So, you’ve been down a WebMD rabbit hole, or your therapist dropped “CPTSD” into a session like it’s a totally normal acronym. And you have somehow found yourself here.

Welcome.

I write a lot about my own experiences living with CPTSD, and I want you to know you’re not alone, even if it feels that way sometimes. You’re not broken. You’re just trying to make sense of some very real stuff.

Let’s break down the difference between CPTSD (complex PTSD) and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) without the clinical word salad, just real talk.

First, What They Have in Common

Both PTSD and CPTSD are trauma responses, meaning your nervous system is doing its best to protect you after something overwhelming happened. You’re not broken. Or too crazy, and you’re not too much. You’re someone who adapted to survive.

Both can include:

• Flashbacks

• Nightmares

• Hypervigilance (always on edge)

• Avoidance of triggers

• Emotional numbness

In other words, PTSD and CPTSD are both your brain going, “Hell no, I’m not going through that again,” but sometimes in ways that mess with your present.

PTSD: One Big Bang

PTSD usually comes from a single traumatic event, think car accident, assault, natural disaster, or combat.

Your brain remembers that one “moment in time” like a movie it keeps rewatching, uninvited.

CPTSD: Death by a Thousand Papercuts

CPTSD comes from repeated, prolonged trauma, especially in early relationships. Think childhood abuse, neglect, emotional abandonment, or living with a caregiver who was volatile or unavailable.

With CPTSD, the trauma isn’t just something that happened to you; it’s the atmosphere you breathed for years. It shaped how you see yourself, relationships, safety, trust… everything.

CPTSD Symptoms Go Deeper

CPTSD includes all the PTSD symptoms, plus a few extra curveballs:

1. Negative self-beliefs

“I’m unlovable.” “Everything’s my fault.” “I ruin things.”

These aren’t just thoughts. They feel like truth, and they shape how you show up in every part of your life.

2. Difficulty with relationships

Either you don’t trust anyone, or you trust too fast, or you push and pull like emotional tug-of-war. (Hi, fearful-avoidant attachment.)

If that sounds familiar, check out Attachment, Detachment and the In Between for a deeper dive into the push-pull chaos of connection.

3. Emotional dysregulation

Your reactions feel too big, or you go totally numb. It’s not moodiness, it’s your nervous system trying to survive.

4. Dissociation

Zoning out. Time gaps. Feeling like you’re watching yourself from outside your body.

This is your brain hitting the “eject” button during overwhelm.

A Personal Note (Because This Isn’t Just Theory)

Living with CPTSD feels like trying to build a life on a cracked foundation. You can still do it, but it takes awareness, compassion, and, most importantly, therapy with someone who truly understands developmental trauma.

When I first heard “CPTSD,” it was like a light clicked on. It explained things I’d carried for decades: the shame, the shutdowns, the way relationships felt like emotional whiplash in a trench coat all started to make sense.

Diagnosis?

• PTSD is officially recognized in the DSM-5 (U.S.).

• CPTSD isn’t in the DSM-5 (yet), but it is recognized by the World Health Organization (ICD-11).

• Many therapists use the term CPTSD anyway because it fills in the blanks PTSD leaves behind.

 The Good News: Both Are Treatable

Therapies that help include:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

• Somatic therapies

• IFS (Internal Family Systems)

• Trauma-informed talk therapy

• And honestly? Compassion. Humor. Boundaries. Reparenting yourself one tiny win at a time.

If you’re here, reading this, you’re already on the healing path. And that counts for a lot more than you might think.

One Last Thing

If any of this hits a little too close to home, take a breath. You’re not broken, weak, or too damaged to heal. You’re someone who went through more than anyone should, and you’re still here. That’s not failure. That’s resilience.

CPTSD doesn’t get tied up with a neat little bow. Healing isn’t linear. But it is possible. With support, with tools, and with a little self-compassion (even if that feels foreign at first), things can shift.

You don’t have to carry it all alone.

Not anymore.

Photo by Dawid Zawiła on Unsplash