Trauma, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and SMART Goals

Healing takes effort

Photo by Lukasz Szmigiel on Unsplash

Trauma, dissociative identity disorder (DID), and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) go hand-in-hand. You cannot have CPTSD without first experiencing repeated and severely traumatic events but that is unusual, and trauma is what causes DID to form. However, you can experience trauma without forming CPTSD

What is trauma, and how is it connected to CPTSD? This article will explore this question and examine SMART goals and what they can mean for you.

What Is Trauma?

Trauma is exposure to an incident or series of experiences that cause emotional disturbances or are life-threatening. Trauma causes lasting adverse effects on functioning mental, physical, social, and spiritual health.

While there are more types of trauma than we can list here in this piece, some of the most severe include:

· Childhood neglect

· Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse

· Having a family member who is mentally ill or abuses substances

· Poverty

· A sudden separation from a loved one

· Racism, oppression