The Prevalence of Complex PTSD
Printed from http://www.bodytalksystem.com//learn/news/article.cfm?id=1047 on Apr 24, 2024.
Feb 12, 2018
By Esther Veltheim
"Post
Truamatic Stress, from a neurological standpoint, is not a dis-order.
It is a re-ordering of your neural networks and pathways and your
sensory pathways, so that you can survive in a really dangerous
situation."
– Janet Seahorn, PhD, author of Tears of a Warrior
When many of us think of PTSD, we often imagine a single, severely
traumatic event (war, accident, rape etc.). This event can still have
several incidences, but they tend to be put under the one umbrella even
though we may need to address the specific components. However, as
practitioners, we will more often need to address Complex PTSD also
known as C-PTSD. This particular stress disorder generally results from
prolonged and repetitive trauma. It frequently involves abuse or
abandonment by a family member or caregiver in a situation where the
power dynamic is skewed.
Unfortunately, violent and mentally or emotionally abusive relationships
are just as prevalent as they have ever been, but they are often kept
very hushed and can even go unrecognized by the victims. The following
experiences and situations can easily leave a person with C-PTSD
symptoms:
- -Physically and mentally abusive relationships from childhood
- -Mentally or emotionally abusive marriages/partnerships (E.g. repeated infidelity)
- -Being bullied at school (leading to child suicide and more gun use in schools)
- -Cyber-bullying
- -Being bullied or abused by parents (alcoholic parents, drug abuse, or parents with mental disorders); being bullied by other children (siblings, school mates)
- -Being gaslighted by a partner or parent
- -Sexual abuse--incest, rape, etc.
- -Environmental--living in a hostile environment (E.g. where there are gangs, etc.)
The profound damage gaslighting causes is only beginning to be acknowledged. If you are unfamiliar with the term gaslighting, it
involves psychological manipulation that causes the victim to doubt
their own memory, their own perception and their own sanity.
Gaslighting is experienced more among women, but is certainly
not limited to them. Although gaslighting is sometimes accompanied by
physical abuse, the abuser usually confines their attacks to the
psychological realm. They lie pathologically and consistently, in the
process deeply convincing themselves that their own distorted reality is
truth, the only truth. That truth is lies and lies are the truth is the
state of mind the gaslighter projects upon their prey and all those who
surround them.
The depths of self-doubt and helplessness catalyzed by gaslighting can
feel psychologically paralyzing. The most basic acts of
self-preservation are being eroded and the idea of escaping the abuse
can appear increasingly impossible.
One of the goals of gaslighting is to draw the other so strongly into
their web of lies as to totally convince them "you are the crazy one!"
Another is to ensure the projection takes hold. To this end, they
isolate their prey by convincing all who will listen that she or he is
"mentally unstable," "mentally fragile," "has lost all grasp on reality"
or is "crazy." The more devastating and persistent the attacks are, the
stronger the gaslighter's own psychological wall becomes. To others
they can appear powerful and charismatic. To their prey, what was once
something endearing and charming is now seen for the façade it is; a
wall that feels increasingly isolating. The perpetrator wants their prey
to live out for them everything they are unwilling to face within
themselves.
Because there is no physical damage as evidence and proof that these
abusive attacks have taken place, the effects of gaslighting can be far
more long lasting and pervasive than those of overt physical
abuse. Consequently, many victims and survivors remain oblivious to the
fact that what they are experiencing is Complex PTSD.
To read this brief description of gaslighting is, possibly, to
realize that it is a term that not only describes the dynamic within a
personal relationship. On the world stages, authoritarians are master
gaslighters. From not only a psychological but also a philosophical
standpoint, the concept of gaslighting has much to teach us
about human nature and its transformation. Wherever there is
gaslighting, our Savior/Martyr (or Disabler/Enabler) archetypes are
invoking a spell. Because these two archetypes are universal and not
individual, whether we are overtly affected by gaslighting or not, there
is much we can learn from studying its dynamic. Because gaslighting is,
essentially, abuse administered through distortion of the truth, it is
very possible more of us are inured to gaslighting than we realize. This
makes it equally possible that by shedding a steady light on
gaslighting and acknowledging its prevalence, we can break its spell.
Understanding C-PTSD and PTSD in all their guises and in how they affect
the Three Brains will be a key component of John's upcoming
supplemental course on stress disorders. We hope you realize how
critical this subject is and how important it is to be able to address
it in practice.
For a detailed description of Gaslighting, it's etymology and how it shows up in various social relationships, psychiatry, and politics, please read more on Wikipedia HERE.
Stress Disorders and PTSD from a Three Brain Perspective
February 20, 2018, Livestream, 2:00 - 3:30pm EST, USA