Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Traumatic experiences can alter a person’s sense of self, safety, their response to stressors, can greatly interfere with their interpersonal relationships, and can result in a mental disorder called Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. This paper will discuss the diagnostic features of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder also known as PTSD. Just as no two fingerprints are the same, no two people who have experienced trauma are the same. Some traumas, especially those that are repetitive or especially severe, can lead to more complex mental reactions than Posttraumatic Stress Disorder encompasses. These reactions may become so habitual that they can completely alter a person’s perception and responses, daily interactions can become greatly affected, intimate relationships can be difficult to navigate as well as general outlook on life can decrease. This paper will also discuss the possibility of a new diagnosis called Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as a diagnosis was first included into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III, American Psychiatric Association) in 1980. Its inclusion was largely due to the demand to classify symptoms of those individuals who had fought in the Vietnam War. The symptoms found most prevalent among the soldiers were re-experiencing (in the form of flashbacks and nightmares), heightened arousal (often in the form of anger and startle response) and avoidance / numbing (Courtois, 2004). Prior to the PTSD diagnosis, other syndromes were proposed to attempt to classify symptoms of severe traumas. The terms such as “rape trauma syndrome” and “battered women’s syndrome” highlighted the person’s inability to deal with their emotions and environment following a traumatic event or events (van der Kolk, 2002).