My dad knows I have CPTSD. He doesn’t really know what that means; in fact he still considers PTSD to be “shell shock” and almost always combat related. Mine is not. I have a behavioral sciences background and have tried to explain CPTSD to him many times, to no avail.

My CPTSD is multi-faceted:

1.) Growing up with an unstable, unreliable mother with NPD and likely BPD. She was emotionally and psychologically abusive to me. I was always the “bad kid” because my sister who has special needs was (and still is) pitied and babied. I thought after no contact for a decade, she said she’d had a lot of therapy... that I’d give her another chance. Big mistake. Here I am, yet again, holding the bag and having been abandoned by someone who claims to love me “fiercely.” 🙄

2.) Growing up with an enabler of a father. Yes, I was the “adult” in my nuclear family from a very young age.

3.) I had a relationship and subsequent marriage to a man who turned out to be a con. Knowing full well what the DSM-V criteria are for NPD, he’s a text book case. I could even go so far as to say he fits the “dark triad,” part of which is NPD (the other two being Sociopathy and Machiavellism). He was abusive then and he continues to abuse and harass me now, even after being divorced for years.

So that wraps back around to my question - when triggered (or in a situation likely to cause a trigger), what do you do? What do you say? I’m so very lost and frankly incredibly frustrated...

My young child is starting to show PTSD symptomology too - the excessive apologizing, the perfectionist and self-loathing when not perfect, outward signs of anxiety, etc. It’s gotten worse since he’s been forced to be around my exH more, which explains a lot.

I have a trauma trained therapist, and have for years, but I don’t seem to be getting anywhere because the abuse continues to be allowed by the so called “Justice” system.

#DomesticAbuseSurvivors #DomesticAbuse #CPTSD #justiceforsurvivors #FailedJusticeSystem
#ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder