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CPTSD vs PTSD- What is the Difference?

Knowing the difference between CPTSD vs PTSD can be crucial to healing and recovery from either condition. Post-traumatic stress can lead to detrimental and life-altering impacts, affecting every aspect of their life and leading to changes that they cannot control. Learning how these conditions can affect someone, and how professional care and support can be helpful is crucial to being able to overcome the struggles associated with these conditions.

Understanding Post Traumatic Stress

Post-traumatic stress, or PTS, is a psychological condition that can occur after someone experiences or witnesses a traumatic event. These events can be physical or sexual assault, car accidents, other acts of violence, and natural disasters. Other forms of trauma can include both physical and emotional abuse, as well as neglect. PTS refers to a broad range of stress responses to trauma, while PTSD meets specific diagnostic criteria.

Symptoms of PTSD

The symptoms of PTSD can be crippling at times, making this condition extremely life-changing. They can significantly impact day-to-day life, making the process of completing regular tasks extremely difficult. These symptoms can affect someone’s emotional, physical, and mental well-being, making treatment all the more important. Symptoms of PTSD can include:

  • Flashbacks
  • Changes in mood
  • Changes in cognition
  • Avoiding reminders
  • Becoming easily startled
  • Anxiety
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Irritability
  • Angry outbursts
  • Self-destructive behaviors

Addressing these symptoms can be crucial to preventing major impacts and beginning the healing process.

Symptoms of CPTSD

The differences in CPTSD vs PTSD symptoms are crucial to understand. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) symptoms extend beyond the symptoms of traditional PTSD. CPTSD often stems from prolonged trauma such as child abuse and neglect, or domestic violence. Emotional dysregulation, or intense, unpredictable emotions, can be prevalent and contribute to daily impacts. Other symptoms of CPTSD can include persistent feelings of guilt, shame, or worthlessness as well as trouble forming or maintaining relationships due to lack of trust and fear of intimacy. Flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive thoughts may occur, making it difficult to enjoy things that once brought the individual joy. Anxiety, or constantly feeling on edge can be extremely difficult to endure.

CPTSD vs PTSD: Key Differences

While both conditions stem from experiencing trauma, they each have different causes, symptoms, and impacts on someone’s life. PTSD usually arises after a single traumatic event. This can be a car accident, natural disaster, or assault. The symptoms can include intrusive memories, flashbacks, avoiding reminders of the trauma, hypervigilance, and emotional numbness. While these symptoms can disrupt daily life, they are more focused on fear and reexperiencing the trauma. CPTSD, on the other hand, stems from prolonged or repeated trauma. This can be abuse, neglect, or captivity, especially during vulnerable times such as childhood. Symptoms of CPTSD vs PTSD can be worse, encompassing self-identity, emotional stability, and trust in others. The symptoms of CPTSD can extend further, affecting emotional regulation, feelings of shame and worthlessness, and difficulty forming and maintaining relationships.

Causes of PTSD and CPTSD

As previously stated, PTSD usually stems from a single traumatic experience, while CPTSD stems from prolonged, repeated trauma. Car accidents, hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, and physical or sexual assault can contribute to PTSD. However, CPTSD usually stems from long-term trauma such as emotional abuse, neglect, physical abuse, and domestic violence. Both conditions can significantly impact an individual’s life and should be addressed with a professional to prevent the symptoms from worsening.

Diagnosis and Treatment for PTSD

Diagnosing PTSD is done by a mental health professional. The criteria for diagnosis are outlined in the DSM-5 manual. The individual must have experienced trauma, and show symptoms in four separate categories for at least 1 month. These categories include intrusive symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, and memories of the event. The second category is avoidance. This means avoiding reminders or thoughts of the traumatic experience. Third, the individual would experience a negative mood for at least a month. The last category would be arousal. This means hypervigilance, irritability, and sleep disturbances. These symptoms must cause extreme distress or impairment of daily functionality, and treatment includes individual therapy through various techniques, medication, support groups, and self-care.

Diagnosis and Treatment for CPTSD

The diagnosis of CPTSD is also done with a mental health professional’s assessment. The DSM-5 is also used to outline the criteria for diagnosing this condition and includes experiencing prolonged trauma through abuse within childhood or relationships. Key categories for diagnosis include experiencing flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive thoughts, avoiding memories of the events, arousal such as hypervigilance, irritability, and sleep disturbances. Treating CPTSD vs PTSD can be different. They both involve individual and group therapies, however, treating CPTSD with more trauma-focused therapeutic approaches such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy can help the individual to rewire the brain to respond more productively to trauma triggers.

Coping Strategies for PTSD and CPTSD

Coping strategies for these conditions can help alleviate the symptoms of each condition. Some techniques for coping with these conditions can include mindfulness techniques such as deep breathing or focusing on the present can help alleviate symptoms. Journaling can also help to express thoughts and feelings surrounding the trauma, allowing the individual to identify triggers and develop a sense of control. Physical activity like exercise and yoga can help release tension and improve mood. Each individual will heal differently, and finding what works best on an individual basis is vital to successful healing.

Choosing the Right Support for PTSD or CPTSD

Speaking with a mental health professional is the first step to healing. They can not only diagnose the accurate condition, but they can also help guide the individual to getting the right help. It is vital for the individual who is struggling to get the proper care in order to prevent worsening of symptoms, and reducing impacts. Choosing the right path for care can make a huge difference in the outcome. Learning what is best for the individual is just as important as getting help.

Get the Care You Deserve

PTSD and PTSD can be extremely harmful and detrimental to an individual’s day-to-day life. Learning coping skills, and receiving much-needed support can help these individuals learn how to cope with symptoms, lessening their impact. If you or a loved one are struggling with these conditions, we can help. At Health Minds, we strive to provide a safe and healing environment for individuals who struggle with mental health conditions. Call us today and begin a journey of healing.