By:  Shari Kim, Ph.D

EMDRIA Consultant 

There is no official diagnosis for Complex PTSD, so it is easy for us to become confused about the nature of complex trauma. Social media provides us with conflicting and often erroneous information about diagnoses surrounding trauma, making us even more confused. Hopefully this information will help make things clear.

Complex trauma is defined as a series of traumatic events compiling onto one another.  For example, people who undergo repeated physical abuse or domestic violence over a period of years have experienced complex trauma. We call it complex trauma, because the initial traumatic event (e.g. the first experience of physical abuse) gets complicated by subsequent traumatic events; those events that follow cause additional trauma AND trigger the initial trauma at the same time. If we think of complex trauma in those terms, then, we can also understand that it does not have to be a series of events from the same abuser....

By:  Lauren Rudolph, LPC

EMDRIA Consultant

When it comes to trauma, there are still myths floating around out there, such as: Trauma is only something veterans and people who go through life-threatening situations experience. Some people may still think “trauma is only in your head” or it’s something that will negatively affect your life forever.

It wouldn’t be surprising then that complex trauma, a relatively new concept, has its misconceptions and lack of understanding out there. Complex trauma typically refers to trauma that occurs in childhood and is ongoing, such as emotional abuse and/or neglect, bullying, domestic violence, etc. It can also include traumas experienced in both childhood and adulthood.

Here are 4 things everyone needs to know about complex trauma:

1. Complex trauma is often what did not happen to you

We tend to think of trauma as something that happens to someone. However complex trauma allows us to understand that we can be...