🔼: [[Medical Conditions and Diagnoses]] ##### Complex PTSD Complex PTSD is the result of repeated interpersonal [[💡 Trauma| traumatic experiences]] over time, usually during childhood. It has all the symptoms of PTSD with relational / [[💡 Attachment Theory|Attachment]] trauma on top.  A person experiencing Complex PTSD will have multiple [[Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma]]. Some of the most common: - A deep sense of [[💡 Shame|shame]] or a sense of being inherently defective. - Feelings of powerlessness. - Frequent [[💡 Emotional Dysregulation|emotional dysregulation]]. - Hopelessness or despair, feeling like [[When Life Feels Pointless|life is meaningless]]. - [[🛡️ Hypervigilance]] - Feeling isolated, lonely, or disconnected. - [[💡 Anxiety|Anxiety]], [[💡 Depression|Depression]], [[🛡️ Eating Disorders]], [[🛡️ Self-Harm]], [[🛡️ Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder]], [[💡 Bipolar Disorder]], [[Psychosis]]. ###### Keys - [[🔑 Parts are not their burdens, roles, or strategies|🔑 A description is not an identity]] - [[🔑 There is nothing wrong with us]] - 🔑 We are not stuck in the past, the past is stuck in us ###### Recovery Recovering from Complex PTSD can feel like a battle against a fire-breathing hydra. Managing symptoms with our tools, coping strategies, supplements, and medications can put out the fires and prevent the whole thing from burning down, but they can't stop the hydra's terrible march. It can all feel like an impossible, brutal, never-ending ordeal. But it isn't. There is no hydra – though it might be a [[💡 Locked Constellation|Locked Constellation]]. [[🔑 Parts use our minds and bodies to get or distract our attention|🔑 Our symptoms are signal flairs]]. Our parts are desperate to be seen and begging for help. For *our* help. They have done the best they can with what they have since we were kids — and they still are kids, but we are adults now and it's our turn to take care of them. Signal flairs mean someone is in trouble, but — now that they’ve been recognized — help is on the way. [[🦮 How to Recover from Trauma]] ###### Articles - [Transcending the Trauma Mind](https://soulgps.medium.com/transcending-the-trauma-mind-36b92e7ebd5d) - ["How to Support People with Trauma"](https://www.echotraining.org/support-trauma-survivor-infographic/) Factsheet ###### Lab Tests for CPTSD A friend of mine — a psychiatric nurse practitioner who is also recovering from CPTSD — recommends these lab tests. - TSH, FT4 (w/ full thyroid panel if those come back suspect) - [[Ferritin]] (for iron) - fasting lipid panel - 25 OH [[💡 Vitamin D-3]] - Homocysteine (for B vitamin deficiency) - methylmalonic acid (also for B vitamin deficiency or methylation issues) - [[💡 High-sensitivity C-reactive protein hs-CRP]] - GGT (liver) - CMP - CBC - A1C Others if indicated after first round - Celiac disease - [[💡 MTHFR Gene]] - Serum - AM cortisol and then maybe 6 point cortisol with other hormones in DUTCH test (an expensive specialty lab not covered by insurance) - [[💡 Zinc]] - [[Copper]] - organic acids test would be later if indicated ![[Nutrition for Complex PTSD]] ![[Supplements for Complex PTSD]] ###### Sites - https://www.nicabm.com/ - [International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation](https://www.isst-d.org) - https://www.outofthestorm.website/ - https://cptsdfoundation.org/ - https://www.complextrauma.org - [Complex PTSD FAQs (Pete Walker)](http://www.pete-walker.com/fAQsComplexPTSD.html) ###### Treatments - [[⭐️ Internal Family Systems]] - [[💡 Somatic Experiencing]] - [[💡 Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing]] - [[💡 Narrative Therapy]] - [[💡 Brainspotting]] - [[💡 Compassionate Inquiry]] - [[Neuro Emotional Technique (NET)]] - [[💡 Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy]] - Neuro-Linguistic Programming - Sensorimotor Processing - Trauma Focused Art Therapy - [[Somatosensory Experiencing]] ###### Supports - [[Support Groups]] - [[🕯️ Breathwork 💨]] - [[💡 Emotional Regulation]] - [[⭐️ Internal Family Systems]] - [[🕯️ Tension & Trauma Release Exercises (TREs)]] - [[🕯️ Meditation 🧘]] - [[🕯️ Journaling]] - [[⬆️ Tapping]] - [[🛠 Heart Rate Variability Training]] - [[🕯️ Grounding]] - [[🛠 Containment]] - [[🛠 Binaural Beats]] - [[Acupuncture]] - Motor Sensory integration - Neurofeedback - [[👟 Trauma-Sensitive Yoga]] ###### Videos - [A Clinical review of CPTSD and Treatment Pathways for other Clinicians](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otxAuHG9hKo) - [Complex Trauma and Child Development](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HWYLStBwPA) - [Better HelpTM Spells out the Differences between C-PTSD & PTSD](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeQ8bgUAnFg) - [Better HelpTM's Take on Triggers & Treatments](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkVb9prZ3Mg) - [CPTSD: Not a disorder, a Re-ordering of the Brain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbg7I3lI7SQ) ###### YouTube Channels - [Daniel Mackler](https://www.youtube.com/user/dmackler58) - [Tim Fletcher](https://www.youtube.com/@TimFletcher) - [Patrick Teahan LICSW](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbWvYupGqq3aMJ6LsG4q-Yg) - [Alan Robarge / Attachment Trauma Therapist](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5weiD_1MALL7AE9OhOEAPw)