CPTSD Foundation
@cptsdfoundation
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Foundation for Post-Traumatic Healing and Complex Trauma Research • Providing trauma-informed education and resources to practitioners and survivors since 2014
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Join us as we celebrate the 5th Annual CPTSD Awareness Month, throughout the month of September, with our We Are Healing Trauma virtual summit!
Sign up now to avail 15% off on this year’s offerings.
Visit -
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Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.
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Trauma isn't the result of weakness. Trauma is the result of something (or many things) that has been so overwhelming for our bodies that our brains literately CHANGE to adapt to what has happened. It's not something we make up.
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PTSD is twice as prevalent in women as in men and researchers are not sure why. Recent studies have however shed light on how estrogen and hormonal cycles can influence PTSD.
This article explores the connection between PTSD and the menopausal transition.
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Childhood emotional abuse is often considered as less serious than physical, sexual, or financial abuse.
In this article, our guest contributor sheds light on the equal severity that the impact of childhood emotional abuse can have later in adulthood
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Studies have shown that trauma and addiction are linked. And each episode of trauma increases the risk of addiction.
In this article, our guest contributor writes about how survivors can fight off addiction or prevent relapse after experiencing trauma.
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When the smoke detectors of the brain malfunction, people no longer run when they should be trying to escape or fight back when they should be defending themselves. – Bessel van der Kolk
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The abuse that CPTSD survivors experienced in childhood was most often perpetrated by a narcissistic parent.
In adulthood, many now wrestle with the decision to forgive or not to forgive the person who failed to protect them when they were most vulnerable.
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Disassociation is a self-defense mechanism that the brain uses when it cannot handle the current situation, or when it is attempting to process something painful. - UNKNOWN
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The bodies of child-abuse victims are tense and defensive until they find a way to relax and feel safe.
Survivors cannot recover until they become familiar with and befriend their bodies. Physical self-awareness is often the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past.
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As survivors of childhood trauma, many of us have no point of reference to understand 'normal'. Trauma is our normal.
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As survivors of childhood trauma, many of us have no point of reference to understand 'normal'. Trauma is our normal.
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Survivors of any and all abuse become very good at anticipating the mood of others, looks, actions, all of it in an effort to survive.
Believing that if we can be agreeable, be compliant and loving, do things how they want, that we will be safe.
-Darlene Ouimet
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Survivors of childhood trauma deserve all the peace and security that a loving relationship can provide. But a history of abuse or neglect can make trusting another person feel terrifying. Trying to form an intimate relationship may lead to frightening missteps and confusion.
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A child born into an abusive family must find a way to preserve a sense of trust in people who are untrustworthy, safety in a situation that is unsafe, control in a situation that is terrifyingly unpredictable, and power in a situation of helplessness.
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When you start to have all these unpleasant emotions it's like your body/ soul is finally ready to get rid of them. Kind of like how your body gives u an unpleasant fever when you're sick which is painful to endure but ultimately it's what makes you well.
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A child born into an abusive family must find a way to preserve a sense of trust in people who are untrustworthy, safety in a situation that is unsafe, control in a situation that is terrifyingly unpredictable, and power in a situation of helplessness.
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Hypervigilance is the continual need to work people out in order to protect oneself from further harm or reduce the harm coming.
Hypervigilance becomes a natural part of the survivor's subconscious needs and, therefore, continues even when the harm and abuse have ceased.
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An estimated twenty percent of the world’s population, live their lives as undiagnosed sufferers of Childhood or Complex Trauma.
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When complex trauma takes hold, life becomes a downward spiral, dissociative conditions take hold, and the search for wholeness overtakes all else.
Healing Cptsd often means a life of trauma management, and the search to find hope, love, and meaning.
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Adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains changes how they respond to stress and damages their immune systems so profoundly that the effects show up decades later.
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A diagnosis of CPTSD or any of its symptoms, including flashbacks, toxic shame, depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety is not a sign of weakness.
The fear of labeling and judgment should not keep survivors from admitting they need help and getting the treatment they deserve.
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Traumatized people are not suffering from a disease in the normal sense of the word– they have become stuck in an aroused state. It is difficult, if not impossible to function normally under these circumstances. – Peter A. Levine
#hyperarousal
#cptsd
#traumarecovery
#MentalHealth
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Suppressing trauma, trying to forget it, or trying to move on without processing it does not lead to healing. It makes it worse in the long term.
And healing doesn't have to look magical or pretty. Recovery is hard, exhausting, and draining. So let yourself go through it. and
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Children from alcoholic or dysfunctional homes struggle to find their identity in adulthood. Many go on to develop CPTSD due to the instability and feeling of insecurity.
This article focuses on how dysfunctional upbringing affects children in adulthood.
