CPTSD Awareness

In honor of September being CPTSD Awareness month, let’s talk about what CPTSD is.

CPTSD stands for Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and it develops as the result of repeated and on-going trauma. The fact that the trauma is chronic, it therefore results in more pervasive and complex effects on the individual and their personality. 

Typically, this type of trauma starts in childhood in the home, and is often just a way of life rather than a discrete, easily identifiable incident. This experience is compounded when the child also experiences systemic oppression due to race, sexual orientation, gender identity, etc. 

When someone has CPTSD this often includes: 

💔more difficulty managing emotions 

💔more pervasive negative views of self and a sense that they are fundamentally different from others 

💔more use of dissociative coping strategies 

💔loss of meaning or core beliefs about self/others/world 

💔more difficulty in sustaining healthy relationships due lack of trust, negative view of self and/or avoidance of relationships 

Healing CPTSD is possible. It often involves not only reprocessing or working through the past traumatic experience, but learning things (coping skills, communication skills, social skills) that were never taught.

Because the experience and symptoms are complex and layered, it’s important to find a therapist who is skilled in working with complex trauma, attachment trauma and/or developmental trauma. You need someone who has the sophisticated and complex skills to address your complex trauma.

If you are a therapist looking to learn how to approach complex trauma by learning EMDR therapy, Precision EMDR Academy is an excellent resource (and of course I’m biased because I help facilitate trainings with Precision). For more info click HERE.

And if you are already trained in EMDR and are looking for more advanced trainings on working with complex and attachment trauma and/or Dissociative Identity Disorder, check the link in my bio for trainings available through Precision EMDR Academy.   For more info click HERE.