What is Continuous Traumatic Stress Disorder or CTSD?

CTSD vs PTSD and CPTSD and Seeking Effective Trauma Treatment

Continuous Traumatic Stress Disorder, CTSD, is a condition that comes from long-term exposure to ongoing trauma. The nature of how someone develops CTSD differs from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can be triggered by a single event, or Complex PTSD (CPTSD), which arises from a series of traumas.

A CTSD diagnosis exposes one’s almost constant and unrelenting exposure to extreme stress, making it feel impossible for them to feel safe and secure.

Catalina Behavioral Health offers hope for anyone who seeks restored hope and balance after a traumatic event. Our trauma-informed practices can help loosen the grip of posttraumatic stress symptoms on our clients.

Please continue reading to learn more about CTSD and the impact constant traumatic events can have on a person’s mental health.

Diagnosing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder vs Continuous Traumatic Stress Disorder

A psychiatrist would use the criteria of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual DSM-5 to assess someone’s post-traumatic stress symptoms. The clinician would consider whether the symptoms include ongoing exposure to trauma and whether it causes chronic stress, anxiety disorders, or hypervigilance.

The 4 Clusters of PTSD Symptoms

For a doctor to reach a PTSD diagnosis, the person must experience the following diagnostic criteria:

• 1 intrusion symptom
• 1 avoidance symptoms
• 2 negative changes
• 2 changes in arousal and reactivity

CTSD Diagnostic Criteria

Like complex trauma, CTSD is not explicitly listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Still, it is very real to those struggling with it. A clinical practice would diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder and then consider the ongoing, continuous nature of the treatment of CTSD.

The health professional would consider the psychological sequelae, or long-term residual impacts on the person’s mental health condition.

Here are the 4 clusters of symptoms, according to the US Department of Veterans Affairs:

• Intrusion: Unwanted upsetting memories, nightmares, flashbacks, emotional distress after reminders surrounding the trauma, and physical reactions to reminders.
• Avoidance: Avoiding trauma-related thoughts or feelings and avoiding reminders of the trauma.
• Negative changes in cognition and mood: Inability to remember some details about the trauma, negative thoughts about oneself or the world, distorted feelings like guilt or blame, and loss of interest in activities.
• Reactivity and arousal symptoms: Irritability or aggressive behavior, destructive or impulsive behavior, hypervigilance, heightened startle response, and difficulty sleeping.

Someone may suffer the consequences of a traumatic event in varying degrees, having some good days, some bad days. In CTSD, the struggle becomes a fact of daily life.

History of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Research

An overview of posttraumatic stress disorder will give you a clearer understanding of CTSD.

Psychiatrist and researcher Bessel van der Kolk began researching PTSD in the 1970s as US soldiers returned from Vietnam. While serving the needs of veterans at the Boston Veterans Administration Outpatient Clinic, he took the time to better understand PTSD symptoms and developed treatments for trauma and its related disorders. He still practices and is a leading advocate for trauma-informed care.

Before van der Volk’s research, soldiers had functional impairment after combat exposure; however, nobody had formally recognized or understood treatment for the mental health issues. This research meant that society no longer needed to accept the emotional effects of PTSD without help or treatment.

How Common is PTSD or Similar Traumas?

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration did a 2022 survey on drug use and mental health. Of those who participated, about 3.6% reported experienced some form of PTSD in the past year. The lifetime rate of PTSD in American adults is estimated at 6.8%.

What Traumatic Event May Someone to Develop PTSD or CTSD?

CTSD results from being exposed to prolonged, and sometimes ongoing, traumatic experiences. Here are a few possible types of trauma that lead clinicians to diagnose continuous traumatic stress disorder:

Exposure to Violence: Sexual Abuse, Physical Assault

People who lack a safe environment due to continual violence develop an ongoing traumatic stress response to those conditions. Environmental conditions can include sexual assault, physical abuse causing serious injury and can occur in the home, workplace, or community.

The ongoing traumatic experience can start in adulthood or as childhood abuse, creating an ongoing threat as the child matures.

The American Psychiatric association warns that child psychological abuse can be as damaging as childhood sexual abuse. This interpersonal trauma often follows into adulthood, setting the child up for hypervigilance, depression, anxiety, or posttraumatic stress disorder.

