Week 9 - Clinical Psychology 2 Flashcards
What are the 3 additions that differentiate complex PTSD from PTSD?
Somatisation
Dissociation
Affective changes
What is somatisation in complex PTSD?
Constant Anxiety/hyper vigilance leading to psychosomatic symptoms (which can increase over time)
What is dissociation in complex PTSD?
Disconnecting from one’s thoughts, feelings, memories or sense of identity
can be intentional (voluntary) or unintentional
What are the affective changes of complex PTSD?
Chronic depression, limited ability to express anger/frustration can lead to later outbursts or withdrawal/self harm
What ongoing changes are related to the experiences of complex PTSD?
Relational difficulties
Changes to sense of self
What is the distinction between the traumas of PTSD compared to complex PTSD?
Not the “type” of trauma, but the duration and lack of control/ability to escape
What are some potential PTSD triggers?
Single sexual assault
Single physical assault
exposure to violence in combat
exposure to a natural disaster
What are some potential complex PTSD triggers?
Human trafficking (organised sexual exploitation)
Domestic violence
Childhood abuse
Cults
Prisons/concentration camps
What is PTSD?
typically associated with a single event, or a number of events in a short period of time. Symptoms often associated with ‘looking back’ - reliving the experience, intrusive memories etc
What is complex PTSD?
Exposure to prolonged, repeated trauma. Often in what is traditionally a ‘safe’ and intimate setting (though not always). Symptoms often include personality and behavioural changes that can increase future risk (by self or others)
A review of the literature by Resick in 2012 found what about the diagnosis PTSD and complex PTSD?
Insufficient evidence to support complex PTSD as a distinct diagnosis from PTSD, based on the was PTSD was defined in the DSM-5
What diagnostic manual suggests that PTSD and complex PTSD are two ‘sibling’ disorders?
ICD-11 committee
Why was complex PTSD not included as a separate diagnosis in the DSM-5?
Because 92% of people with complex PTSD also met the criteria for PTSD (Roth et al, 1997)
The DSM-5 added a symptom cluster of negative alterations in cognition and mood, along with symptoms related to intrusion, avoidance, and alterations in arousal and reactivity. What symptoms does this cluster include?
Overly negative thoughts and assumptions about oneself or the world
Exaggerated blame of self or others for causing the trauma
Negative affect (negative emotions)
Decreased interest in activities
Feeling isolated
Difficulty experiencing positive affect
If auditory hallucinations are not always linked to a diagnosis, then what are they linked to?
Emotional, cognitive and psychosocial variables
What mechanisms have been proposed as possible mediators between adversity exposure and voice hearing?
Trauma induced structural/functional neurological changes
Dissociation
Quality of attachment relationships
Dysfunctional cognitive processes like impaired source monitoring and memory disturbances
What are the principles of the Hearing Voices Movement? (HVM)
Normalising voices
Respecting Diverse Explanations
Ownership
The role of peer support
Accepting and making sense of voices
What patients of complex PTSD have significantly higher scores than other patients on standardised measures of somatisation, depression, general and phobias anxiety, interpersonal sensitivity, paranoia and psychoticism?
Women with histories of physical or sexual abuse
What patients of complex PTSD had significantly more insomnia, sexual dysfunction, dissociation, anger, suicidality, self-mutilation, drug addiction and alcoholism?
Survivors of childhood abuse
What repetitive behaviour is strongly associated with a history of prolonged repeated trauma?
Self-mutilisation, a compulsive form of self injury
