cptsd worse than ptsd?

Question

is complex post traumatic stress disorder a worse diagonses than post traumatic stress disorder? what is the differences?

Answer 1

www.artsci.gmcc.ab.ca/people/petal/complexptsd.htm

ptsd results from a trauma suffered after age fourteen, typically a discrete event (sexual assault, victim of a crime) or situation (war, domestic abuse) wheras c-ptsd is repetitive in nature and occurs while a child is developing.
and yes, it's worse, because the trauma is repetitive and does occur while a child is in the process of forming their perceptions of themselves and the world and other people...

people who warrant a c-ptsd diagnosis usually believe themselves to be fundamentally damaged, fundamentally wrong, fundamentally beyond repair-fubar. it's hard to beat that. emotional temp ranges from boiling to absent, trust is problematic, addiction issues are not uncommon,rates of other mental illness diagnoses are disproportionately high, particularly anxiety and depression.
there's so much that goes along with being put through hell as a kid that doesn't necessarily go along with going through it as an adult, plus the simple fact that an abusive home can and often does last for eighteen years to life, whereas i can think of no analagous adult situation. well, there's marriage-but it's the rare child that can divorce their parents, and while i know it's hard to leave an abusive mate, it's a lot easier for an adult to walk out of an abusive relationship than it is for a child. children don't even know they can. by the time they learn it's possible, it's too late.
i wrote a story in fifth grade about equal rights for kids, kids were emancipated and had to get jobs and support themselves. everyone thought it was a great story, and no one got the subtext: somebody, please. is anybody listening? set me free.

ok. however. if it's an accurate diagnosis, it's the right place to start, you know where you are and you know to look hard at where you were. first thing to challenge is the place we all seem to have trouble letting go of: i am so damaged i am beyond repair i am ruined...tilt no longer at the windmills of the past. rent a bulldozer.

Answer 2

As far as I know, they are the same thing.

There is nothing in the DSM-IV about a separate diagnosis called CPTSD; just PTSD.

Some clinicians may recognize a sub-classification of "complex" PTSD, but it has not been formally accepted by the American Psychiatric Association as a whole.

There is an Acute Stress Disorder (which is more short term than PTSD), but no additional classification for CPTSD in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders).

If it is accepted as a separate diagnosis outside of the USA, I don't know anything about that.

Answer 3

the first one because its complex