apparently C-PTSD can develop from emotional neglect?

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wouldn't this make many people on the spectrum susceptible to developing this condition?

Where'd you hear that? Is there a reputable source with more detail?

I'd be really interested to know, because for a while I was going over things in my head obsessively, over and over again. These didn't have to be traumatic things, but when I learned about PTSD, it sounded strikingly similar to the things in my own mind.

I am not convinced C-PTSD is truly a diagnosis. When everyone I know is capable of fitting in a diagnosis, I start doubting its validity. Or rather, I think lots of people like to say they have C-PTSD even though in truth they aren't truly experiencing the symptoms.

Well, according to Wikipedia, C-PTSD isn't formally described in the DSM... but I've read articles suggesting that the whole business of diagnosing the officially defined form of PTSD is somewhat flawed, too.

The official definition of PTSD includes the stipulation that it must be caused by an experience involving death or serious injury, or the threat of it. But the fact is that some people get the exact same symptoms in response to situations that do not involve any of the usually recognized types of trauma, and yet, for certain individual people, are just as traumatic. I'm sure there are many people on the autism spectrum who have all the symptoms of real PTSD, and yet cannot get a diagnosis of it because they never had experiences that would cause PTSD in a "normal" person.

The definition of C-PTSD probably has more problems with it than the definition of PTSD... but then, diagnoses are all flawed in some way or another. People all have their own unique mental conditions, and diagnoses are a natural and human attempt to sort those conditions into neat and orderly categories. It can help, to some degree, but it's certainly not an exact science.

I refuse to let myself be formally diagnosed by anyone anymore, but this would explain a lot. From what I've read of the subject, I fit into most of the symptoms of C-PTSD (I was previously diagnosed with a dissociative disorder), and I've been emotionally neglected/abused for most of my life.

I hope that information about C-PTSD will be expanded upon a bit in the future.

http://www.pete-walker.com/fAQsComplexPTSD.html

ALL psychiatric diagnoses are an art form. You only have to look at trials when the person is trying to prove they did not commit the crime because they were insane. You have equally qualified and esteemed pscyhaitrists on each side and neither comes to the same conclusion. Put two psychaitrists in a room together with an individual, at the same time, allow them to both ask whatever questions they want they will come out with totally differnet diagnosises.

I can meet the diagnositic criteria for over 90% of the conditions in the DSM, so please tell me if I am totally mad or all the symptoms just totally overlap. The fact is we all have problems at some stage and we all need help and support at some stage. What works is when the diagnosis fits what you think of yourself. If it fits for you, great if not, then perhaps try again. As for treatments, well the same pills supposedly treat everything under the sun, and the same therapies do the same thing.

For me personally, I no longer look at what diagnosis I have. I instead look at what my problems are, and what I personally want to work on. I then look for therapits who are ecletic and that is they use a bit of every therapy. I do not want one who claims to be able to fix me with this. The fact is while there is no doubt that my thoughts may be an issue, challenging negative thoughts alone, through CBT is not going to help me. I am a complex multifacited person and I want someone who is going to look at supporting the whole of me. I need help in all areas, it may mean that medications have a role in reducing some symptoms, but that is all they can do, provide symptom relief and then I need to look at every single area of my life, not just my thoughts and what I can do to help with that.

As for Complex PTSD, often referred to as Disorders of Extreme Stress Not otherwise Specifired, there are groups of very experienced trauma specialists that have put together proposed diagnostic criteria, but then everyone else has come out and changed that. It is also important to recognise that the criteria alone are not the real issue, what is the issue is the amount of distress a person experiences and how those criteria are interpreted, and that is where psychiatry and psychology becomes an art form and not a science. What is linked to below is an article that is written on it, that was done by Dr Bessell Van Der Kolk who was the chair of the PTSD committe on the DSM IV taskforce when that was being drafted. The committee did recommend that something other than PTSD be put into the text, but it was not done, and this is suspected to be largely about the board committees being paid 90% of their income from paracueitcal companies. What this article also shows is how this diagnosis is different from both standard PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder. The vast majority of people who claim to have the condition are those who are labelled with Borderline Personality Disorder as it is one of the most stigmatised conditions. But changing a name will not reduce stigma. Changing the name of patients to consumer has done nothing at all to change how they are treated, or the communities views of them. What we need to do is focus on treating the whole person and not just labelling and providing symptom relief.

http://www.traumacenter.org/products/pd ... DESNOS.pdf

What is also important to recognise is that trauma is a really individual thing, people cope very differently with the same event. Some people have gone on to lead normal lives after 9/11 others are still profoundly distressed and will be for life, even those in the exact same place at the exact same time. The event does not determine the impact on the person, it is the persons response to it, what support was provided to them, what else was happening to them at the time, how resilent they are, etc, etc. Sure certain levels of profound abuse are much more likely to result in severe distress and psychaitric disability, but there will be the few rare people that come through largely unscathed. The other reality is that emotional neglect can mean many different things. It can be an extreme lifetime of torment for some people and the occasional side remark to another. You also need to consider what else was going on for the person, etc.

