Hi,

TN, thanks for your reply. I thought maybe I should move some of my post last night to a new thread so did that.

Yeah, life is not easy right now....but I think this is how you grow?

I wish too, that the DSM IV could maybe be put in the trash. The new one isn't due until 2012 and who knows if they will have completed enough and big enough studies to feel they can agree on the 'hard evidence' to include more accurate diagnostic criteria and labels. I believe that Complex PTSD is quite different from PTSD. The complex type includes traumas (emotional(psychological)/physical/sexual/spiritual) that happen repeatedly over years....and attachment injury also can be described as a trauma....whereas PTSD can result from just one traumatic experience. The difference between C-PTSD and PTSD leads to treatment and recovery issues. It is harder and takes longer for someone with C-PTSD to get better due to the complexity and layers of it all. There are a lot of different labels to choose from at the present time that a C-PTSD person might end up with, rather than a more accurate diagnosis.

I had a client assessed by a P who specializes in trauma...her report came back stating she fit into 6 different diagnoses that = C-PTSD (GAD was one of them). I thought it was pretty enlightened of this P to document it that way. And sending out a report written like that helps teach other less informed professionals about trauma and C-PTSD. But this whole thing with the DSM is going to take time. My P wrote PTSD because since this episode began with my client's suicide, the insurance co. would be able to understand and accept it better.

Hey, TN, if you get the book Trauma and Recovery by Judith Herman MD, you'll find a chapter in there called "A New Diagnosis".....she coined the term Complex PTSD and explains why it needs its own category. It's a landmark book. I would love to hear this lady speak sometime.

Thanks for your support TN.

Holly, OK....cool.

Karie