What is Complex Trauma?
This topic is incredibly vast with seemingly endless layers. Entire books cannot fully cover the depth of complex trauma.
This post is a slight touch of the big toe into tremendously deep waters, with many more posts to come.
Admittedly, I have this need for my posts to have a sort of sequential sensibility to them. So we will start this conversation with a brief introduction, and build from there.
As you read my posts, you may notice that I frequently touch on stress and the nervous system. So hopefully it is becoming clear that when we are under stress our nervous system launches into protection (fight or flight) or survival mode (freeze).
Photo by Luis Galvez on Unsplash
There are other stress responses but I will leave those for another day. The important point is that we respond to stress with neurological and physiological processes, which impact us psychologically.
Single Event vs Complex Trauma
A single event trauma can be thought of just that, a discrete event or situation that occurs in a short time frame, which may lead to psychological wounding or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Of course, not everyone who experiences a traumatic event becomes traumatized. As I have mentioned in previous articles, buffers (such as strong self-care practices and meaningful social support) serve to protect us from psychologically damaging events such as car accidents, natural disasters, violent crimes, and so on. Genetics and personality traits (such as optimism) also play a role in how catastrophe or life-threatening situations might impact us.
When such an event does traumatize a person though, it alters the functioning of their nervous system, impacts their mood and behaviour (e.g., avoidance of triggering situations), and can result in intrusive thoughts, flashbacks, and increased levels of dissociation.
It's important to remember as you read on that mental illness causes significant distress or impairment. What follows does not imply that single event PTSD is a minor disturbance, or less serious than Complex Trauma.
RELATED: MENTAL HEALTH VS MENTAL ILLNESS
Experiencing PTSD can be debilitating and calls for specialized treatment. It's just not what I specialize in.
I specialize in Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or C-PTSD.
The difference between single event trauma and Complex Trauma is... well.. complex!
C-PTSD occurs after prolonged exposure to toxic stress and profoundly impacts a person's sense of self and how they view and navigate the world, in addition to the symptoms associated with single event trauma.
So on top of intrusions, irritability, low mood, and a sensitive nervous system, people with complex trauma have a distorted view of themselves as being unworthy, unlovable, or perhaps inherently bad, they generally experience the world and relationships as unsafe, and these distorted beliefs majorly shape how they show up in their lives.
Photo by Callie Gibson on Unsplash
All of this is particularly true for people who endured a lack of physical safety and/or a lack of responsive and supportive attachment figures during childhood when the architecture of the brain is rapidly forming. This can be thought of as Complex Developmental Trauma, which is what my work concentrates on, more accurately.
The self-concept of individuals with complex trauma is fragmented and tattered.
When a human being repeatedly faces chaos, frightening uncertainty, abuse, and danger the resources and energy normally invested in development of identity and the self are redirected to surviving. A person becomes shaped by recurrent efforts to stay safe, and their behaviour and personality come to reflect this. This is in part due to high levels of dissociation.
Dissociation can be thought of as a lack of presence and connection to one's self and the environment.
Learning about your needs and preferences is pretty near impossible when your nervous system is constantly prompting you to detach from the present moment in order to stay safe on some level.
Notably, we all dissociate from time to time, and dissociation is not inherently pathological.
Do you ever get to the end of a paragraph in your book and realize you have no idea what you’ve just read? Or realize you’ve spaced out while driving and you don’t recall the last few minutes? This is dissociation. We all do it.
But it can become problematic when experiences of the past have altered the nervous system to the point that dissociation is often triggered despite a relatively safe environment.
Dissociation is a protective process and should be considered valuable in the context of Complex Trauma. It is a reflex to alarm; a pattern that developed to aid in survival. If a person with C-PTSD does not have a safe and stable environment, then dissociation continues to be a helpful coping mechanism.
Only when a person has achieved safety and stability should problematic dissociation be addressed. And all of these steps are best done in the context of therapy.
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Dissociation is a massive topic in its own right, and we will dive deeper another day.
For now, I will leave you with this - if you struggle with symptoms of PTSD as mentioned above, are often unaware of yourself or your environment, feel like you are empty and unlovable, and fear or avoid intimacy... Know there are ways to reconnect with and develop your sense of self, to increase security in relationships, and to find a life of contentment and joy.
Therapy can help.
And you are worth it.
Wishing you wellness,
Kirsten
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