PTSD can occur after a one off traumatic event. Complex PTSD can occur after multiple complicated trauma, such as repeated childhood sexual, physical, emotional or verbal abuse. Complex PTSD can also occur because of emotional deprivation from caregivers, which often many people don’t feel is worthy of creating such a condition and is linked to much guilt and ways of thinking “but I wasn’t hit or abused, they did their best”. To be clear – its an enormously distressing for a child to have unmet needs. Both conditions are debilitating, with a multitude of symptoms ranging from sleep disturbances and nightmares, high level anxiety, social isolation, relationship and trust issues, intense invasive flashbacks or times of dissociation/numbness as your brain can’t deal with the pain of facing everything.
Therapy can help you identify what is going on for you, educate you to be better armed to protect yourself by understanding your internal and external triggers and flashback management. We would work together to carefully dissect the past, whilst keeping you safe. Its possible to prevent the occurrence of flashbacks and intrusive memories, provide coping mechanisms and techniques to self-care, remove the guilt and shame that survivors often carry, address suicidal issues and help you build a trust that may have never been there before.
Fully processing your trauma memories is very important – talking doesn’t cut it – it has to be done in a way that allows your brain to file the memories into the long term memory. This means processing sights/sounds/smells, emotions, cognitions and somatic experiencing. Its not easy but it is worth it.
If you have been brutally broken and you still find it in your heart to be kind, then you deserve all of the love in the ocean