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Complex PTSD: a review of current issues
International Journal of Emergency Mental Health
|March 10, 2001
Abstract:
The diagnostic formulation of PTSD has made a great advance since its inception in the early 1980s. Yet it may be argued that PTSD as now formulated does not go far enough in capturing the psychological response to traumatic events. The notion of "complex PTSD" is reviewed as an extension of the current formulations of PTSD. Complex PTSD transcends current formulations of PTSD in three main areas of disturbance: 1) complex symptom presentations, 2) characterological issues, and 3) vulnerability to repeated trauma. These issues are reviewed and support is provided for a formal recognition of "complex PTSD".