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What is the correlation between Complex post Traumatic Stress Disorder(C-PTSD) and Panic?
Adolescents with C-PTSD have a higher prevalence of depressive and anxiety disorders, such as panic disorder and general anxiety disorder3. The typical symptoms of PTSD characterize complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), in addition to affective dysregulation, negative self-concept, and disturbances in interpersonal relationships. Children and adolescents with C-PTSD have been reported to have deficits in emotional and cognitive functions4.
The research by Shin3 proves that Adolescents with C-PTSD were more likely to have a history of sexual assault, dissociation, and self-harm than those with PTSD. The total and subscale scores of the C-PTSD Interview Scale in adolescents with C-PTSD were higher than that in adolescents with PTSD. In addition, neurocognitive functions, including emotional perception, attention, and working memory, were correlated with the severity of C-PTSD symptoms.
Reasons why C-PTSD may lead to Panic Disorder or panic attacks:-
- Due to childhood trauma(for example, sexual abuse), emotional turmoil was severe for the child.
- Because the amygdala forms the early emotional regulation and early memory has a trauma, as the child with CPTSD grows up, he/she may become emotionally sensitive to any situation that is remotely related to the trauma(for instance, someone who appears similar to the person who caused the trauma).
- Most of the individuals with complex trauma, unfortunately, attract individuals with complex trauma.
- Such relationships between two individuals with complex trauma become a trauma bond.
- Trauma bonding is an extremely intense attraction due to high emotions, but it also comes with fear of loss.
- Therefore the trauma-binding relationship between two individuals with complex trauma becomes push-pull.
- Such a relationship itself becomes traumatic for both and therefore causes more emotional turmoils, eventually leading to panic.
- Due to trauma bonding, relationship turmoils, extremely emotional and abandonment anxiety, and frequent panics, CPTSD individuals develop panic disorders.
- Relationship paranoia, mania, and panic about the relationship are high risks of individuals with CPTSD.
Hi Rupam da,
This is a great article packed with valuable information.
If someone is suffering from memory functioning not properly and that in turn causes panic, is that something curable? E.g., in a sudden actionable situation his/her memory doesn’t trigger in time to resolve the situation, and instead panic occurs. So, no action is taken and a disastrous situation is imminent, in turn, that causes more panic.
Dear Subhajit, thanks for your comment and for posting the query.
1. Panic is a reaction of the brain. Brain panics when it considers a situation threatful.
2. In my case, I am severely dyslexic. I can’t make sense of spellings, and because of severe brain information overload, often tend to forget small things when I try to remember them. It happens all the time.
3. When I forget and fail to recollect information, it becomes frustrating sometimes, and such frustration may irritate me.
4. Such forgetfulness is limited to forgetting memory and may result in carelessness and diversion of focus from our actions. For instance, over the past few weeks, several times, I have forgotten to turn off the gas after making tea, resulting in burning the utensil.
5. Such incidents resulted in kind of fear and over-alertness whenever I went near the stove.
So, I can completely understand and comprehend your question. Here is how I have dealt with the situation.
i) When such forgetfulness occurs, note down the incidents.
ii) This convinces the brain that you are not worried or frustrated about the situation but taking them as an opportunity to learn why they are happening.
iii) When you are not occupied, open the notes of all the situations and think deeply from the last evening of the day of the event till the evening of the day of the event about every incident.
iv) You will invariably notice that the forgetfulness is a result of poor sleep, relationship conflict, someone triggering you already in the last two days, or suppressed anger.
v) Now, when you correlate multiple such incidents, you will see similar patterns.
vi) Write down this pattern as “Cause of Forgetfulness.”
vii) Next time a similar event happens, just open your notes of the causation section and check if the events and patterns are the same as what you have discovered.
viii) After pattern matching, you will see that you are no more panicking. Now your brain will device strategies to overcome or avoid those patterns.
Final Thought:-
Panic is a phenomenon of the afraid subconscious brain. Whenever panic situations are appearing in life, bring them into your conscious brain and analyze them. Helps you overcome panic attacks.