The World Health Organisation made new rules for stress-related problems. They made two categories: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD). They want to be more specific in diagnosing and treating people who went through tough or scary things.

Both PTSD and C-PTSD happen when something really bad happens to a person. They can have bad memories, scary dreams, and trouble sleeping. Even when the danger is gone, they might still feel scared and unsafe. But there are differences too.

The main difference is how often the bad things happened. PTSD is from one big bad thing, like an accident. C-PTSD is from many bad things that keep happening. Sometimes people with many bad things get PTSD, and some with one bad thing get C-PTSD. It’s confusing to tell which one.

There are many names for this repeated trauma. Some call it complex PTSD (C-PTSD) or other names like Prolonged Duress Stress Disorder (PDSD), rolling PTSD, Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Severe Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Type 2 PTSD, Cumulative Stress Disorder, Complex Trauma Disorder, or Chronic Stress Disorder. But for now, let’s call it C-PTSD.