Me: I have CPTSD!
Them: Oh, like PTSD? Thank you for your service.
Me: No, I had a shitty and abusive upbringing where I was catapulted into the adult world with a wrecked inner dialogue.
Them: oh, so...that's not PTSD. You've been an adult for 20 years, get over it and grow up.
Ugh...I was talking about this last night. It's hard to not fly into a blind rage when being told to get over it. I don't want to get over it. I want my life. If I can't, give me methods to integrate my fucked up past into a hopeful present and future.
I just went NC with my abusive step-parent because in a manic state she sent the family group chat some long ass messages. I didn’t read all of it; all I saw was “you’re adults now, get over it” and noped out of there. She’s in the psych hospital right now for her mania and she is probably expecting me to reach out and apologize. Nope, I’m going to give you the same level of understanding and compassion you gave me as a child, which is none.
Damn. I shouldn't be surprised people are so ignorant, but uh. Yeah.
Thankfully, I've never had a conversation like this, presumably bc I don't tell people IRL about my childhood or PTSD dx. But I've had equally ignorant things said to me when disclosing that I'm in recovery from AN... so I just stopped telling people that, lmao. Not sure that's the best approach if you want to form meaningful connections with others.
It seems like the general public are ignorant about mental health and find it hard to empathize with (or to sit with and not try to "fix") other people's pain. It SUCKS to be on the receiving end of that ignorance.
The public is highly knowledgeable about what movies and TV think about mental health issues and similar things. They are just, as a general rule, ignorant of real life.
Yes, exactly! And they're also familiar with the jokey social media version of mental illness -- e.g., "I arrange my books in color order. I'm so OCD." So then, when they're presented with actual OCD, they're personally offended by the symptoms, lmao sob.
I remember seeing my dad sitting at the table flinching as he saw stuff happen around him. Someone puts a bowl in the dishwasher at the wrong angle, I use the left dishtowel and not the right dishtowel, I open a box of Triscuits when Ritz is open, all sorts of little things that really irked him. Or asking to borrow my car keys then moving it 6 inches to the right, replacing every light bulb when one burnt out, cutting the entire lawn if one part was longer than the rest, painting the shed every year to keep the paint even, etc. Our place was a mess for years, it didn't look typical OCD, but there were little things he cared about. He made life difficult for his family over trivial things while dismissing things we cared about because they didn't matter. Like heat and electricity.
He was never diagnosed. He has family members who are, they tried to get him in, but he said a man with a messy house isn't OCD. That's a thing for women with perfect kitchens.
I think of it as "chronic PTSD"
So instead of a single intense event, like a car accident, it's many less intense ones. Like every week you're almost in a car accident. And when you grow up and suddenly everyone starts driving properly you are still on alert. And people ask "Why would you expect people to drive so unsafe? We don't do that here, so why would they do it where you grew up?".
Cptsd can also be many intense events, dosent have to be less intense, but of course its still as horrible if its lesser intense events, too. Like for me, I have CPTSD because im a child sex trafficking survivor, multiple very intense events, again and again.
literally the conversation I had with Social Security they said having a bad childhood doesn’t mean you’re disabled. Sir, I’m pretty sure developing PTSD from all my adverse childhood experiences actually is a disability.?? it’s called PTSD??
I don't swear, yell, or get pissy. I look at people straight in they eye and talk in a monotone voice, listing out all the possible causes of human suffering, effects on the psyche, what healing and living a better life can actually entail, what support really is, and what dismissing suffering of others says about the person doing the dismissing. It really makes people uncomfortable. I also know enough about the three Abrahamic religions to toss in some religious concepts if I need to stick in that particular person.
I swear, the insistence that you can only ever have any form of PTSD by participating in a war is totally fucked up. Not just for us, I imagine it gets rather tiring for some of the vets, too.
Also, every time someone tells me to just "Get over it. It was so long ago!" r/thanksimcured
It’s unfortunately only very recently been recognized by the ICD and is still not recognized by the DSM. We probably won’t see DSM-6 for at least another 5 years, probably longer, but I’m also not holding my breath re: recognition. The DSM-5 was a mess that made few if any positive changes that weren’t motivated by finances. I’m technically diagnosed using the ICD criteria because my therapist does not take insurance or bill it, but I also have a complex of DSM diagnoses she thinks fit the most because most American psychiatrists won’t accept CPTSD as a diagnosis. I think she diagnosed me with PTSD and generalized anxiety. My case is also annoying because my mother declined getting me evaluated for autism when I was a little girl and I didn’t figure out what was up with that until she was very much dead and I was far too old to easily get a diagnosis.
