Post-Trauma

symptoms

(e.g. CPSTD - Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)


Socialising and relationships

  • Lack of, or difficulty with, eye contact.
  • Not recognizing loved ones' faces/impaired ability to recognize people due to dissociating.
  • Inability to trust others.
  • Lack of expression in communication (gestures, voice intonation).
  • Losing the ability to speak (Broca's area of the brain is affected).
  • Withdrawal into yourself.
  • Being uncomfortable in groups and social situations.
  • Preferring to work in situations that require theoretical or mechanical skills rather than people skills.
  • Dissociation (distancing and detaching yourself from your own physical and emotional experience), leading to numbness and lack of response to distressing situations.

Emotional regulation

  • Depression.
  • Low self-esteem. Shame and self-hatred.
  • Finding life overwhelming and not feeling you have the energy to deal with it.
  • Being more intellectual than emotional.
  • Sudden, inexplicable and persistent fear responses.
  • Impulsivity and impaired ability to recognize and respond to threats or danger.
  • Perceiving the world as a dangerous place combined with an impaired ability to judge risks.
  • Developing phobias. Chronic anxiety and catatrophizing.
  • Strong emotional (right brain) reactions to seemingly insignificant things, and looking for someone or something to blame for them in the present.
  • Sudden attacks of rage or panic (apparently out of the blue but probably triggered by subconscious memories or 'flashbacks'.)
  • Appearing uncaring or distanced emotionally.
  • Tendency to have an 'all or nothing’ response (to both positive and negative stimuli).
  • Brain disconnect from body (lack of interospection).
  • Depersonalisation (feeling like a detached observer of oneself).
  • Dissociation (detachment from physical and emotional experiences).
  • Alexithymia (inability to identify and describe emotions in the self, or 'feeling nothing'. Note: there are links between Alexithymia and self harm).
  • Sleep problems and nightmares. Sleep disorders. Unusual sleeping habits.
  • Suicidal thoughts.

Movement and body Responses

  • Lack of body coordination/fluidity, or being 'gravitationally challenged'. (Vestibular System is affected).
  • Tendon Protect Reflex (not putting weight on heels when walking, or not even putting them to the ground).
  • Problems with fine motor coordination. Dyspraxia: difficulties affecting the initiation, organization and performance of movements.
  • Increased risk of risk of autoimmune disease.
  • Bowel/elimination problems.
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Fibromyalgia.
  • Migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome.

Psychological and behavior patterns

  • Developing fixations and 'blind spots'.
  • OCD (between 4% and 22% of people with PTSD also have a diagnosis of OCD): compulsive behaviors (like checking, ordering, or hoarding).
  • Memory and attention impairments. Inability to focus.
  • Fixating obsessively on specific issues or routines.
  • Self-harming (e.g. biting or hitting oneself, pulling hair out, picking at skin till it bleeds).
  • Disproportionate reaction to mildly stressful (for others) situations.
  • Lack of nuanced response to frustration (either all or nothing).
  • Inflexibility. Black-and-white thinking.
  • Intellectualizing and distancing yourself emotionally.
  • Obsessive and repetitive behaviour.
  • Developing nervous tics (verbal or muscle reflex).
  • Making repetitive movements such as hand flapping or rocking.