Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), also known as "disorders of extreme stress not otherwise specified (DESNOS)", is a clinically recognized condition that is attributed to an individual suffering from either Traumatic Stress or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This clinical description is under consideration for inclusion in the next revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-V) as a formal, coded diagnosis.

The National Center for PTSD has describes C-PTSD as being the result of the individual experiencing a prolonged period (months to years) of total control by another. The other criteria are symptoms that tend to result from chronic victimization. ^*

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder is characterized by a breakdown of previously effective social skills. Symptoms include:

• Difficulties regulation emotions, including symptoms such as persistent sadness, suicidal thoughts, explosive anger, or inhibited anger

• Variations in consciousness, such as forgetting traumatic events, reliving traumatic events, or having episodes of disociation (during which one feels detached from one's mental processes or body)

• Changes in self-perception, such as a sense of helplessness, shame, guilt, stigma, and a sense of being completely different than other human beings

• Varied changes in the perception of the perpetrator, such as attributing total power to the perpetrator or becoming preoccupied with the relationship to the perpetrator, including a preoccupation with revenge

• Alterations in relations with others, including isolation, distrust, or a repeated search for a rescuer

• Loss of, or changes in, one's system of meanings, which may include a loss of sustaining faith or a sense of hopelessness and despair ^*

A future trauma and/or a symbolic re-enactment of a past trauma that is informed by emotional dysregulation can cause further failure of social or coping skills.

Sources

• Ford, J. D. (1999). Disorders of extreme stress following war-zone military trauma: Associated features of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder or comorbid but distinct syndromes? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 67, 3-12.
• Herman, J. (1997). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to political terror. New York: Basic Books.
• Roth, S., Newman, E., Pelcovitz, D., van der Kolk, B., & Mandel, F. S. (1997). Complex PTSD in victims exposed to sexual and physical abuse: Results from the DSM-IV field trial for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 539-555.

External links

• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
• Recommended DSM criteria

Anxiety disorders | Mood disorders