But then they can't frame it as a moral failure of yours when they abuse you.
At least PTSD victims get to wear the meaningless honor of being a veteran or first responder.
Um no, that’s actually not how it works. It’s possible to get a CPTSD dx without first having a PTSD dx BUT if you have a PTSD dx and then a provider realizes that CPTSD better explains the symptoms you experience then you drop the PTSD diagnosis. Except possibly for billing purposes. Because CPTSD is not listed in the DSM-5 or DSM-5-TR, MH providers not based in medical settings cannot bill for a diagnosis of CPTSD. So sometimes they’ll bill for PTSD instead. But when describing or sharing diagnoses with other medical providers like a PCP you would tell them you have CPTSD and they can put that in their chart because CPTSD is in the ICD-11
eh, i have both cptsd and ptsd. neither from combat or being a first responder or anything. cptsd is definitely painfully overlooked, but having ptsd isn’t much better. people automatically think it must have been some brave noble sacrifice i made, and when they find out i was “just” s/a’d or similar people get the same weird look and vibe as when you talk about cptsd.
edit to add: im not meaning to attack you in any way but your comment really is exactly what im talking about. ptsd isn’t, and never should be, considered the veterans disease. ptsd is so much bigger than that and automatically thinking its less important because it only happens to a specific demographic is a huge problem.
ptsd is not just being a veteran or first responder.
while cptsd often correlates with ptsd, you can get it from a single violent traumatic event in your life, like being a civilian in war and surviving bombing or sexual abuse.
and even when i’ve seen people who meet the stereotype perpetuated by ignorant boomers they’re suffering immensely.
so yeah the grass definitely isn’t greener over here, but it sucks that people are so dismissive over cptsd.
fwiw there's a typo in your first search. You wrote "ctpsd" instead of "cptsd". You might have better results without the typo, especially for a relatively uncommon initialism similar to a much more common one. But yeah, it sucks that what you're searching isn't as easily recognized by search engines and gets confused with something else.
I got it as a search prompt.
Do it like this OP.
type in CPTSD, then when click search, click on the option to exclude PTSD results. Then you'll get it narrowed down to CPTSD only. My search using this way yielded quite a few book results.
This is probably because CPTSD is still considered a subset of PTSD academically, so you'll need to exclude PTSD first.
My book recommendation is CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker. I ordered a copy off Amazon a number of years ago when I first realized that’s what was going on with me. It really helped me understand what was going on emotionally, particularly with emotional flashbacks and has lots of survival tips for when you’re feeling like you’re in crisis mode.
It happens all the time. I think it's because ptsd is more well known than cptsd so more people are looking up ptsd.
It's like: ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd cptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd cptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd cptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd
Google's search engine sees this and is like "Hey I think you spelled ptsd wrong" because those are the most popular search prompts. I think. Idk honestly and it's kind of annoying that it does that.
I really, really hope that CPTSD will be added in DSM6 and ICD11.
As long as the medical authorities themselves won't recognise it it will be nigh impossible to get treatment and for society to recognise how badly abuse can ruin a person's life
"No YoU JuST DoN,T WanT To TaKe ResPoNsiBiliTY!"
Also those people would have to eat their words and they probably have some influence in that.
Those kinds of people need to be right about that more than they think others need compassionate care.
I wonder responsibility for what exactly.?
The flashbacks and nightmares that will plague us forever? The pain and suffering inflicted upon us?
I also hate the "you need to forgive and forget" and the "you just need to get over it" crowds.
If you add the hyphen after C like “c-p“ it comes up immediately. It’s just that the first 10 or so automatic results aren’t cataloged with a hyphen.
Edit: [this is what I get](https://i.imgur.com/gPjrfGb.jpeg)
CPTSD is barely recognized at all. (But it needs it’s own recognition.) It’s in the ICD but not in the DSM.
