> Complex PTSD can be a condition that involves significant to total amnesia of the events causing it

I have a high baseline anxiety and pretty much no memory of anything pre 8 (except for very small fragments). When I’ve come across amnesia part while reading “Body keeps scores”, it frankly frightened me (and still does) of what might be lurking in my past.

Selective childhood amnesia occurs in most people and is not necessarily an indication of any trauma: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood_amnesia

I also have other worrying symptoms I’d rather not disclose here but it’s more assuring to hear that it’s more common than I thought. Cheers.

After studying this topic intensely for my own sake, I'd say it is more common than you thought because childhood trauma is more common than you think.

It can even be minor, little things that can cause memory splits in children for survival sake. These splits set the ground for future splits.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48655845-who-am-i-in-a-t...

I think it can be very strange that the people who are not broken stand out as weird (and maybe even aloof) in a very broken emotional society.

As I've been healing more and growing as a person, my extended and close family, which unfortunately are extremely dysfunctional, have pushed me away more and more. It seems like most people have a story like that, which is why I do have hopes that journeywork and related spiritualism, or at least some kind of vehicle, social or otherwise, with that kind of strong effect comes forward in the coming years.

Thanks for putting the book down too, now I'm really interested to read it. :D :))))

That is a really good book (if triggering for many trauma survivors due to being...rather explicit in specific examples of traumas similar to many readers! D: ). That said, I believe that it really was the seminal one that basically changed a lot of the applied complex trauma field that I see today. IIRC he's been responsible for trying to get cPTSD into the DSM for like... 30 years at this point? Legend. There's even a ton of hit pieces on him on Google when searching for trauma memories/false memories, I'm assuming from the fact that he was court witness over how trauma memories can be extremely accurate due to how the PTSD overspill works. People who have money, no morals, and are in the group that would do things to their children that no one should do... I don't have proof but that is quite interesting. Especially as many articles (even one that got published on the NIH website in connection to him negatively) have surprisingly little substance and such.

Anywho.

Don't rush the process please, of whatever it is. Your body and brain are probably right in some way. It's okay to practice breathing and what Pete Walker talks about in his book, or my go-to starter for anyone even near the topic -- Janina Fisher's "Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors". So good, very little triggering too which is excellente by me.

The main book people read on Polyvagal therapy that's really popular and well rated us good too, I think the author may have been a Susan? That's a good follow-up but more a rider-on/adjunct to me of a very specific "okay how do we get the body in a more continuous kind of safe state. :D :)"

What are the differences between Complex PTSD and GAD?

Complex PTSD has more to do with a person's concept of self, ability to have intimate relationships, etc. But there's probably no fine line between them.

There's a lot, I'd encourage you to pursue a few different definitions. I'd argue that anxiety is a symptom, effectively, and C-PTSD is a condition.

C-PTSD actually requires a lot of work to properly diagnose, whereas GAD tends to be "Anxiety: The Condition", which allows a clinician to diagnose in an insurance company and report friendly way. It can help a person start their journey but is a shallow diagnosis.

Generally C-PTSD is a plethora of things -- internal fragmentation (~1 in 12 or so people are diagnosably plural afaik from the studies I found [i.e. osdd, which no one seems to really know about, to did], though most plurals will never find out about their plurality as it is exceptionally stealthy. Also it's a spectrum meant to hide itself from the brain's "user", as it were, so the subtlety of spectrum disorders adds to the mix), difficulty in relationships (it is in the trifecta of "social stuff trouble conditions" of ADHD, autism, and, well, cPTSD), generally at least occasionally unstable emotional state (which can be entirely internal) which oftentimes is hypersensitive to environmental triggers, and a need for control of relationships and environment (not necessarily evil top hat villain manipulation, this can even be just using a fawn trauma response in constantly giving up self to an extraordinary amount to keep the peace, keep relationships, etc).

Everything seems to be on a co-spectrum, cPTSD is just a map marker for a family I'd contest. It has a ton of overlaps with BPD, for example. cPTSD is differentiated from DID in that the different parts of the brain in cPTSD are not considered especially distinct, but there's also some tricky DID business people's brains can play to stuff certain nearly independent parts of a person away so they'd look more like a low-level cPTSD kind of automatic trauma triggered/autonomic response, etc.

I'm not a clinician, etc, etc, hope that helps from a technical perspective some. Feel free to ask any questions you might have. :)

Just finished Pete Walker's book, also recommend. One of the most helpful things I've come across for dealing with the neglect I and my siblings experienced growing up. It's hard to know what you don't know... until you know it!

I honestly would like to find effective avenues to raise awareness of this. I have a pretty interesting mental health history and story (in my judgement) along these lines that I think could help people. But at the baseline, just advocating for it is really good so far.

Really glad you liked Pete's book. Janina Fisher's "Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors" is my other greatest of all time book in the area that I recommend. It's my first go-to over "The Body Keeps the Score" just because somehow Dr. Fisher has a method that works palatably with someone from even "low-grade" trauma to even what I think would be some polyfragmented DID systems, in some kind of Jedi-mind trick set of tools that works really well while dodging most of the myriad of situational triggers that are unique to each trauma survivor. I highly recommend it if you're interested, it adds a flip side of compassion and self-team building that I think Walker's book can go a bit harshly on as it seems to be more centric on the part of the brain experiencing daily life as the reference for others to be compared to. Both books are fantastic and balance each other out, I just started my second read on Fisher's book and am trying to wrap up Walker's. Give that one a go if you're interested, the audiobook is the cheapest!

Happy to chat about the topic, I love and am passionate about this field as you can guess. :D :)