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MENTAL HEALTH | PSYCHOLOGY | TRAUMA
Why The C in C-PTSD Will Haunt You
Because childhood trauma shows up in everything we do. Forever.
Many are familiar with the term PTSD — an acronym for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder — typically associated with war veterans.
The term originated when observers of those returning from the perils of the Second World War noted that many soldiers were left emotion-less, with a “thousand-yard stare”.
The term “shell shock” preceded this, coined in World War I by British psychologist Charles Samuel Myers, CBE, who was a founding member of The Psychological Society. Myers was tasked with studying soldiers who suffered from a range of peculiar but severe symptoms, including body tremors, stammering, sensory numbness, and impaired eyesight.
In the 1960’s, following the Vietnam War, medical and mental health experts began delving deeper into combat stress. Their studies led to the term: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) identifying a mental health condition that is typically trigged in adulthood by experiencing or witnessing a singularly terrifying or shocking event.
By the 1980's, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) had added PTSD to the third edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III). Although controversial at the time, the PTSD diagnosis filled an important gap in psychiatric theory and practice.
Anyone experiencing significant trauma from shocking or sudden unexpected experiences; violent attacks, natural disasters, threat to life, or a major loss may begin to show signs of PTSD. Symptoms can include, but are not limited to, severe anxiety or depression, violent memory flashbacks, nightmares, sustained substance abuse, emotional numbness, survivor’s remorse, sleep difficulties or insomnia, hopelessness or suicidal thoughts and attempts.
So, what then is the meaning of the C that you’ll find hitched to PTSD?
Complex. Is the professional term. But it could just as well stand for …
