Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder - Proposed Diagnostic Criteria

Proposed Diagnostic Criteria

The following criteria were used while C-PTSD was under consideration for inclusion in the DSM-IV.

1. A history of subjection to totalitarian control over a prolonged period (months to years). Examples include hostages, prisoners of war, concentration-camp survivors, and survivors of some religious cults. Examples also include those subjected to totalitarian systems in sexual and domestic life, including those subjected to domestic battering, child physical or sexual abuse, and organized sexual exploitation.

2. Alterations in affect regulation, including

• persistent dysphoria
• chronic suicidal preoccupation
• self-injury
• explosive or extremely inhibited anger (may alternate)
• compulsive sexuality or extremely inhibited sexuality (may alternate)

3. Alterations in consciousness, including

• amnesia or hypermnesia for traumatic events
• transient dissociative episodes
• depersonalization/derealization
• reliving experiences, either in the form of intrusive post-traumatic stress symptoms or in the form of ruminative preoccupation

4. Alterations in self-perception, including

• sense of helplessness or paralysis of initiative
• shame, guilt, and self-blame
• sense of defilement or stigma
• sense of complete difference from others (may include sense of specialness, utter aloneness, belief no other person can understand, or nonhuman identity)

5. Alterations in perception of perpetrator, including

• preoccupation with relationship with perpetrator (includes preoccupation with revenge)
• unrealistic attribution of total power to perpetrator (caution: victim's assessment of power realities may be more realistic than clinician's)
• idealization or paradoxical gratitude
• sense of special or supernatural relationship
• acceptance of belief system or rationalizations of perpetrator

6. Alterations in relations with others, including

• isolation and withdrawal
• disruption in intimate relationships
• repeated search for rescuer (may alternate with isolation and withdrawal)
• persistent distrust
• repeated failures of self-protection

7. Alterations in systems of meaning

• loss of sustaining faith
• sense of hopelessness and despair