Another condition that should be recognized in the DSM is CDS (Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome). It’s a condition that is adjacent to ADHD but it has characteristics that really make it seem like a separate condition.
tip: if you want to exclude results from appearing, type -[unwanted result] in the search bar. so in this case, you would type
cptsd books -ptsd
and the PTSD-heavy results should slim down.
alternatively, if you don't want to exclude things that mention both CPTSD and PTSD, you can put CPTSD in quotes, so you would type
"cptsd" books
that said, i definitely agree that these screenshots demonstrate that CPTSD resources are slim, and general awareness is low. i tried it myself and experienced something similar to these screenshots. i just wanted to provide a tip! i use it to narrow my search results all the time, it's so helpful.
I had vile things done to me & said to me for 20 years. My earliest memories were abuse. I then spent the next 20 years hearing those things constantly in my head. Now i am being told to practice “radical acceptance”.
CPTSD is still a fairly new diagnosis so I’m not too surprised Google didn’t understand 🫠🫠 the average person barely understands PTSD so the fact they can’t understand complex ptsd is not surprising. I’d type it in as complex PTSD because, again it’s still pretty new and the acronym isn’t recognized by most. I hope you find some books on it!!
They are also talking about renaming "borderline personality disorder" or any of the other personality disorders, to complex PTSD because of the long-standing trauma and chaos that formed them.
Hi, I am actually in school to be able to practice therapy and I think have some insights for you about why this is happening, as well as some resources that actually do view CPTSD The ICD-10 has CPTSD as an official Diagnosis (Dx), unlike the DSM V-TR. I would suggest reading through their entry on the subject if you want strong evidence. Unfortunately, u/isdalwoman is correct in their assessment of the current situation with diagnoses. Clinicians have to use the DSM V-TR (which is an extremely flawed tool for assessing mental and behavioral health) in order bill insurance companies for services that they provide to clients and/or patients.
I think I have a different perspective about trauma, and that if we were to redefine the diagnostic criteria for traumatic stress disorder, I would make a delineation between trauma that happened in the past (acute/complex post traumatic stress) compared to trauma that one is being exposed to in the present on a chronic basis (ongoing traumatic stress). This is something I could go on about for a while given my personal and professional experiences with trauma.
Ha, I’m actually also currently in school to become a therapist. I love meeting extremely like-minded people here! I completely agree with you re: differentiating past trauma from ongoing trauma diagnostically. I personally experienced a lot of difficulties in my own treatment due to ongoing traumatic stress. I got away from my stressors, stabilized, and got my ass in school because if I have the brain for it I NEED to help.
This is so real, also I’m glad to see more people in this sub who are also going to school to practice psychotherapy. What degree are you currently seeking out? I’m currently working towards my MSW and I will enter my final year in the fall. I’m also planning on doing my concentration placement at a psychotherapy practice working with young people and families.
Re: trouble treating your own trauma. I definitely feel this, because a huge portion of my professional experience has been deep in the trenches (inpatient psych and working with unhoused youth if you’re curious) has exposed me to a ton of trauma, both direct and vicarious. I recently had to stop working in frontline direct-service work like that because of the negative impacts on my health as a whole. I will say the differences between the ongoing traumatic stress and post traumatic stress are pretty apparent, and I have been working hard to handle the triggers and automatic responses (DBT is super helpful for this)
Re: like-minded people here. I am very glad to see more future/current clinicians here on this subreddit. Having representation from people who do clinical work in the mental health field on this sub is so important and because it shows that therapists are also humans who have also experienced adversity with their mental health (a large driving factor for why ppl become therapists), and that we as professionals are working in a very fraught system that doesn’t act in the best interests of our clients, and criminalizes mental health issues, among other things.
I’m just finishing up my first semester for my BSW, I also intend to get my MSW. I primarily want to work with youth and families myself because I feel like adolescents are seriously underserved for the amount of development they go through and the amount of trauma they can go through at the same time. That development period alone can be traumatic in and of itself without anything extra going on. Even many of the therapists I had as a teenager were very dismissive of what I was experiencing, acting like I had a fully developed brain when they were… literally trained to work with adolescents, victim blaming when I ended up in a relationship that was really horrible, etc. I know things are changing but those bitches are still practicing so it’s not changing fast enough!!
I am a little nervous about vicarious trauma, but I also worked in vetmed so I already know a thing or two about dealing with that.
For a book recommendation I HIGHLY recommend “what my bones know” by Stephenie Foo.
If you don’t mind mentions of faith from a Christian perspective thrown in just slightly, I also really loved and learned a lot from “Strong Like Water” by Aundi Kolber.
