Something I Want Others to Know About CPTSD is ...

[Alexandra]

Hello Bardic ; I read your interesting post, it seems to me that there are some universal truths , that cause C-PTSD. Firstly the physical, our bodies all react the same way to trauma in childhood, it effects our developing brain, we all need certain things for our emotional and social development, there is a universal response to this deprivation.

On the other hand, C-PTSD, is individual as well; the age when the trauma started, the family dynamics , the social environment etc. For example, I was a feral child, locked in the house with a violent abusive mother, I was totally alone no family dynamics, or socialization. When I escaped, I learned by various means, how to interact with other people. On the other hand, people talk about the dynamics with their families which will have individual effects on them.

I think using the PTSD model is faulty: 1) fully formed adults fight in combat; 2) there is a universality to combat; 3) combat is an abnormal activity and the rules are completely different from civilian life. I saw a documentary on combat and one solider put it best, " we had to turn ourselves into uncivilized beings, now we have to turn ourselves back into lovable characters." Most importantly, combat trauma is caused by strangers, not intimates ,family, and you are not alone, you go through the trauma with your buddies.

My approach has been to understand the effect that the deprivation has had on me and work on what I can to overcome it. I have to face the painful truth of the loss, to grieve, and to accept myself for who I am, take care of myself, [and accept] that the loss and trauma are only a part of who I am.

[Kizzie]

I think using the PTSD model is faulty: 1) fully formed adults fight in combat; 2) there is a universality to combat; 3) combat is an abnormal activity and the rules are completely different from civilian life. I saw a documentary on combat and one solider put it best, " we had to turn ourselves into uncivilized beings, now we have to turn ourselves back into lovable characters." Most importantly, combat trauma is caused by strangers, not intimates ,family, and you are not alone, you go through the trauma with your buddies.

I like this summary of PTSD and combat Alexandra. My H is ex-Army and has told me that soldiers with PTSD will often find their symptoms get worse when they get home because they are no longer immersed in an operational unit where they are together 24/7, and they are working more normal day and hours in garrison. And for those who leave the military, things get worse because in addition to losing their mates, they also lose the structure a military environment provides.

It's also true that soldiers go into combat as adults so are fully developed or near to it. (I'm thinking here about adults not being fully developed cognitively until approx age 25.) So most will have a pre-trauma self and know who they are what healthy looks like whereas those of us born into trauma don't have that. 

Interesting conversation!     

[Alexandra]

Hello Kizzie Good point, about soldiers having a pre-trauma self , depending on the age when the trauma started, those of us, with childhood trauma may or may not , have that self to fall back on, and I forgot to mention that soldiers ,go through a lot of training to prepare for combat, children are just dumped  both unprepared and dependent ,into it. I am lucky, I had a secure life until I was 4, my Dad really loved me,I was well taken care of by him ,my so-called mother was abusing my Dad ,he protected me ,my so-called mother, throw  him out when I was 4 . I have kept those 4  years totally protected and isolated from what happened after, I can re-visit them which comforts me ,so I do have a modest pre-trauma self .