Trauma, PTSD, C-PTSD, Developmental and relational harm

Let's take a look at how the field of psychology is now defining trauma. Trauma itself has been a loaded term throughout history, meaning there is a social and political context to who we recognize as experiencing a trauma, who is diagnosed with something such as PTSD or C-PTSD, who merits support and who is left on their own. 

We used to believe that trauma was the scary event that happened to us (the car accident, the abuse, the harm itself) and now we understand trauma is the legacy of how our bodies responded to that scary event and how it has shaped our relationships and our worldview. PTSD and C-PTSD point to how our bodies continue to respond even once that initial threat is past (grow up and move out of the family home, break up with the toxic person, stop driving a car and only take public transit). 

Trauma - We now understand trauma to be the ways in which our bodies (emotions) and minds (psychology) were shaped by and thus adapted to an outside event. Long after an event has passed, our bodies and minds hold the imprint and continue to cope with the overwhelming sensations, thoughts and feelings from the initial, repeated or ongoing threats. Trauma is located in the ways we have learned to survive an outside overwhelming life event.

PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Not all people who experience or witness a traumatic event will go on to develop PTSD but a portion of us will. Some people may experience feelings such as hypervigilance (feeling keyed up or on edge, on the lookout), feeling checked out, absent, intrusive thoughts or images, flashbacks, strong sensations (body memories), difficulty sleeping or nightmares, desire to avoid people, places, things that remind us of the event. The term PTSD has a long history. As a society we became familiar first with the term 'shell shock'. Which was used to describe the difficulties experienced by soldiers as they returned from war back to their civilian life. Slowly over time the term expanded to include people who experienced sexual assault, either childhood molestation or rape. Now as a society we are grappling with another new term, one that is not yet recognized is the DSM and that is....

C-PTSD and Developmental Trauma 

The "C" stands for 'complex' meaning the person doing the harm was the caregiver (parent figure, biological or adoptive). Developmental means that the traumatic event occured in childhood, thus during a stage of developmental processes and growth. The energy that would have been used for your growth and development as a child is repurposed towards patterns of vigilance or protection as your nervous system shifts from learning about the world to protecting you from it.   

If I have either a history of shock or developmental trauma my nervous system has learned alot to keep me safe and I may feel states of anxiety or depression or feel that I osscilate between the two. 

Anxiety and Depression

Do you go high or do you go low? You may feel anxious and panicky or lethargic, apathetic, or existential. After an overwhelming event, we may feel keyed up with too much energy, or dulled out with no life force. We may have thoughts that question our self worth, that we are either not enough or are too much. We are in extreme spaces, either feeling have too much feeling or no feeling at all. We may tend toward anxious thoughts of the future, ways of looking out for safety, too many thoughts to keep focus on any one thing; or we may tend to go inwards towards depressive thoughts and feelings, with low energy or motivation and rumination on past events. This is your nervous system attempting to find safety. It's a tough place to be. And there is a way through.

*Where ever you feel yourself to be, in the case of trauma, know that your nervous system kicked on as an adaptation that kept you alive and safe. If you are feeling stuck and curious to learn more, we will get there, one step at a time.