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Adult survivors of childhood trauma find decision-making especially difficult because many of them haven’t learned to trust their gut feeling.
In this article, our guest contributor shares 5 tips that can help survivors improve their decision-making skills
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In the aftermath of a traumatic experience, survivors often struggle with upsetting emotions, memories, and anxiety that won’t go away. It can also leave them feeling numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people.
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Psychological trauma is not only mentally and physically exhausting; it can also have long-lasting effects on the victim’s brain.
After experiencing severe trauma, especially in childhood, several parts of the brain can be impacted negatively and take extended periods to recover.
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Learning to expressing emotions in a healthy way can be a major struggle for trauma survivors.
Many of us grew up in homes where we were groomed to be obedient robots and it was forbidden to express our true feelings or anything near the full range of human emotions.
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The bodies of traumatized people portray "snapshots" of their unsuccessful attempts to defend themselves in the face of threat and injury. Trauma is a highly activated incomplete biological response to threat, frozen in time. - PETER A. LEVINE
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Putting up strong boundaries or going no-contact with an unsafe member of family can be very difficult for survivors.
Our guest contributor shares about dealing with the waves of emotions that assailed her after choosing to go no contact with her mother.
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Childhood emotional neglect occurs when a child’s parent or parents fail to respond adequately to their child’s emotional needs.
Parents who emotionally neglect their children may still provide care and necessities. They just miss out on or mishandle this one key area of support.
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Survivors of childhood neglect often cope by believing that they are inherently bad, to deal with the pain that someone they trusted is also capable of harming them.
Dysfunctional shame is born out of taking responsibility for a wrong you had no fault in.
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Learning to expressing emotions in a healthy way can be a major struggle for trauma survivors.
Many of us grew up in homes where we were groomed to be obedient robots and it was forbidden to express our true feelings or anything near the full range of human emotions.
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Over time as most people fail the survivor's exacting test of trustworthiness, they tend to withdraw from relationships. The isolation of the survivor thus persists even after they are free.
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Many survivors of CPTSD or adverse childhood experiences go on for many years of their lives without realizing that there is a medical term for what they have been through.
So quite inevitably, many traumatized people are relieved simply to learn the true name of their condition.
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Trauma isn't the result of weakness. Trauma is the result of something (or many things) that has been so overwhelming for our bodies that our brains literately CHANGE to adapt to what has happened. It's not something we make up.
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Long-term trauma, especially in childhood, completely changes the way our minds reacts to every experience. It can alter the functioning of our brains and central nervous systems, leaving survivors feeling unsafe and anxious.
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There is another side of anxiety. The high-functioning one where sufferers appear calm and push themselves to be overachievers at great cost to their mental and physical well-being.
This article looks at why high-functioning anxiety often goes undetected.
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Many survivors of CPTSD know that all isn’t well, but they don’t have a term to capture the problem; few people seem to get it, and the medical establishment has continued to ignore the problem. Many don’t know what treatment might help and have no idea where to seek for it.
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Unhealthy or toxic patterns within a broken family system often continue from one generation to the next until one brave survivor finally ends the cycle of abuse. As recovering survivors, we face our trauma because we believe in breaking cycles, not repeating them.
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Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the triggering event itself.
They stem from the frozen residue of energy that had not been resolved or discharged; this residue remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirits.
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An estimated twenty percent of the world’s population, live their lives as undiagnosed sufferers of Childhood or Complex Trauma.
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A diagnosis of CPTSD or any of its symptoms, including flashbacks, toxic shame, depression, suicidal ideation, and anxiety is not a sign of weakness.
The fear of labeling and judgment should not keep survivors from admitting they need help and getting the treatment they deserve.
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Survivors of childhood trauma deserve all the peace and security that a loving relationship can provide. But a history of abuse or neglect can make trusting another person feel terrifying. Trying to form an intimate relationship may lead to frightening missteps and confusion.
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Recovering survivors need to grieve the death of safety and belonging in their own childhoods – the death of their early attachment needs. They need to mourn the myriad heartbreaks of their frustrated attempts to win approval and affection from their parents.
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Complex trauma is a penetrating wound which arrests the course of normal development by its intrusion of terror and helplessness into the survivor’s life.
This article looks at why survivors struggle with the wound long after the actual danger has passed.
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While loneliness is not linked to any specific personality type or lifestyle, individuals who’ve experienced significant childhood trauma are at a higher risk of experiencing chronic loneliness in adulthood.
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In the aftermath of a traumatic experience, survivors often struggle with upsetting emotions, memories, and anxiety that won’t go away. It can also leave them feeling numb, disconnected, and unable to trust other people.
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Abuse in the family knocks out the most important protection against being traumatized – being sheltered by the people you love. If the people whom you naturally turn to for care and protection terrify or reject you, you learn to shut down and ignore what you feel.
