The difference between PTSD and CPTSD:

The difference between PTSD vs CPTSD in simple terms? PTSD: “Something terrible happened to me once.” ➡️ This might’ve destroyed your sense of self, safety, identity, and belonging in ways you never knew were possible and are still attempting to heal from… but you remember the before. It’s a reference point you can get back to mentally & emotionally. CPTSD: “Something terrible happened to me for a long time, and my brain had to change inside to survive it.” ➡️ Depending on when the events that cause CPTSD happen, they can change your fundamental ideas about life while your brain may still be developing (until 27-28 years old), meaning you never had a sense of self to begin with, your primary memories are traumatic, and you’ve never known safety from your primary caregivers. Then there’s CPTSD later in life due to domestic violence / workplace trauma / narcissistic abuse / etc… ➡️ This shatters your worldview and sense of self-confidence and identity. You have to work very hard to untangle the damage and create a new version of yourself moving forward. You have a reference point for who you were before to work on getting back to in some ways. To be clear, this video doesn’t imply or suggest anything about the severity of impact these conditions have on people’s lives - just how they are diagnosed differently by clinicians. And, yes, you can have both PTSD and CPTSD at the same time from different events. And, yes, if you’re neurodivergent you’re more likely to also have CPTSD than the regular population. 🫶🏼✨ Hey, I’m Dee. I’m NOT a therapist or Dr of any kind and this page doesn’t give medical advice. I’m just a woman healing from CPTSD out loud by talking about psychology, neurodivergence, safe people & emotionally healthy relationships, andwhat’s helping me heal along the way. If that resonates, FOLLOW for more. 👀💕 #cptsd #relatable #ptsd #traumarecovery #complexptsd