All Conditions

Complex PTSD.

Trauma that builds over time, often shaping identity, relationships and self-worth.

Although it is not yet included in the DSM-5, many clinicians agree that C-PTSD should be considered a distinct diagnosis from PTSD, owing to some of the distinguishing features. While PTSD usually results from single-incident traumas such as an assault, a car accident or a traumatic medical procedure, C-PTSD is the result of a series of incidents that are experienced as traumatic. Furthermore, C-PTSD is often seen in people who experienced trauma at earlier ages, or at the hands of people they trusted, such as close family members or other attachment figures. In addition to symptoms of PTSD, C-PTSD commonly manifests as a pattern of impaired self-worth, difficulty regulating emotion, dissociation, hopelessness and interpersonal difficulties etc. Due to the traumatic incidents taking place in particularly vulnerable stages of development, people who are struggling with C-PTSD may not have had a chance to develop a stable sense of self before their attachments and personality development were disrupted. This is why traumatised individuals often internalise the idea that they are to blame for their own trauma or that something is fundamentally wrong with them.

When to seek help

Due to the confusing nature of this condition and the fact that a traumatic history may be forgotten, it can be tough to know if you may be struggling with complex PTSD. If you experience a pattern of unstable relationships, feelings of shame and worthlessness, flashbacks, nightmares, dissociation and unexplained physical aches and pains, an experienced mental health professional may be able to discern if your symptoms are better explained by C-PTSD, and start you off on the journey to healing from this condition.

How we can help

Self-assessment scales

These are the same validated scales clinicians use. Your answers stay on your device and take a few minutes.

Common questions

What makes Complex PTSD different from PTSD?
PTSD typically follows a single, time-limited traumatic event. Complex PTSD develops out of prolonged or repeated trauma, often interpersonal, and frequently beginning in childhood. Examples include sustained abuse, neglect, captivity, or long-term domestic violence. In addition to the core PTSD symptoms of flashbacks, avoidance, and hyperarousal, C-PTSD includes what the WHO ICD-11 calls 'disturbances in self-organisation': a persistent negative self-concept, difficulty regulating emotion, and difficulty sustaining relationships [1]. C-PTSD is recognised as a distinct diagnosis in ICD-11. DSM-5 has not yet added it as a separate diagnosis.
Why is C-PTSD so often misdiagnosed as borderline personality disorder?
There is significant symptom overlap. Both involve emotional dysregulation, identity disturbance, and unstable relationships, and both are often preceded by early trauma. The differential matters because the framing influences treatment and how a person comes to understand themselves. C-PTSD locates the difficulty in the body's response to overwhelming experience, while the traditional framing of BPD centred on personality. A clinician trained in trauma can usually help disentangle the two, and in practice many of the same broad treatment families can still be useful, especially trauma-focused therapy and other structured psychotherapy approaches.
Can C-PTSD actually be treated, given how much of my life it has shaped?
Yes, though the work tends to be longer and more layered than treatment for single-event PTSD. Effective approaches usually have three phases: stabilisation and safety, processing the trauma itself, and reconnection with relationships and life [2]. Modalities with evidence behind them include phase-based EMDR, schema therapy, internal family systems (IFS), and trauma-focused CBT adapted for complex presentations. Medication can help with co-occurring depression, sleep difficulties, or anxiety, but it is not the central treatment. Most people do not return to a pre-trauma self. Treatment helps you build a self that has integrated what happened and can keep going.
My memory of the trauma is patchy. Does that make C-PTSD harder to treat?
Memory gaps are common in C-PTSD, especially when the trauma began before age five or was chronic. Effective trauma treatment does not require complete recall. The aim is to process what is accessible and to work with how the trauma still shapes the present (relationships, body, and self-image), rather than reconstructing a complete narrative. Trying to force the recovery of repressed memories is no longer recommended in mainstream trauma therapy. Therapists work with what surfaces over the course of treatment.