What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing from Complex Trauma

After many years of hard work and saving, Foo feels secure enough to acknowledge the burnout she’s been experiencing and to spend more time taking care of herself. Her road to recovery begins with research. C-PTSD does not exist as a recognized condition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), because it is considered too similar to regular PTSD. Nevertheless, it is recognized by the US Department for Veterans Affairs.

Drawing on existing medical research, Foo explains that C-PTSD is the result of someone undergoing repeated instances of trauma. The human brain associates the environment with painful experience, causing conscious and subconscious associations to form between specific sights, smells, sensations, or sounds and the feeling of danger. As a result, victims of trauma develop triggers to certain stimuli in their environment, which can manifest in large responses (such as panic attacks) or in smaller reactions (such as irritability).

Having triggers is normal, as they equip the organism to react to life-threatening scenarios. For example, people do not need to deliberate about running away if they see someone pulling a gun, as their reaction is immediate and ingrained. However, PTSD and C-PTSD accentuate the emotional response to specific triggers to the point of being debilitating.