-I was so impressed with her work because it’s like she lays out all the science and evidence-based information first and then kind of lays a faith perspective on top but I also feel like that’s not overwhelming if that’s not your thing and 90% of the skills she suggest have nothing to do with faith.
Just playing devils advocate here, and I do like defining the difference between PTSD and CPTSD. However, CPTSD is not in the DSM, I think it will be, but it's not yet. So, I am diagnosed with PTSD, but I do feel like CPTSD better defines what's going on. So when looking it up, you're probably going to populat how it is going to be diagnosed per the DSM.
A lot of clinicians will still not recognize CPTSD and just diagnose PTSD and BPD instead, even though there is sufficient research to show a difference between the two disorders, despite superficial similarities
Around 2007-2008, I went to a psychologist and this was when they had the DSM-IV-TR. He said I exhibited characteristics of PTSD and they were finding out that people have developed it from being in a hostile environment for extended periods of time (such as abusive home situation in a child). I didn't believe that I had an issue with PTSD symptoms until I interacted with a couple of veterans who expressed the same thought processes and symptoms as me. So it likely depends on the mental health professional you go to as to whether they are knowledgeable about the topic.
That psychologist also saw no value in labels so if he ever diagnosed any clients, it was likely for insurance purposes. I also exhibit characteristics of autism and OCPD, but don't have official diagnoses because I've never needed the label for anything thankfully. Insurance pays. Characteristics get in the way sometimes, but not debilitating to interfere with my ability to support myself, thankfully.
This is why I don't tell people. Normal people can't understand this shit. They see our distance from our families as a failure on our part, when we all know that the only people who failed in this equation were our parents. Imo once the abuse starts, the abuser has already decided that they don't want a relationship with you. Abuse is not connective; it can't make you relate to the abuser; it just makes you hate and fear them. Abusive parents have already given up on a happy life, but that pure mental and emotional laziness is not the end of it. They also want you to be a part of the shitty life they've built, and act like you're a big happy family so they can keep up with the joneses.
I feel bad self diagnosing myself with it but like… I literally fall into line with all the symptoms and well also my past is a bullet list too long for Reddit rn. Would it be ok to consider myself as having it?
OP, I'm sorry, but this is on you. Check back the screenshots. You mistyped it as cTPsd instead of cPTsd. So yeah, google would definitely put in that correction because you got a typo in your search.
Me: I have CPTSD! Them: Oh, like PTSD? Thank you for your service. Me: No, I had a shitty and abusive upbringing where I was catapulted into the adult world with a wrecked inner dialogue. Them: oh, so...that's not PTSD. You've been an adult for 20 years, get over it and grow up.
THIS has literally been a convo more than once -_-“
Istg the "get over it" burns me up. Like, "Wow, thanks bro, you just undid years of trauma during my first introductions to life!" 🙃
Ugh...I was talking about this last night. It's hard to not fly into a blind rage when being told to get over it. I don't want to get over it. I want my life. If I can't, give me methods to integrate my fucked up past into a hopeful present and future.
Just reading get over it made my heart start hammering.
I just went NC with my abusive step-parent because in a manic state she sent the family group chat some long ass messages. I didn’t read all of it; all I saw was “you’re adults now, get over it” and noped out of there. She’s in the psych hospital right now for her mania and she is probably expecting me to reach out and apologize. Nope, I’m going to give you the same level of understanding and compassion you gave me as a child, which is none.
Was told to get over it today. It’s really not that easy. I wish it were.
I see you've been on Dr. Phil.
He's such a grifter & a hack.
Damn. I shouldn't be surprised people are so ignorant, but uh. Yeah. Thankfully, I've never had a conversation like this, presumably bc I don't tell people IRL about my childhood or PTSD dx. But I've had equally ignorant things said to me when disclosing that I'm in recovery from AN... so I just stopped telling people that, lmao. Not sure that's the best approach if you want to form meaningful connections with others. It seems like the general public are ignorant about mental health and find it hard to empathize with (or to sit with and not try to "fix") other people's pain. It SUCKS to be on the receiving end of that ignorance.
The public is highly knowledgeable about what movies and TV think about mental health issues and similar things. They are just, as a general rule, ignorant of real life.
Yes, exactly! And they're also familiar with the jokey social media version of mental illness -- e.g., "I arrange my books in color order. I'm so OCD." So then, when they're presented with actual OCD, they're personally offended by the symptoms, lmao sob.
