today we're going to be talking about ptsd
versus complex ptsd what do they have in common and what's different between them
hi everyone ptsd is a well-known psychological condition that occurs in response to
a traumatic event but there have been a number of researchers and clinicians over the years who've
suggested that there are a subset of people with ptsd symptoms who experience something
called complex ptsd in today's video we're going to be talking about the characteristics of ptsd
and complex ptsd and what they share in common and some of the important differences between the two
but before i get into that just a couple of disclaimers to go over
i'm a registered psychologist in the province of british columbia canada
and this video is for informational purposes only it is not intended as a substitute or replacement
for advice from your doctor or mental health professional now with those things out of the
way let's start talking about the differences and similarities between ptsd and complex ptsd
now i've done videos on the characteristics and symptoms of ptsd and complex ptsd but today we're
going to be comparing and contrasting the two now the thing with both ptsd and complex ptsd is that
they both result from a person experiencing a traumatic event following which that person
experiences a constellation of symptoms that's referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder
now the nature of the traumatic event is one of the first distinguishing
features between ptsd and complex ptsd common events that can trigger ptsd include things like
motor vehicle accidents sexual violence sexual assault physical assaults industrial
accidents natural disasters terrorist attacks the sudden death of a loved one those types of things
they're usually but not always the case singular events now complex ptsd tends to be associated
with ongoing trauma that tends to last for months or even years these are prolonged events repeated
events from which the individual who's the victim can't escape these types of traumatic events often
occur in childhood but they can also occur later in life as well so examples of some of these types
of traumatic events include things like childhood neglect repeated childhood sexual or physical
abuse domestic violence torture being a prisoner of war experiencing human trafficking prostitution
living in a region affected by war or genocide those types of things
now one of the key features about all these types of traumatic events in complex ptsd
is that they usually involve some form of interpersonal violence some act of
aggression or malevolence or harm inflicted by one person against another
uh usually in situations when the victim is vulnerable or defenseless
now this can be the case in ptsd as well but ptsd can also include accidental traumatic events
in which no one individual is responsible for harm occurring that there's no malevolence or
ill will behind it so things like natural disasters or accidents that just happen
whereas in complex ptsd the trauma exposure
tends to be more prolonged and repeated and you don't necessarily see that as much in ptsd
so once a person has experienced these traumatic events they can then experience a constellation of
symptoms that's characteristic of post-traumatic stress disorder now this constellation of symptoms
involves four clusters of symptoms and the first is re-experiencing symptoms so these are things
like intrusive memories and thoughts about the traumatic event nightmares flashbacks emotional
distress or psychological reactions feelings of panic when triggered by reminders of the
traumatic event a person will experience avoidance symptoms the avoidance cluster of symptoms include
efforts into putting efforts into trying not to think about or to talk about the traumatic events
avoiding situations places or activities that may bring up reminders of the traumatic events
those types of things the third cluster of symptoms that you see in post-traumatic stress
disorder are negative changes in thoughts and mood symptoms so uh things like feelings of self-blame
or emotional numbing a sense of detachment or disconnect and disconnection from other people
a loss of interest or pleasure in activities that you used to enjoy doing a strong negative
beliefs about yourself other people the world more generally those types of things
and finally the fourth cluster of symptoms in post-traumatic stress disorder
include hyperarousal symptoms so things like difficult to control anger or irritability
hyper hyper awareness hyper vigilance to your environment being easily startled concentration
problems sleep difficulties those types of things so the thing is these symptoms occur in both ptsd
and complex ptsd the difference is in complex ptsd the individual tends to experience
other clusters of symptoms that are essentially uh one way of thinking about them is magnified or
supercharged versions of those negative changes and thoughts and mood symptoms
that i talked about so in complex ptsd you tend to see more interpersonal problems like social or
interpersonal avoidance the person tends to avoid relationships they may feel more distant
or cut off from other people or may never feel close to another person at all the the person
may also experience high levels of interpersonal sensitivity in which their feelings are easily
hurt potentially leading to angry outbursts or difficulties in their interpersonal relationships
another cluster of symptoms that you tend to see more intensely in complex ptsd relates to a
person release how a person views themselves uh that the person will view themselves as
broken defeated worthless uh they may experience strong feelings of shame or failure related to the
traumatic events the person may experience a change in how they perceive themselves
feeling totally different from other people due to those strong feelings of shame and guilt
they may see themselves as contaminated or evil they they may lose a sense of their core beliefs
of who they are their values their religious faith or hope in the world or other people
and now the third cluster of symptoms that you tend to see more intensely in complex ptsd
involves what's called emotional dysregulation and in emotional dysregulation a person has difficulty
managing or controlling their emotions and their emotional reactions so this
can lead to self-destructive behaviors like excessive risk-taking or self-harming behaviors
this may be driven by a sense of self-hatred or just a general ambivalence about life i i just
i just don't really care uh they may experience extreme mood swings fluctuating between periods of
intense anger or sadness or to feelings of hopelessness to feelings of despair
so the key differences between complex ptsd and ptsd relate to the nature of the traumatic events
in that complex ptsd tends to involve more sort of prolonged or repeated trauma and complex ptsd
also tends to come with uh sort of more intense uh clusters of avoidance or of mood and interpersonal
difficulty symptoms so things like difficulties in relationships uh alterations in the person's
perception of themselves that they view themselves as broken damaged fundamentally
different from other people and those difficulties in regulating and managing their emotional states
now it's notable that even with these differences between complex ptsd and ptsd the treatment
doesn't really differ between the two and i've posted a number of videos about the treatment
of ptsd and so i'd encourage you to take a look at some of those if you're interested
in learning more about how ptsd gets treated but in brief for both complex ptsd and ptsd
we tend to approach them the same way from a cognitive behavioral therapy perspective so
treatment components like doing cognitive exposure to the trauma memories challenging sort of stuck
points or maladaptable maladaptive beliefs and assumptions that resulted from the traumatic
events and exposure to avoided situations that have resulted from the traumatic events
so i hope that makes sense i hope that gives you a better idea of some of the similarities and
differences between ptsd and complex ptsd i'd love to hear your questions and thoughts about this so
please leave me some comments in the comments section down below if you've been enjoying my
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you for making it all the way to the end of this video and i will see you in the next one