that I had nightmares about, which in turn helped me dig into the real root cause, which I had just been keeping pushed down for decades.
Writing in general has been a game changer for me, especially doing my morning pages. It gives me a safe place to express the rage and grief and work through my feelings. I do a lot of personal writing in public, but those pages are just for me to get it all out.
I just started working with a new therapist who is trained in EMDR, which I’m really excited to try because I try to intellectualize everything instead of processing the emotions attached to the experience. My previous therapists have always told me that I’m very self-aware, which is frustrating when you don’t have the tools to do anything with that awareness.
Exactly! Self awareness is great but knowing something logically doesn’t make you *feel* different! I get it. I haven’t tried EMDR but I’ve heard good things. Psychedelic-assisted therapy has been the game changer for me but I love hearing what helps others too because everyone responds best to different tools.
Thank you for sharing this Christy. I had no idea about the distinction but it makes so much sense.
Thanks for reading!
Thank you for sharing this. I think you might like looking at Dr. Veronica Mead's work on trauma and its relationship to chronic illness. She compiles a lot of research on her website, a lot of it driven by her own need to understand her late diagnosis of ME/CFS (chronic fatigue syndrome.) https://chronicillnesstraumastudies.com
Oh, thank you for sharing that! I will look her up. I had a partial hysterectomy back in February because I had several very large fibroids wreaking havoc on my body and I was shocked to learn that girls who were abused were more likely to develop fibroids, endometriosis and/or have premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Ah yes, I worked with a subject last year who shared the same thing. Trauma and a nervous system stuck in fight/flight/freeze can be really hard on our bodies. I think doctors are just beginning to understand this more deeply. I hope you find some helpful resources and solidarity in Dr. Meade's work.
Thank you, Thank you! I appreciate the resource!