CPTSD
Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Recommended DSM diagnostic criteria, per Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman, ©1992 by Basic Books.
A history of subjection to totalitarian control over a prolonged period (months to years). Examples include:
* Hostages
* Prisoners of war
* Concentration-camp survivors
* Survivors of some religious cults
* Persons subjected to totalitarian systems in sexual and domestic life, including:
o survivors of domestic battering
o childhood physical or sexual abuse
o organized sexual exploitation.
* Alterations in affect regulation, including:
o persistent dysphoria
o chronic suicidal preoccupation
o self-injury
o explosive or extremely inhibited anger (may alternate)
o compulsive or extremely inhibited sexuality (may alternate)
* Alterations in consciousness, including:
o amnesia or hyperamnesia for traumatic events
o transient dissociative episodes
o depersonalization/derealization
o reliving experiences, either in the form of intrusive post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms or in the form of ruminative preoccupation
* Alterations in self-perception, including:
o sense of helplessness or paralysis of initiative
o shame, guilt, and self-blame
o sense of defilement or stigma
o sense of complete difference from others (may include sense of specialness, utter aloneness, belief no other person can understand, or nonhuman identity)
* Alterations in perception of perpetrator, including:
o preoccupation with relationship with perpetrator (includes preoccupation with revenge)
o unrealistic attribution of total power to perpetrator (caution: victim's assessment of power realities may be more realistic than clinician's)
o idealization or paradoxical gratitude
o sense of special or supernatural relationship
o acceptance of belief system or rationalizations of perpetrator
* Alterations in relations with others, including:
o isolation and withdrawal
o disruption in intimate relationships
o repeated search for rescuer (may alternate with isolation and withdrawal)
o persistent distrust
o repeated failures of self-protection
* Alterations in systems of meaning:
o loss of sustaining faith
o sense of hopelessness and despair
http://www.sasian.org/papers/cptsd.htm
