About Complex Trauma

What is Complex Trauma?

People who experience a traumatic event will often have some degree of dissociation during the event itself or in the following hours, days or weeks. For example, the event seems ‘unreal’ or the person feels detached from what’s going on around them as if watching the events on television. 

Causes of Complex Trauma

Chronic trauma in childhood can include repeated physical or sexual abuse, emotional abuse or neglect. Unpredictable or frightening family environments may also cause the child to ‘disconnect’ from reality during times of stress. 

Traumatic events that occur during adulthood may also include war, torture or going through a natural disaster.

Signs and Symptoms

Symptoms and signs of complex trauma depend on the type and severity, but may include:

• Feeling disconnected from yourself
• Problems with handling intense emotions
• Sudden and unexpected shifts in mood – for example, feeling very sad for no reason
• Depression or anxiety problems, or both
• Feeling as though the world is distorted or not real (called ‘derealisation’)
• Memory problems that aren’t linked to physical injury or medical conditions
• Other cognitive (thought-related) problems such as concentration problems
• Significant memory lapses such as forgetting important personal information
• Feeling compelled to behave in a certain way
• Identity confusion – for example, behaving in a way that the person would normally find offensive or abhorrent

Treatment

Options may include:

• A safe environment – Doctors will try to get the person to feel safe and relaxed, which is enough to trigger memory recall in some people with dissociative disorders
• Psychiatric drugs – such as barbiturates
• Hypnosis – may help to recover repressed memories, although this form of treatment for dissociative disorders is considered controversial
• Psychotherapy – also known as ‘talk therapy’ or counselling, which is usually needed for the long term. Examples include cognitive therapy and psychoanalysis
• Stress management – since stress can trigger symptoms
• Treatment for other disorders – typically, a person with a complex trauma may have other mental health problems such as depression or anxiety. Treatment may include antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications to try to improve the symptoms of chronic trauma.