Complex-PTSD stands for complex-post traumatic stress disorder. It happens when a child had experienced prolonged or repeated trauma. C-PTSD comes from childhood emotional abuse, physical abuse, or neglect. It also comes from insecure attachment where as a child you did not have your needs met as an infant.
Childhood trauma hurts the formation of a sense of self and it also hurts the development of the brain. It can cause lasting effects on 3 parts of the brain. Amygdala, Hippocampus, and the prefrontal cortex.
So trauma causes your amygdala to be hyperactive and it causes the prefrontal cortex to have a hard time regulating the fear and other emotions. The hippocampus can’t tell the difference between past present or imagination so when memories or triggers pop up it feels like you are reliving the experience all over again.
C-PTSD also affects the way your neural pathways form and do not form. Neural pathways are signals that are sent to your nervous system which are neurons sent to other neurons in the nervous system which affect your thinking and behavior. Trauma reduces neural pathways to your thinking part of your brain which is dedicated to learning and reasoning and it strengthens your neural pathways to your survival part of your brain. it makes you less capable to cope with difficulties as you get older. So it causes your survival and emotions to be overactive and your reasoning to be underactive. it can affect your memory, thinking abilities.
When you go through prolonged stress, it releases a lot of cortisol and adrenaline. That reduces your immune system which makes you more prone to chronic illness. That is why a lot of people who suffer from trauma can suffer from illness!
Trauma can get passed down because we learn our habits and how to deal with things through our parents. Most of the time our parents are traumatized as well. Studies have shown this as well. Researchers studied Holocaust survivors and those children of the survivors were more likely to be traumatized. Not because they dealt with the Holocaust but because their parents didn’t heal and did not teach their children how to deal with their emotions or how to nurture through things.
You have a hard time identifying and processing your emotions and have little vocabulary to explain how you feel
Dysregulation is a person’s inability to control their emotional response to stimuli. You have a hard time regulating your emotions. Now dysregulation is common among all people but people with trauma get dysregulated a lot more often and it is for long periods of time where they have more triggers. It also causes disruptions in your relationships and daily functions. It can be hard to get back into daily life. You may be very discombobulated, angry, shaky, foggy-headed, etc. It also is usually revolved around a certain trigger. Before you become dysregulated, you usually have an emotional flood all over your body. You may all of a sudden feel rage, embarrassment, anxiety, and then you respond to that emotional response.
Triggers are different for everyone. It could be that you got criticized, you talked about your trauma, you saw someone getting yelled at. Something from your trauma triggered you to have the same response you had as a child. So you may have an outburst, cry, go into a rage where you say horrible things you do not mean. Maybe you go into a panic where you become shaky or experience numbness from your fight or flight kicking off, become clumsy, or do things you do not want to/say things don’t mean. You feel you can’t control yourself. This can last hours or even days.
This happens because your brain waves are completely off so your systems are off where you need reregulation to get back into it. Most people realize it is a problem but they do not know how to get out of it. But please understand none of this is your fault! This is a result of your trauma.
Now that we have gone through all of that, you may feel a little discouraged but do not panic! Your brain is malleable and you can retrain your brain. So the first thing is you need to recognize your triggers. Pay attention to how you feel in your body. Notice your triggers and what causes those floods of emotions. Once you recognize your triggers, you know you will go into an emotional state, you are going into survival mode!
So what you want to do is you want to take a pause. If you are in a conversation go into another room, if you’re driving pull over, if you’re cooking stop cooking! Next, you need to do grounding techniques so you get yourself out of your emotional part of your brain to a more cognitive one. So you want to use your senses! Taking a deep breath first always helps! Counting breaths or guiding yourself through your breaths can help reregulate. If you are sitting you can put your butt on the chair and feel the chair, you could squeeze yourself to feel yourself, look at your hands and count your fingers. You can eat a lemon as it brings you back to what’s going on, it’s a zing back to reality. These all help to stop from going into that trauma fear response and stop from dysregulation.
Eft stands for Emotional freedom technique. This is where you touch on your meridian points. Similar to acupuncture but without the needles. You take 2 fingers on the specific spots where you tap on them and say something like ” Even though I’m really stressed I love and accept myself flaws and all.” You want to say the negative thing on your mind and then something positive. this is supposed to bring balance to your bodies energy. tapping can reduce stress, or a negative emotion and you may feel restored.
Some think it is a placebo effect but think of it this way, we are energy. By pressing on the points and saying these things, you are talking yourself into a healthy positive mindset. Placebo or not it is good to release that energy. It can help open neural pathways so it now it opens for positive self talk.
Get a journal and do self-check-ins. Ask yourself your fears and resentments of the day. Allow yourself to let out your negative emotions. And then ask yourself how will you deal with this? What do I need? And then give yourself that need. Maybe at that moment, you needed to get it out and now you’re okay. Maybe you need a friend. It helps you to prepare how to deal with these emotions in the future.
EMDR stands for Emotional Movement Desensitization Reprocessing. It is when you think about a memory where you do not have to talk about it. The practitioner that helps you with it has you move your eyes side to side and they may tap. it is a way to reprocess your memory so it is not as triggering. Research says EMDR has helped 77% of survivors feel better.
Why does it work? When you’re traumatized as a child it stores a memory in your nervous system. So our brains do not know the difference between past and present so when we remember something we feel as if it is actually happening. That is why you can still feel you are dealing with trauma current day when you remember it. So it responds as if it is still happening.
By you moving your eyes back and forth, you are distracting what is going on in your mind, it is reprocessing your trauma memory. You as a survivor you can address your trauma through reprocessing your memories. if you are someone that has a hard time when you speak about your traumas, don’t worry this is different! It is different from speaking because when you speak about it, it increases productivity in your right part of your brain which has your five senses. Which causes your trauma memories to pop up.
When you talk about your trauma there is no beginning, middle, or end, and so random images, sounds, or smells will pop up which causes panic and terror. When you go through trauma in your mind it does not happen that way. You are going through the story rather than speaking about it. When you speak about it your brain moves faster than your lips but when you remember it you are going through it yourself.
If you feel you are suffering from this do not hesitate to reach out to a professional that is familiar with this. That way they can help you a lot better. You are not alone! You will get through this.
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