September 14, 2020
Most of us have heard of post-traumatic stress disorder. Once called shell-shock, the disorder develops after being exposed to a highly traumatic situation such as war or a car wreck. However, there is another type of trauma-induced problem called complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
Today we begin to explore together complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Over the next four weeks, we will look at the definition, causes, and treatments of this often-disabling mental health issue.
CPTSD and PTSD in the DMS-5
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), is the bible of the psychiatric world. However, CPTSD is not mentioned because the author’s believed it was sufficient to lump it together with other trauma-related disorders including post-traumatic stress disorder.
The tragedy of complex post-traumatic stress disorder not appearing in the DSM-V is that mental health providers cannot officially give their clients this diagnosis because it is not accepted by the American Psychiatric Association, the publishers of the DSM-5.
However, there is a growing movement among those living with CPTSD and others who are advocating to have this diagnosis receive its own listing in the next edition. The reason this is vital is that the symptoms of CPTSD are different in many important ways than PTSD.
Now you may be wondering, what’s the difference between complex and the other style of stress disorder, (sometimes referred to as “simple” or “classic” PTSD when being compared or contrasted with complex PTSD)
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