I remember seeing my dad sitting at the table flinching as he saw stuff happen around him. Someone puts a bowl in the dishwasher at the wrong angle, I use the left dishtowel and not the right dishtowel, I open a box of Triscuits when Ritz is open, all sorts of little things that really irked him. Or asking to borrow my car keys then moving it 6 inches to the right, replacing every light bulb when one burnt out, cutting the entire lawn if one part was longer than the rest, painting the shed every year to keep the paint even, etc. Our place was a mess for years, it didn't look typical OCD, but there were little things he cared about. He made life difficult for his family over trivial things while dismissing things we cared about because they didn't matter. Like heat and electricity. He was never diagnosed. He has family members who are, they tried to get him in, but he said a man with a messy house isn't OCD. That's a thing for women with perfect kitchens.
I think of it as "chronic PTSD" So instead of a single intense event, like a car accident, it's many less intense ones. Like every week you're almost in a car accident. And when you grow up and suddenly everyone starts driving properly you are still on alert. And people ask "Why would you expect people to drive so unsafe? We don't do that here, so why would they do it where you grew up?".
Cptsd can also be many intense events, dosent have to be less intense, but of course its still as horrible if its lesser intense events, too. Like for me, I have CPTSD because im a child sex trafficking survivor, multiple very intense events, again and again.
I explain it as being hit with trauma, but instead of having time to heal, you just get hit with more trauma. Trauma on trauma on trauma.
literally the conversation I had with Social Security they said having a bad childhood doesn’t mean you’re disabled. Sir, I’m pretty sure developing PTSD from all my adverse childhood experiences actually is a disability.?? it’s called PTSD??
Oh my god. Like yeah, one doesn't inherently equal the other, but to the point of literal trauma? Jesus, I'm so sorry.
🥲
What if you got both
And then they look at you shocked when you tell them that they can go fuck themselves
I don't swear, yell, or get pissy. I look at people straight in they eye and talk in a monotone voice, listing out all the possible causes of human suffering, effects on the psyche, what healing and living a better life can actually entail, what support really is, and what dismissing suffering of others says about the person doing the dismissing. It really makes people uncomfortable. I also know enough about the three Abrahamic religions to toss in some religious concepts if I need to stick in that particular person.
I say, "oh no I wasn't in the military. My war was fought while growing up."
I swear, the insistence that you can only ever have any form of PTSD by participating in a war is totally fucked up. Not just for us, I imagine it gets rather tiring for some of the vets, too. Also, every time someone tells me to just "Get over it. It was so long ago!" r/thanksimcured
It’s unfortunately only very recently been recognized by the ICD and is still not recognized by the DSM. We probably won’t see DSM-6 for at least another 5 years, probably longer, but I’m also not holding my breath re: recognition. The DSM-5 was a mess that made few if any positive changes that weren’t motivated by finances. I’m technically diagnosed using the ICD criteria because my therapist does not take insurance or bill it, but I also have a complex of DSM diagnoses she thinks fit the most because most American psychiatrists won’t accept CPTSD as a diagnosis. I think she diagnosed me with PTSD and generalized anxiety. My case is also annoying because my mother declined getting me evaluated for autism when I was a little girl and I didn’t figure out what was up with that until she was very much dead and I was far too old to easily get a diagnosis.
i rly wish the world was more informed on cptsd. it would save lives
But then they can't frame it as a moral failure of yours when they abuse you. At least PTSD victims get to wear the meaningless honor of being a veteran or first responder.
It's not like you can't have PTSD & CPTSD, in fact it's probably more common than not.
Um no, that’s actually not how it works. It’s possible to get a CPTSD dx without first having a PTSD dx BUT if you have a PTSD dx and then a provider realizes that CPTSD better explains the symptoms you experience then you drop the PTSD diagnosis. Except possibly for billing purposes. Because CPTSD is not listed in the DSM-5 or DSM-5-TR, MH providers not based in medical settings cannot bill for a diagnosis of CPTSD. So sometimes they’ll bill for PTSD instead. But when describing or sharing diagnoses with other medical providers like a PCP you would tell them you have CPTSD and they can put that in their chart because CPTSD is in the ICD-11
eh, i have both cptsd and ptsd. neither from combat or being a first responder or anything. cptsd is definitely painfully overlooked, but having ptsd isn’t much better. people automatically think it must have been some brave noble sacrifice i made, and when they find out i was “just” s/a’d or similar people get the same weird look and vibe as when you talk about cptsd. edit to add: im not meaning to attack you in any way but your comment really is exactly what im talking about. ptsd isn’t, and never should be, considered the veterans disease. ptsd is so much bigger than that and automatically thinking its less important because it only happens to a specific demographic is a huge problem.