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Many or even most psychiatric patients are survivors of childhood abuse.
The data on this point are beyond contention.
On careful questioning, 50-60 percent of psychiatric inpatients and 40-60 percent of outpatients report childhood histories of physical or sexual abuse or both.
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A survivor of childhood trauma has unprocessed memories that are highly emotionally charged and easily triggered.
They have different cognitive responses to normal life events and these include avoidance of certain situations and strategies to keep safe.
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Growing evidence shows that psychological trauma triggers physiological responses in the body like increased inflammation, thyroid issues and elevated basal cortisol levels.
It is also linked to substance abuse and other behavior that lead to addiction.
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If you have ever wanted to try out our programs to see if they're right for you? Now is your opportunity with our "Learn More" resource.
Check out and see what our programs are like, for Free!
#CPTSD
#YouAreWorthIt
#TraumaRecovery
#PTSD
#Healing
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The bodies of child-abuse victims are tense and defensive until they find a way to relax and feel safe.
Survivors cannot recover until they become familiar with and befriend their bodies. Physical self-awareness is often the first step in releasing the tyranny of the past.
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When complex trauma takes hold, life becomes a downward spiral, dissociative conditions take hold, and the search for wholeness overtakes all else.
Healing CPTSD often means a life of trauma management, and the search to find hope, love, and meaning.
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When complex trauma takes hold, life becomes a downward spiral, dissociative conditions take hold, and the search for wholeness overtakes all else.
Healing CPTSD often means a life of trauma management, and the search to find hope, love, and meaning.
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The thing about complex trauma is small, seemingly insignificant reminders can evoke and unlock painful memories, which often return with all the vividness and emotional force of the original event.
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Our trauma experience makes us feel chronically unsafe inside our bodies.
Visceral warning signs constantly bombard our bodies, and in an attempt to control these processes, we often become experts at ignoring our gut feelings and numbing awareness of what is playing out inside.
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Most victims of childhood trauma suffer from agonizing shame about their actions during a traumatic event.
The shame is often borne out of actions they took to survive and maintain a connection with the person who abused them.
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An emotional flashback can be likened to a “hijacking of the amygdala.” It forces survivors to relive a traumatic event without the context of the memory associated with it.
This article shares some helpful methods for managing emotional flashbacks.
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The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma, or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it.
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Indeed, there is no going back to the old you. But this is not a wholly negative thing. Healing from trauma can also mean finding new strength and joy.
The goal of healing is not a papering-over of changes in an effort to preserve or present things as normal.
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In the end, what dissociation tells us is that something's been triggered, and we need to be respectful about it. We can't talk yourself out of it or force it to go away... Perhaps more than anything else, we need to be patient and kind to ourselves.
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Growing evidence shows that psychological trauma triggers physiological responses in the body like increased inflammation, thyroid issues and elevated basal cortisol levels.
It is also linked to substance abuse and other behavior that lead to addiction.
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Rejection in childhood from a parent/primary caregiver can result in mental health issues within the child’s undeveloped brain, including the development of CPTSD.
This article looks at the subject of rejection and how survivors can accept it and move on.
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You have probably heard this before, but it gets worse before it gets better. Recovery will feel like you're dying a million times, and every inch of you I will scream at you to stop, to stop fighting.
But don't give in. Life is waiting for you outside your comfort zone.
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Our recovery as survivors is aided by forming healthy relationships with safe people in an environment where we can find the words where words were absent before. As a result, we can (sometimes for the very first time) share our deepest feelings with another human being.
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CPTSD is a disorder that can develop after a person experiences repeated trauma over months or years. Long-term stress from trauma can negatively impact the central nervous system, leading to conditions like Hypertension and cardiovascular impairments.
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Our recovery as survivors is aided tremendously by forming healthy relationships with safe people in an environment where we can find the words where words were absent before.
It is one of the most profound experiences we can have as survivors.
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Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) is frequently misdiagnosed as Borderline Personality Disorder or PTSD.
This article looks at the widespread misdiagnosis of CPTSD, and the unwillingness of healthcare systems to help and support survivors.
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One of the symptoms of complex trauma is toxic self-blame which happens when survivors blame themselves. Blaming oneself for the shame of being a victim is recognized by trauma specialists as a defense against the extreme powerlessness we feel in the wake of a traumatic event.
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One of the primary goals of therapy is getting survivors to develop a deep sense of calm and stability. Indeed, survivors cannot begin to recover from complex trauma unless they feel protected. This includes both physical and emotional safety.
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Humiliation is a specific and traumatic way of exercising power, with a set of consistently occurring elements and predictable consequences, including a loss of the ability to trust others.
The resulting consequences including a sense of permanent loss and feelings of impotence.
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Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the triggering event itself.
They stem from the frozen residue of energy that had not been resolved or discharged; this residue remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirits.
