What is Complex Trauma?
Many of us will experience trauma in our lives. Trauma is any experience that is overwhelming, threatening, frightening, or out of our control.
Commonly experienced traumas include:
Accidents such as workplace or traffic accidents
Violence such as physical or sexual assaults
Life-threatening situations such as war or natural disasters
Life-threatening health conditions or emergencies
Witnessing violence towards another person, or witnessing a death
Some traumas are isolated, they are unexpected, one-off events that happen ‘out of the blue’. Other traumatic experiences are frightening in different ways. They are expected and dreaded. Some jobs, for example, expose workers to trauma regularly, military or emergency service personnel often experience or witness distressing events. Children can also experience trauma, and the effects can be more profound and long-lasting. This is true if the harm is carried out by those who are supposed to protect the child.
Complex trauma arises from prolonged exposure to multiple traumatic events or adverse experiences, often during childhood. Unlike a single traumatic incident, complex trauma leaves deep emotional scars that can affect an individual's mental and emotional well-being for years, if not a lifetime. In this article, we will explore complex trauma, its profound impact on individuals, and the crucial role that setting boundaries plays in the healing process.
Understanding Complex Trauma
Complex trauma, also known as Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), can result from various forms of abuse, neglect, or exposure to chronic stressors. These stressors can include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, domestic violence, war, and other prolonged adverse experiences. The major difference between complex trauma and other forms of trauma is that rather than being a single event, complex trauma involves multiple traumatic experiences over an extended period.
Emotional Impacts of Complex Trauma
Emotional Dysregulation: Complex trauma often causes difficulty regulating emotions. As a result, mood swings, angry outbursts, and difficulty dealing with stress and anxiety may occur.
Depression and Anxiety: Many individuals with complex trauma experience symptoms of depression and anxiety; they may struggle with persistent feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and worry.
Flashbacks and Nightmares: Flashbacks, nightmares, and intrusive memories are common in complex trauma survivors and can make it challenging to distinguish between past traumatic experiences and the present.
Dissociation: Dissociation is a coping mechanism where people disconnect from their thoughts, feelings, and surroundings to protect themselves from overwhelming emotions, and it can lead to a sense of detachment from reality.
Cognitive Impacts of Complex Trauma:
Impaired Memory and Concentration: Complex trauma can affect cognitive functions, leading to difficulties with memory and concentration; this can impact academic and occupational functioning.
Negative Self-Beliefs: Many survivors of complex trauma develop negative self-beliefs, such as feeling worthless, unlovable, or responsible for the trauma; these beliefs can undermine self-esteem and self-worth.
Hypervigilance: Hypervigilance is a heightened state of alertness and arousal (constantly scanning the environment for threats); this can be exhausting and lead to increased stress.
Physical Impacts of Complex Trauma:
Physical Health Issues: Chronic stress from complex trauma can contribute to various physical health problems, including cardiovascular issues, gastrointestinal problems, and autoimmune disorders.
Somatic Symptoms: Some individuals may experience somatic symptoms, such as chronic pain, headaches, or other physical complaints, which are often linked to unresolved trauma.
The Challenge of Trust and Vulnerability Post-Trauma:
Difficulty Trusting Others: Survivors of trauma often have experiences of betrayal or abandonment and it can be difficult to trust others.
Fear of Vulnerability: Complex trauma survivors often build emotional ways and resist vulnerability out of fear of being hurt again.
Relationship Struggles: Trust and vulnerability issues can strain relationships. Complex trauma survivors may struggle with forming and maintaining healthy, intimate connections.
When trauma is experienced, especially in childhood, the memories are not always conscious but they affect every area of life. It is common for survivors of complex trauma to have difficulty depending on others or asking for help, becoming reliant only on themselves. This “survival mode" may last for months or years but eventually, it starts to break down. An event occurs that acts as a reminder of earlier trauma or there may be a series of smaller stressors that build and eventually are too overwhelming.
Symptoms or behaviours may begin to appear that were not present before. This is a signal from your mind and body that it is overwhelmed and the defence mechanisms that you have been using are no longer working. As you begin to gain insight into yourself in therapy, you also may realize certain patterns of behaviour that were present all along that you never attributed to trauma (for example engaging in certain relationships that remind you traumatic past relationships).
Healing from Complex Trauma
Healing from complex trauma is a gradual and individualized journey, and it may take time to rebuild trust, reduce emotional distress, and develop healthy coping strategies. Until you’ve had help working on how your past is alive in the present, your childhood trauma can remain “unresolved.”
To work through unresolved trauma, you must first understand how these traumatic experiences are alive in the present. Recovery from complex trauma is multi-faceted and often involves talk therapy, learning how to regulate your nervous system, practicing mindfulness, and building a support network of caring people. Each person is unique and will have their own lived experiences and so there is no “formula” for working through this. That is why it is crucial to find a therapist who specializes in trauma.
If you would like to understand more about the ways your past may be impacting the present and how therapy can help, reach out to us. Our team specializes in working with complex trauma, and we offer a free 15-minute consultation to see if we are a good fit for you.