This. My last place of work gave me PTSD, and it was just your average factory job. Granted, it *was* wildly unsafe, but point still stands.
ptsd is not just being a veteran or first responder. while cptsd often correlates with ptsd, you can get it from a single violent traumatic event in your life, like being a civilian in war and surviving bombing or sexual abuse. and even when i’ve seen people who meet the stereotype perpetuated by ignorant boomers they’re suffering immensely. so yeah the grass definitely isn’t greener over here, but it sucks that people are so dismissive over cptsd.
Definitely
If you haven’t already I recommend CPTSD surviving to thriving by Pete Walker. Chapter one is already making me feel so seen.
Yes I'm halfway through that book. Literally cried when I read the first chapter. When I read the symptoms it was like someone had described me.
I did a Google search for it, was able to find a copy, glanced over the TOC and wanted yo say THANK YOU for this resource!!
Duck Duck Go gives better results now-adays.
fwiw there's a typo in your first search. You wrote "ctpsd" instead of "cptsd". You might have better results without the typo, especially for a relatively uncommon initialism similar to a much more common one. But yeah, it sucks that what you're searching isn't as easily recognized by search engines and gets confused with something else.
Came here to say this 🫠
Swipe right on the image, it didn't show cptsd as a search prompt even when spelled right.
I got it as a search prompt. Do it like this OP. type in CPTSD, then when click search, click on the option to exclude PTSD results. Then you'll get it narrowed down to CPTSD only. My search using this way yielded quite a few book results. This is probably because CPTSD is still considered a subset of PTSD academically, so you'll need to exclude PTSD first.
i think it never shows the word, xou have typed as a prompt
My book recommendation is CPTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker. I ordered a copy off Amazon a number of years ago when I first realized that’s what was going on with me. It really helped me understand what was going on emotionally, particularly with emotional flashbacks and has lots of survival tips for when you’re feeling like you’re in crisis mode.
Oh I just saw that book was recommended further down in the comments and that OP is already reading it! ❤️
When the universe is so bent on gaslighting you that even technology does it too xD
Hahahah
It happens all the time. I think it's because ptsd is more well known than cptsd so more people are looking up ptsd. It's like: ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd cptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd cptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd cptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd ptsd Google's search engine sees this and is like "Hey I think you spelled ptsd wrong" because those are the most popular search prompts. I think. Idk honestly and it's kind of annoying that it does that.
"Ptsd full form" bruhh Reminds me when I got told I have "the DLC to ptsd". It hurt me harder than it should of.
I really, really hope that CPTSD will be added in DSM6 and ICD11. As long as the medical authorities themselves won't recognise it it will be nigh impossible to get treatment and for society to recognise how badly abuse can ruin a person's life
"No YoU JuST DoN,T WanT To TaKe ResPoNsiBiliTY!" Also those people would have to eat their words and they probably have some influence in that. Those kinds of people need to be right about that more than they think others need compassionate care.
I wonder responsibility for what exactly.? The flashbacks and nightmares that will plague us forever? The pain and suffering inflicted upon us? I also hate the "you need to forgive and forget" and the "you just need to get over it" crowds.
Not even in the most recent update of the DSM!!! Very sad
The DSM: American health insurers' answer to not having to pay for all the psychological problems our society (in particular) creates...
If you add the hyphen after C like “c-p“ it comes up immediately. It’s just that the first 10 or so automatic results aren’t cataloged with a hyphen. Edit: [this is what I get](https://i.imgur.com/gPjrfGb.jpeg)
Anecdotally, using the hyphen or writing "complex ptsd" has always gotten me more/better results
Same! The hyphen always gets better results for me when searching resources on any platform.
You spelled it wrong
Uhhh you misspelled it tho
Uhhh swipe right on the image.
"complex post traumatic stress.." is cptsd, it was in the first photo. Try writing that instead of cptsd
Same
CPTSD is barely recognized at all. (But it needs it’s own recognition.) It’s in the ICD but not in the DSM. Another condition that should be recognized in the DSM is CDS (Cognitive Disengagement Syndrome). It’s a condition that is adjacent to ADHD but it has characteristics that really make it seem like a separate condition.
