Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is a psychological injury that results from protracted exposure to prolonged social and/or interpersonal trauma with lack or loss of control, disempowerment, and in the context of either captivity or entrapment, i.e. the lack of a viable escape route for the victim. C-PTSD is distinct from, but similar to, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Though mainstream journals have published papers on C-PTSD, the category is not formally recognized in diagnostic systems such as DSM or ICD.
C-PTSD involves complex and reciprocal interactions between multiple biopsychosocial systems. It was first referred to by Judith Herman in her book Trauma & Recovery and article.
Trauma sources include sexual abuse (especially child sexual abuse), physical abuse, emotional abuse, domestic violence, torture and violations of personal boundaries such as serial intimate betrayals that are discovered and denied—known as gaslighting. In situations of protracted home care of a violent, mentally ill relative or disaster workers and carers for victims of a long running natural disaster like a Tsunami, without a viable escape route, each may later develop C-PTSD as a result of prolonged exposure to traumatic stress.
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