While it is widely known what PTSD is generally, not a lot of people know that it also comes in other shapes.
And if you are not aware of what C-PTSD is, it may be of use to you to familiarize yourself with it.
C-PTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) is a type of PTSD that is naturally the result of prolonged or repeated periods of relationship trauma. In a lot of ways, it is an issue that grows out of developmental trauma. The majority of people experience it after going through an abusive relationship, whether it be a child/parent or a romantic one.
Something many people don’t know about toxic relationships is that coming out of one could potentially lead to C-PTSD.
Psychological trauma caused by an abusive/toxic relationship could potentially set off a serious mental condition as a result of the pain that you suffered. When someone goes through C-PTSD they feel weak and hopeless when it comes to getting away from the issues at hand which makes it much worse than one can imagine.
C-PTSD symptoms include issues with emotional control, headaches, withdrawal, intense feelings of guilt and/or shame, nightmares, and more.
When you are faced with something like this, even though you freed yourself from the trauma you can still feel like it is harder than it should be to even go through everyday-life emotions. You move in circles as if you are in a prison which prevents you to be who you can truly be.
Depending on your traumatic experiences you may be very edgy and nervous for a long period of time, and while C-PTSD is something you can get out of and heal from, you cannot just escape it without doing the necessary work. While many people might try to minimize your experiences because you might not have been abused in physical ways, you were still abused and you have still suffered damage as a consequence. And just because those around you cannot understand what you are going through does not mean that you aren’t going through it. You should always keep this in mind.
Life for C-PTSD sufferers, mainly at the beginning when they are starting to understand the severity of their situation, can be difficult and that is something you should come to terms with.
Escaping from the abuse that was inflicted on you will be difficult and you not going to feel like the former you for quite a while. Nevertheless, if you keep on pushing forward you will find yourself and become a fully-functional human being once more.
It takes time to recover and you should never let others push you into pretending you feel better when you clearly do not. You are going to have to come to terms with the negatives before you can move toward the positives. Sadly, that is just the way it is.
Well done nice article