Surviving a War Zone or Armed Conflict

Some trauma survivors have lived in a war zone or survived armed or civil conflict. These include private citizens who have lived through the chronic fear and anxiety that come from living in a war zone or military members who exhibit PTSD symptoms as a result of the job.

Chronic Bullying Can Lead to Mental Disorders Like CTSD

Ongoing exposure to bullies, especially over a long period, can lead to PTSD, CPTSD, ot CTSD symptoms. While we often envision bullying an event that happens at school, some PTSD patients have expressed experiencing their past traumatic event as happening at work.

The severity of the bullying behavior can lead to the development of sleep problems and emotion regulation deficiencies as the body becomes taxed.

Terrorist Attack: Major Traumatic Events at the Societal Level

Populations exposed to terrorist attacks are caught by surprise. One minute, they are going about their day leading a routine existence. The next, they’re in the crosshairs of life-threatening events. The fallout after this kind of trauma can lead to ongoing exposure to conflict or future adverse events as retaliation for the attack.

The traumatic incident itself may be fleeting but has the potential to become ongoing. The uncertainty of what will happen next causes anticipatory anxiety and chronic stress.

That’s similar to surviving natural disasters, which can be sudden or unexpected, like an earthquake. For some, though, the natural disaster can become a repeat cycles, such as those living in hurricane zones. Some living situations are more prone to lifetime traumas, usually PTSD or C-PTSD.

Receiving Trauma Informed Care at Catalina Behavioral Health

Here are the PTSD measures we’ll take to help you recover after you come to us for help with healing from traumatic events:

Assessment and Stabilization

Trauma-informed care starts with an assessment by a mental health professional. We want to know more about your traumatic event, ongoing struggles, and current PTSD symptoms. During stabilization, we help you feel safe and cared for as we work together to manage your immediate distress.

Individual Therapy and Other Counseling

Individual therapy helps you understand the risk factors that can worsen your mental and physical health. We help reduce any related anxiety, depression, or substance abuse to help you restore a better life balance.

You may also receive family therapy. Having a close, trusted family member who understands your needs is essential for ongoing recovery.

Coping Skills for Dealing with Future Traumatic Events

Our team works with you in developing the trauma coping skills you’ll need to avoid to future traumatic situations. Post-traumatic stress disorder can be self-perpetuating. But you can avoid or manage it better once you master the necessary skills.

Gabi Came to Catalina For CTSD Care

‘Gabi’ was a young adult referred to Catalina by a crisis lifeline whose primary task was to keep her from hurting herself. She had grown up in Sinaloa and faced daily violence and conflict between the government and the cartels.

Even walking to school with her mother might mean seeing dead bodies on the street. At a young age, Gabi understood how the cartels terrorized citizens and killed people who reported violence to the police. The fighting was sporadic, causing citizens to feel on edge and guarded at all times.

Gabi’s family was lucky. Her father was one of Mexico’s top engineers and qualified for a special employer-sponsored visa. Even after moving to the safety of Arizona, Gabi replayed the scenes and sounds in her brain. The chronic trauma meant crying herself to sleep.

Several years later, even after graduating college and starting nursing job, the traumatic images of her childhood haunted her. She became depressed and lost interest in life. In her family culture, it was taboo to discuss mental health, so she held in her feelings and never sought help.

Things changed after one night, when Gabi contemplated erasing these memories by taking her life. The crisis line advocate stayed on the phone with Gabi and diffused the situation. They also helped her seek professional care.

Getting Expedient Support for Traumatic Conditions

When Gabi arrived at Catalina, our doctor had an immediate understanding that the traumatic living conditions of her home community had transcended beyond PTSD; in fact, the CTSD had become interwoven into every corner of her mind.

Gabi took a leave of absence from her nursing job and completed a 30-day intensive inpatient program followed by 15 days of intensive outpatient services for mental health. The team found the right balance of prescription medication and self-care strategies to cope with stress. She also received therapies that helped her distance herself from the events, so that she can live with them.

Gabi is back to her nursing job now but doesn’t plan to stop there! She has made plans to go back to school to become a licensed clinical psychologist. Her goal is to participate in future research projects to help others who are still suffering from CTSD.

Call Catalina Behavioral Health for CTSD Treatment

The Catalina Behavioral Health team can help if you struggle with continually repeating stress because of traumatic events. We are trauma-informed care leaders who have helped countless people process and deal with traumatic situations and reclaim their lives.

Call us today – it’s always confidential, and we are here to help support lasting trauma recovery success.