CPTSD ( Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

     Recently I began studying CPTSD. This study has been for personal growth, as i have recently been diagnosed with this illness. I had never heard of it. I was not diagnosed until I reached age 30, however, I was given a long list of diagnoses - Bipolar 1, PTSD, Anxiety, ADHD, OCD. These illnesses all share some similar side effects that can be crippling to day to day life. My preference is just to say, "Mental health issues." I do set apart certain characteristics that lead me to believe I do in fact have  ADHD, OCD and occasional depression. However, through my studies, I started to wonder how much of this is from CPTSD. 

    Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a learned set of responses set off in what I call, "survivor mode." It is a failure to complere many importand developmental tasks. This doesn't mean CPTSD is a type of disorder that categorizes us as mentally disabled, however, it can seem that way at times. 

    CPTSD is not genetically caused. It is environmentally caused. Unlike mose of the mental health disorders it is confused with, it is not inborn or characterlogical. While this is important to know for people who have been diagnosed with CPTSD, it doesn't discount that it's still possible to have some genetically passed down mental illness. My mother, her mother, and my grandfather have suffered from anxiety, which as I learn about their lives growing up, I wonder if their anxiety was caused by these environmentally traumatic situations. 

    CPTSD is learned, not embeded in your DNA. It is a disorder caused by lack of nurture, not nature. The misguided ideals of what you know based on life experiences that you didn't know were unusual or wrong - CAN be unlearned. You just have to retrain your brain. What was not provided by your parents or family can be provided by yourself and by a healthy support system. 

Victims were torn down and betrayed so badly that i may take a long time before they can trust any newcomers. 

When you're able to identify these obstacles, you will be able to begin healing from the damage that you endured while suffeing traumatizing abuse and abandonment. Traumatizing abuse and abandonment can stem from many forms. It can be verbal, emotional, spiritual, physical and/or sexual. Of course, sexual abuse is much more traumatizing. The more forms of this you experience, the severity of the CPTSD will worsen accordingly. 

I am studying this disorder to expand my knowledge in hopes to guide me in my healing process. I'm working on getting my GED or HiSAT so I can take college courses in hopes to counsel young kids that don't have the guidance they need in order to save them from this dreadful disorder. Too many children enter adulthood still poisened by traumas that haven't been dealt with. Some, because they lack the information. So I decided to share as i study. I hope this finds at least one person feeling hopeful about their recovery. Nothing is impossible if you want it badly enough. These illnesses do not need to run your life. You are not that child anymore. And i'm here for you!