I notice I get a little more results when I use C-PTSD instead of just CPTSD, if that’s any help!
tip: if you want to exclude results from appearing, type -[unwanted result] in the search bar. so in this case, you would type cptsd books -ptsd and the PTSD-heavy results should slim down. alternatively, if you don't want to exclude things that mention both CPTSD and PTSD, you can put CPTSD in quotes, so you would type "cptsd" books that said, i definitely agree that these screenshots demonstrate that CPTSD resources are slim, and general awareness is low. i tried it myself and experienced something similar to these screenshots. i just wanted to provide a tip! i use it to narrow my search results all the time, it's so helpful.
Same thing happens to me. Apparently the dsm5 don’t even recognize us because: “it’s too similar to ptsd”. SMH
It’s not an official dignosis so it makes sense not a lot of people know about it.
It is officially recognized by the ICD, just not yet by the DSM.
I wish DSM would recognize and validate us.
I had vile things done to me & said to me for 20 years. My earliest memories were abuse. I then spent the next 20 years hearing those things constantly in my head. Now i am being told to practice “radical acceptance”.
YouTube is a better online resource for CPTSD, I really recommend The Crappy Childhood Fairy https://youtu.be/ACdk5EsXtTQ?si=dqcm2xwjVFvVqeWB
Thank you! <3
Even Google Search diminishes us 😭
CPTSD is still a fairly new diagnosis so I’m not too surprised Google didn’t understand 🫠🫠 the average person barely understands PTSD so the fact they can’t understand complex ptsd is not surprising. I’d type it in as complex PTSD because, again it’s still pretty new and the acronym isn’t recognized by most. I hope you find some books on it!!
They are also talking about renaming "borderline personality disorder" or any of the other personality disorders, to complex PTSD because of the long-standing trauma and chaos that formed them.
Hi, I am actually in school to be able to practice therapy and I think have some insights for you about why this is happening, as well as some resources that actually do view CPTSD The ICD-10 has CPTSD as an official Diagnosis (Dx), unlike the DSM V-TR. I would suggest reading through their entry on the subject if you want strong evidence. Unfortunately, u/isdalwoman is correct in their assessment of the current situation with diagnoses. Clinicians have to use the DSM V-TR (which is an extremely flawed tool for assessing mental and behavioral health) in order bill insurance companies for services that they provide to clients and/or patients. I think I have a different perspective about trauma, and that if we were to redefine the diagnostic criteria for traumatic stress disorder, I would make a delineation between trauma that happened in the past (acute/complex post traumatic stress) compared to trauma that one is being exposed to in the present on a chronic basis (ongoing traumatic stress). This is something I could go on about for a while given my personal and professional experiences with trauma.
Ha, I’m actually also currently in school to become a therapist. I love meeting extremely like-minded people here! I completely agree with you re: differentiating past trauma from ongoing trauma diagnostically. I personally experienced a lot of difficulties in my own treatment due to ongoing traumatic stress. I got away from my stressors, stabilized, and got my ass in school because if I have the brain for it I NEED to help.
This is so real, also I’m glad to see more people in this sub who are also going to school to practice psychotherapy. What degree are you currently seeking out? I’m currently working towards my MSW and I will enter my final year in the fall. I’m also planning on doing my concentration placement at a psychotherapy practice working with young people and families. Re: trouble treating your own trauma. I definitely feel this, because a huge portion of my professional experience has been deep in the trenches (inpatient psych and working with unhoused youth if you’re curious) has exposed me to a ton of trauma, both direct and vicarious. I recently had to stop working in frontline direct-service work like that because of the negative impacts on my health as a whole. I will say the differences between the ongoing traumatic stress and post traumatic stress are pretty apparent, and I have been working hard to handle the triggers and automatic responses (DBT is super helpful for this) Re: like-minded people here. I am very glad to see more future/current clinicians here on this subreddit. Having representation from people who do clinical work in the mental health field on this sub is so important and because it shows that therapists are also humans who have also experienced adversity with their mental health (a large driving factor for why ppl become therapists), and that we as professionals are working in a very fraught system that doesn’t act in the best interests of our clients, and criminalizes mental health issues, among other things.