This is what is so hard with trauma, we tell people to just get over it, without any regard to what it means for that person. Being bullied at school can be almost a death sentence to one person and the occasional name calling to another. Sure they were both bullied all throughout school, but common sense that one is going to much more problematic in its effects than the other, but like anything it depends on what else was happening to the person at the time. If a person has a horrid home life, but great support at school, then they may be better off, if someone has a horrid time at schoo, but there family is incredibly supportive and everything possible is done to support them at home and in the community, the outcome will be very different.

People will not be able to use these forms of insanity to blame for crimes and more than they can today. The fact that our prisions are full of people with mental illnesses are proof of that. Sure there are times when people are so acutely psychotic as to have no concept at all of what is going on, and friend, who was not even aware that she was a mother, had children or whatever. In those extreme cases, sure you can use it as a excuse, but for the rest 'no'. The fact is we all know right from wrong and sure there are times when we are all distressed and when it is much harder to look after ourselves and the like, but that does not give us a reason to go out and murder someone. It MAY be something that a judge could use in sentencing considerations, but for me that is as far as it goes.

Our prisons are also full of people with intellectualy and learning disabilities. Again those at the profound end of the spectrum, with the development level of an 18 month old or something, may be able to be excused, but a person with say downs syndrome and I know that is vast generalisation, but they do today generally have IQ;s about 70 and the developmental level of a 15 year old or so, are very aware of being able to make decisions. They are however much more vulnerable, much more likely to be pulled into things and the like, and we do need to help them and protect them, without taking them away from society, etc.

The problems come on the middle grounds, when people can say have the developmental level of a 7-8 year old child. Sure they can know that they should not have done that it was "naughty" but can they understand that if they do do that, that people could be hurt and die, etc, what death actually means, etc if that makes sense.

What frustrates me is when people think that any diagnosis at all should give them an automatic exemption from ever being charged with a crime. I work voluntarily at a disability legal service and a guy is coming in and demanding they assist him as the police have charged him, he could go to prision and the like. He says they cannot charge him, he has bipolar. And that could be true. BUT the police are required to video all interviews, they are not allowed to interview people who can in the slightest way appear to be mentally unwell, without them being seen by a psychaitrist first and anyone who is deemed to not be fully competent, MUST have an independent third person present as well, ie, a social worker, this applies to children, those with intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses and the like. We have seen this interview and there is NOTHING at all that would have made anyone think that he needed a psychiatrist let alone a third person present. Everyone has the right to a lawyer and that was offered to him. We then asked him who is case manager is, doesn't have one, who is psychiatrist is, doesn't have one, who diagnosed him, what income he is on, etc. He was daignosed by a GP who has never seen the need to pass him onto other services. Anyone who needs to be hospitalised is automaticaly case managed for at least 12 months post release. He has never been hospitalised. He is working, not on a disability pension and the list goes on but then he claims the diagnosis should present anyone from ever being allowed to charge him. We have told him he will not be helped by the service and have given him details of a whole lot of other places, but they have all said the same thing as we said. We will and do support people who truly could not make an informed decision, but for us there is no doubt that he was not profoundly mentally impaired and he has to face the consequences of his actions. The other joke though was that anyone who has been through both the prison and mental health system here chooses prison any day of the week, it is much more humane.

I agree with all this. If I were charged with a crime, I would never try to use my diagnosis as an excuse, because every time someone does that, it perpetuates the stereotype of Aspies as crazy criminals who can't control themselves.

hi there,

what a great coincidence, recently i also thought about myself of having C-PTSD. I got rejected in 10 years ago, and the person hat then several boyfriend. I met another person i liked even more, but had great fear of getting hurt, due to my social cluelessness and my fear, i didn't get together with her for the last 10 years...., now she got her first boyfriend, not me, and i experience(d) some PTSD things too, when i walk on the street i try very much to not see any couples, i also look away of pregnant woman, because it causes me to think of the fear that she marries this guy....

i think PTSD is just about too much stress to be processed by a person, something which can be hardly coped. And as you already figured out, in normal persons this usually happens when the loved one dies, for other more very sensitive persons it can also happen with "minor" things.

thanks,
anton