Trauma Therapy Can Help Both PTSD And C-PTSD
If you’re like most people who struggle with PTSD, there’s something that happened in your past that’s responsible for you being the survivor—or the victim—of trauma. This means that if you’re having trouble like anxiety, or professional conflict, or unhealthy behaviors, it’s all connected to your past.
That’s a big reason why I want to help you treat, even totally overcome, all of “what happened” and replace it with the resilience that all “trauma survivors” use every day. Here’s where to get started.
Breaking Down C-PTSD
If you’re someone with trauma, it’s no secret: PTSD can disrupt your life with everything from sleep problems to avoiding people to self-medicating with drugs or alcohol. But did you know that some trauma is all those symptoms plus more… especially if the trauma was repeated or lasted long-term… so that it can change your whole personality?
Well many people struggle with this. After all, it’s only natural and normal:
When someone experiences trauma from an early age, or long-term trauma, or multiple traumas, it triggers unstoppable emotional and physical responses in that person. These are experiences that are almost impossible to resist. Once a person has this kind of chronic trauma, it’s hard to stop big changes from happening, especially if it comes from childhood abuse or neglect!
Recognizing Signs Of C-PTSD As An Adult
Cognitive therapist Aaron Beck* describes 7 common symptoms for people with C-PTSD:
1) They have problems with memory and attention.
2) They feel intense emotions, like anger, sadness, or numbness… but in a self-destructive way outside of their control.
3) They have deep struggles with self-esteem, ranging from ineffectiveness to guilt and shame, because they probably believe they’re responsible for their trauma.
4) They repeat unhealthy patterns in relationships, like staying in an unhealthy relationship because it feels familiar.
5) They might be confused about “the perpetrator,” maybe even idealizing them.
6) They face big questions about their systems of meaning, from losing belief structures to helplessness.
7) They experience physical and health-related symptoms, like chronic pain.
And, while anyone can experience C-PTSD, research has found it’s more common in women, especially when there’s been physical or sexual abuse. In the case of someone with C-PTSD who tries PTSD treatment, this means way too many people are probably getting their PTSD symptoms treated (anxiety, etc) but they may also have deeper symptoms that need deeper therapy…
So with that in mind, here’s the recommended course of psychotherapy:
3 Ways Therapy Can Help Heal Your Living With C-PTSD
Beck says the key is to engage with trauma therapy for awhile, over the long-term, and make sure to focus on 3 things:
1) Self-definition.
2) Emotional regulation.
3) Relationships.
If you’re someone with C-PTSD, I don’t have to tell you…
The treatment of what you’re going through might need an extra-special look into what’s happening and how to change course. You might need a multipronged and extended kind of therapy for PTSD. You might need more than what’s typical or standard.
And when it comes to PTSD treatment for trauma that’s this deep in the root of things, you can find safety in moving forward with one word:
MEANING.
In other words… the best kind of therapy for C-PTSD never forgets how you’re making meaning out of events. It’s the kind of look into how you tell your story and pursue it with passion… and how you might make positive changes toward growth in areas you’d like help with and may have troubled you for a long time. For example:
When it comes to helping your relationships, that means connecting with how you perceive other people’s emotions by being assertive—while always staying aware of how they’re feeling. It also means working on how you define your life big picture through those relationships and then this all helps regulate how you feel about the way things are going. And that’s just from the angle of helping relationships specifically.
Let me leave it at this…
I’d love to help you work at Beck’s true “secret” of how therapy can help your C-PTSD at what the experts call the “personality” level. It’s basically at the core of everything that I use to help you in session, and the whole reason why if something happened many times or someone is really anxious… it has nothing to do with helping you moving forward from trauma and living with C-PTSD in a manageable way! It’s really about developing your skills of perception over time so you can look at yourself, your emotions, and your relationships in new, more healthy ways. So please reach out right now and let’s start your therapy for C-PTSD.
*Footnote 1: See Aaron Beck’s Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders, p. 506.
Find out more about PTSD Treatment.
About The Author
John Younes, JD, MA, LPCC, NCC is a trained counselor who owns a private practice in Denver, CO. In general, he specializes in depression treatment, anxiety treatment, and PTSD treatment using existential and cognitive therapy practices.
If you’re thinking about suicide and are in immediate danger, please call your local emergency number. For Denver, Colorado, call 1-844-493-8255 or text TALK to 38255. You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.