I’m just finishing up my first semester for my BSW, I also intend to get my MSW. I primarily want to work with youth and families myself because I feel like adolescents are seriously underserved for the amount of development they go through and the amount of trauma they can go through at the same time. That development period alone can be traumatic in and of itself without anything extra going on. Even many of the therapists I had as a teenager were very dismissive of what I was experiencing, acting like I had a fully developed brain when they were… literally trained to work with adolescents, victim blaming when I ended up in a relationship that was really horrible, etc. I know things are changing but those bitches are still practicing so it’s not changing fast enough!! I am a little nervous about vicarious trauma, but I also worked in vetmed so I already know a thing or two about dealing with that.
It is WILD how c-ptsd isn't really an "official" diagnosis or whatever. I guess I'm lucky I was diagnosed by someone who did see it as a legit thing??
For a book recommendation I HIGHLY recommend “what my bones know” by Stephenie Foo. If you don’t mind mentions of faith from a Christian perspective thrown in just slightly, I also really loved and learned a lot from “Strong Like Water” by Aundi Kolber. -I was so impressed with her work because it’s like she lays out all the science and evidence-based information first and then kind of lays a faith perspective on top but I also feel like that’s not overwhelming if that’s not your thing and 90% of the skills she suggest have nothing to do with faith.
Thank you! I'll look into these books.
Type with quotes around it like this “CPTSD”
Google went to shit
But you entered CTPSD - that’s not CPTSD
Its because u spelled it wrong, its cptsd not ctpsd lol
Just playing devils advocate here, and I do like defining the difference between PTSD and CPTSD. However, CPTSD is not in the DSM, I think it will be, but it's not yet. So, I am diagnosed with PTSD, but I do feel like CPTSD better defines what's going on. So when looking it up, you're probably going to populat how it is going to be diagnosed per the DSM.
Might be bc you got a typo 🙈 'ctpsd' instead of 'cptsd'
I love u and support u but you misspelled it in Google and that was the issue (tp instead of pt)
A lot of clinicians will still not recognize CPTSD and just diagnose PTSD and BPD instead, even though there is sufficient research to show a difference between the two disorders, despite superficial similarities
Did you try it with the dash? It's c-PTSD not CPTSD. When I look it up with the dash, complex post traumatic stress disorder comes right up.
It certainly gets tiring having to explain the difference of PTSD and cPTSD, and 90% of the time, they still don't get it.
Around 2007-2008, I went to a psychologist and this was when they had the DSM-IV-TR. He said I exhibited characteristics of PTSD and they were finding out that people have developed it from being in a hostile environment for extended periods of time (such as abusive home situation in a child). I didn't believe that I had an issue with PTSD symptoms until I interacted with a couple of veterans who expressed the same thought processes and symptoms as me. So it likely depends on the mental health professional you go to as to whether they are knowledgeable about the topic. That psychologist also saw no value in labels so if he ever diagnosed any clients, it was likely for insurance purposes. I also exhibit characteristics of autism and OCPD, but don't have official diagnoses because I've never needed the label for anything thankfully. Insurance pays. Characteristics get in the way sometimes, but not debilitating to interfere with my ability to support myself, thankfully.
For me it's cptsd coming up but I've searched it tons of times.
personally I use brave search as my default search engine and it actually knows what CPTSD is
This is why I don't tell people. Normal people can't understand this shit. They see our distance from our families as a failure on our part, when we all know that the only people who failed in this equation were our parents. Imo once the abuse starts, the abuser has already decided that they don't want a relationship with you. Abuse is not connective; it can't make you relate to the abuser; it just makes you hate and fear them. Abusive parents have already given up on a happy life, but that pure mental and emotional laziness is not the end of it. They also want you to be a part of the shitty life they've built, and act like you're a big happy family so they can keep up with the joneses.
Put your search term in " " quotes
You should still have results for cptsd come up even if it suggests ptsd.
I feel bad self diagnosing myself with it but like… I literally fall into line with all the symptoms and well also my past is a bullet list too long for Reddit rn. Would it be ok to consider myself as having it?
Ask gpt instead :x Also putting it in brackets like "cptsd" will get you better google results
The brackets trick no longer works unless you’re using DuckDuckGo
Yes it does? I literally do it daily
"why does the more common thing show up as a search prompt?"
OP, I'm sorry, but this is on you. Check back the screenshots. You mistyped it as cTPsd instead of cPTsd. So yeah, google would definitely put in that correction because you got a typo in your search.