Overview
C-PTSD, or Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, is a mental health condition that can present with symptoms similar to PTSD, but usually as the result of prolonged recurrring trauma rather than isolated events. It’s also sometimes denoted as CPTSD or cPTSD.
The current Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-5) does not include C-PTSD as a diagnosis, but the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) does, meaning that the diagnosis can’t be obtained United States for any insurance or medical billing purposes. Instead, American clinicians might diagnose a patient with PTSD and some combination of Borderline Personality Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, or Other Specifc Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorder, even if they might communicate that C-PTSD is a better label for the constellation of symptoms they observe.
History and Etymology
In 1988, Judith Herman officially proposed an argument for a separated C-PTSD diagnosis apart from PTSD to better emphasize the unique experiences of chronic trauma from childhood abuse compared to the PTSD of an accident or violent assault. The DSM committee within the American Psychiatric Association argues that PTSD, depression, and personality disorders already capture the presentation of C-PTSD and another label might add to confusion rather than precision.