Symptoms (Giourou et. al., 2018; Cohen & Mannarino, 2015) can include:

• feelings of shame, guilt, fear, sadness, helplessness, despair, emptiness, numbness, or worthlessness

• affective dysregulation (excessive reaction to negative emotions, which can include anger, aggression, anxiety, sadness, or even positive emotions)

• comorbidity with anxiety and depression

• feeling permanently damaged and ineffective/worthless

• negative self-perception and thoughts of suicide

• a diversity from the previous personality or feeling like you are a different person

• social withdrawal and dissociation - feeling like you are in a dream or not in your own body

• avoidance and detachment from people, events and environmental triggers of the predisposing trauma

• severe hardship in forming and maintaining meaningful relationships along with deep-rooted feelings of shame and guilt or failure 

• feelings of threat and excessive attention to the possibility of danger

• somatization - insomnia or oversleeping

• flashbacks - re-experiencing the traumatic event or emotional flashbacks (a re-experiencing of intense emotions associated with a traumatic event, without necessarily seeing or hearing visual or auditory details)

• physical symptoms: chronic pain, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, headaches, dizziness, chest pains, stomach aches

Symptoms (Giourou et. al., 2018; Cohen & Mannarino, 2015) can include:

• anxiety, sadness, anger affective dysregulation

• avoidance of trauma reminders

• self-injurious behaviors

• non-compliance

• hypervigilance

• poor sleep

• increased startle reactions

• stomach aches and/or headaches

• intrusive trauma-related thoughts and memories

• false or irrational trauma-related beliefs

• dissociation

• psychotic symptoms

• irrational thought processes

• impaired relationships with family, friends, peers

• social withdrawal

• decline in school concentration, performance, or attendance

• difficulty in trusting others

• maladaptive behaviors - sexual behaviors, bullying, aggression, drinking alcohol or using drugs to cope with problems, 

binge eating, extreme social reassurance seeking, etc.

A recent study of Palic et al, suggests that C-PTSD has roots not only with childhood trauma but with exposure to all forms of adulthood trauma (Bryant-Davis, 2019, Giourou et. al., 2018; Karatzias, et. al, 2019). 

Traumatic events that create C-PTSD include, but are not limited to:

• prolonged domestic violence

• childhood sexual, physical. or psychological abuse

• childhood neglect

• torture 

• genocide campaigns

• slavery or human trafficking

• victim’s inability to escape due to multiple constraints whether these are social, physical, psychological, environmental or other 

• traumatic bereavement

• survivors of institutional abuse such as that occurring within foster care and religious organisations 

• societal trauma such as poverty, racism, homophobia, transphobia, and nativism

• living with a family member who has a substance abuse issue