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97
Many adult survivors of childhood trauma learned to repress their emotions because it was unsafe to express them in a dysfunctional setting.
This article explores repressed anger, its source, and how to mitigate its effects on the lives of survivors.
1
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Many survivors of CPTSD or adverse childhood experiences go on for many years of their lives without realizing that there is a medical term for what they have been through.
So quite inevitably, many traumatized people are relieved simply to learn the true name of their condition.
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97
"The process of dissociation is an elegant mechanism built into the human psychological system as a form of escape from (sometimes literally) going crazy." ― Alexandra Katehakis
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The introduction of the PTSD diagnosis has opened a door to the scientific investigation of the nature of human suffering. Although much of human art and religion has focused on understanding man’s afflictions, science has paid scant attention to suffering as an object of study.
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Because trauma symptoms can remain hidden for years after a triggering event, some of us who have been traumatized are not yet symptomatic.
Trauma, including one-time, multiple, or long-lasting repetitive events, affects everyone differently.
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For survivors of prolonged, repeated trauma, it is not practical to approach each memory as a separate entity. There are simply too many incidents, and often similar memories have blurred together.
Usually, however, a few distinct and particularly meaningful incidents stand out.
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Hypervigilance is the continual need to work people out in order to protect oneself from further harm or reduce the harm coming.
Hypervigilance becomes a natural part of the survivor's subconscious needs and, therefore, continues even when the harm and abuse have ceased.
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When past experiences have taught hard lessons, namely, that one can least afford to trust the people who should be most trustworthy, it stands to reason that confusion about trust results.
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Suppressing trauma, trying to forget it, or trying to move on without processing it does not lead to healing. It makes it worse in the long term.
And healing doesn't have to look magical or pretty. Recovery is hard, exhausting, and draining. So let yourself go through it. and
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What is frequently called growing up too fast is simply neglect and abuse.
When you think of it, it is actually a euphemism used to minimize the pain that the person felt as a child when their needs weren’t being met by describing it in neutral or even positive language.
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Survivors of any and all abuse become very good at anticipating the mood of others, looks, actions, all of it in an effort to survive.
Believing that if we can be agreeable, be compliant and loving, do things how they want, that we will be safe.
-Darlene Ouimet
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People who enjoyed a secure childhood often do not understand about those of us who did not is how our trauma experience controls our feelings, makes us hypersensitive, self-critical, compulsive, workaholic, and above all, survivors.
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Many adult survivors of cptsd struggle with a loss of memory. Indeed, childhood trauma and memory loss go hand-in-hand.
Repressed or completely blocked-out memories can be a way of coping with the trauma and protecting survivors from the full impact of the experience.
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Many dysfunctional parents react contemptuously to a baby or toddler’s plaintive call for connection and attachment.
Contempt is extremely traumatizing to a child and extremely noxious to an adult.
Before long, the child gives up on seeking any kind of help or connection at all.
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One of the most debilitating effects of complex trauma on the brain of survivors is how the events that define it cannot be assimilated with the victim’s “inner schemata” of self in relation to the world.
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A traumatic stress reaction consists of *natural* emotions and behaviors in response to a catastrophe, its immediate aftermath, or memories of it. These reactions can occur anytime after the trauma, even decades later.
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Many adult survivors of childhood trauma learned to repress their emotions because it was unsafe to express them in a dysfunctional setting.
This article explores repressed anger, its source, and how to mitigate its effects on the lives of survivors.
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Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.
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Validation, Encouragement, Support, & Healing - Join us and be a part of the Daily Recovery Support Calls. Interactive group calls in a safe atmosphere for survivors of complex trauma.
#CPTSD
#TraumaInformed
#Recovery
#Healing
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The greatest damage done by neglect, trauma, or emotional loss is not the immediate pain they inflict but the long-term distortions they induce in the way a developing child will continue to interpret the world and her situation in it.
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"In contrast to ordinary memories both good and bad, which are mutable and dynamically changing over time, traumatic memories are static.
They’re imprints, engrams from past overwhelming experiences. Deep impressions carved into the sufferer’s brain and body. - Peter A. Levine
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At the core of every addiction is an emptiness based in abject fear. - Gabor Mate
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Childhood abandonment causes children to neglect themselves, and to give up on the formation of a self. They do so to preserve an illusion of connection with the parent and to protect themselves from the danger of losing that tenuous connection.
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The first task of healing from childhood trauma is to accept the loss. The second task, is to understand the meaning of the loss.
This article looks at the way a survivor’s processing of the loss and impact of trauma affects their healing journey.
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Adverse childhood experiences can trigger chronic inflammation and hormonal changes.
This kind of prolonged activation of the stress-response systems can disrupt the development of the brain, and increase the risk for stress-related disease well into adulthood.
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