PTSD is not a sufficient diagnosis for people marinated in abuse and terror over an extended period of time. Complex trauma involves interpersonal violence that is usually repeated and chronic over time and involves profound relational betrayal, deception and coercion.

Complex trauma includes child abuse of any kind (physical-sexual-emotional abuse, as well as chronic neglect), those who lived through genocidal regimes, & were tortured by war criminals, abused by religious figures, enslavement and slavery, domestic violence and extreme poverty.

That means how the brain works, how the body works, how the self is understood, how thoughts are organized, how the world is labelled, emotions named and regulated and how relationships are understood and conducted all have their roots in the life-destroying acid of trauma.