Understanding complex trauma and the chronic Impact it’s likely to have throughout life.

As a starting point lets differentiate between post traumatic stress or acute trauma  and complex trauma. Post traumatic stress appears after a specific event or experience has been lived in a deeply disturbing or catastrophic way leaving temporary repercussions causing physiological and psychological distress.  Someone with post traumatic stress has suffered an event so intense the autonomous nervous system enters in hyper alertness and remains stuck in a  threat response. Any triggers that remind of this event create an exaggerated response towards the stimulus that provoked the stress reaction. For example a loud noise can revive the memory of being on a battle field. Traumatic experiences can also cause nightmares, flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, numbing or freeze responses amongst others. Ideally after a traumatic event the nervous system readjusts itself and the event is processed gradually, this readjustment phase can last a few days or a month if the symptoms last any longer its considered post traumatic  stress disorder or PTSD. 

Complex trauma on the other hand is defined by prolongues exposure to traumatic events, meaning that life and ones very existence becomes traumatic. 

Complex trauma begins during childhood. Exposure of multiple traumatic events, mostly involving abuse, physical and or emotional. The effects of emotional neglect are often insidious and difficult to detect since a child might apparently have a normal healthy upbringing. Children with complex trauma backgrounds can develop chronic or recurring health problems, most commonly headaches or stomach-aches. As adults chronic physical conditions are common as well as difficulties in forming relationships or healthy attachments. 

Children living with trauma inducing families tend to use one of four instinctive defence structures, flight, fight, freeze and fawn. Different variables in the child abuse pattern as well as birth order and genetic predisposition results in selecting one of these four types. Narcissistic behaviour traits are linked to the fight response, obsessive compulsive to flight, dissociative to freeze and codependent to fawning. 

Surviving traumatic environments involve over relying on one or two of the four defences. Fixating on these defence structures not only limits access to the others but also impedes the ability to relax into an undefended state, also prolonged fixation in these states detaches the individual from feeling the unbearable feelings of isolation and unresolved trauma.

Recommended Reading : 

Complex PTSD:  From surviving to thriving by Pete Walker