A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD Quotes

“Your pain may never be adequately acknowledged by those who injured you. Profound feelings of grief might strike you as you work through unresolved feelings of resentment or disappointment.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“The burden of unexpressed emotions can leave you feeling heavy and weighted down, as if you have been carrying a heavy backpack for many years. The second healing strategy encourages you to feel your emotions and empty the backpack.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“diagnosis of C-PTSD includes the symptoms of PTSD, but also has three additional categories of symptoms: difficulties with emotion regulation, an impaired sense of self-worth, and interpersonal problems. C-PTSD is associated with intrusive flashbacks, feelings of panic, overwhelming feelings of rage, debilitating feelings of hopelessness, chronic feelings of shame, a harsh and unrelenting “inner critic,” and a lack of trust in other people.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) sees depression as a triad of thinking patterns: a negative view of yourself, a negative view of the world, and a negative view of the future.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“In order to heal, it is important to realize that you are no longer living in the unsafe environment of your childhood. You are an adult now and can make new choices, which include learning new and healthier coping strategies. This chapter will offer mindfulness techniques to help you recognize that you are safe now.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“The feeling that nothing can or will ever change may be pervasive and dominate your worldview.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Pervasive feelings of danger might lead you to feel as though you are still being threatened, when you are actually safe. This is called “hypervigilance,” and it can lead you to startle easily or feel on guard and unable to relax.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Avoidance symptoms refer to the way you might avoid going to places, participating in activities, or seeing people who are associated with the traumatic event.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“traumatic events. The “complex” aspect of C-PTSD means that the trauma was at an early enough age or was repeated often enough that it affected your emotional development.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“He recalled times that he was excited about things as a child and how this made him a target for their cruelty. I learned then that he had very little control over his life.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Reflecting upon your relationship to meaning and purpose is another key to overcoming feelings of despair and hopelessness. Take the time to reflect on the ways you have grown as a result of those painful events of your past. Perhaps your suffering has become a source of compassion for others, or maybe your pain has inspired you to express yourself creatively. Your process of making meaning out of trauma is unique to you; nobody else can answer these profound, existential questions in the way you can.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Ultimately, Darryl realized that he had to take responsibility for his life. He recognized that he couldn’t take back the childhood that was stolen from him. But at this point, he could say, “I am in charge of my life now!”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Darryl came into therapy seeking a sense of direction and purpose. As we explored his history, I learned that he grew up in a home where he was profoundly emotionally neglected. Both his parents were addicted to drugs and were often absent or intoxicated. Darryl’s trauma was related not only to his experiences in witnessing their addictions, but also to the extended periods of time he was left alone. His childhood lacked emotional and physical connection. He learned that in order to survive, he had to raise himself. He had learned to dismiss his own emotional needs. Now as an adult, he continued to feel cut off from his emotions. As a result, his life had very little depth or meaning.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Healing involves recognizing that your feelings of shame or unworthiness are directly connected to your undeniably legitimate human needs for connection. Furthermore, since shame is an interpersonal wound, healing often needs to occur within a relationship. Initially, this may happen in therapy, but eventually it is important to feel that you are being treated fairly and respectfully in your other relationships. You can learn that, even though you have been rejected by some people, you can still seek out others who can meet your needs for connection. You can find people who are capable of meeting you with enthusiasm, even if you weren’t celebrated as a child.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“see how easy it is for other people to get out there and make friends. But for me, I feel so different. I’m reminded of being in school as a kid and how I was bullied. I have never felt confident in social settings. At some point, I just stopped trying. I just know that there is something wrong with me.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“In addition to these physical conditions, those with C-PTSD can be prone to a wide variety of chronic-pain conditions and illnesses, owing to the dissociation from traumatic memories.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Ideally, caring parents help their children know that it is okay to have feelings by lovingly supporting them during moments of sadness, hurt, or anger. These types of interactions communicate to a child that it is okay to be vulnerable and that it is normal to have needs. In contrast, Leo’s story is a powerful reminder of the painful consequences of childhood emotional neglect. His lack of parental support resulted in a void of inner awareness, an inability to recognize or articulate his feelings or needs.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“When we feel safe, the parasympathetic nervous system brings about rest and relaxation. However, when we feel threatened, the parasympathetic nervous system can go into a defensive mode associated with trauma, known as a “faint response,” which includes feelings of helplessness, fatigue, and eventual collapse. When a child spends an extended period of time in a faint response, these feelings of heaviness, sluggishness, and tiredness persist into adulthood and can influence their overall sense of self.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Childhood trauma can leave you feeling powerless or helpless, especially if there was no way to stop the abuse or get the love you needed. When trauma is ongoing, these feelings of helplessness can form the basis of your sense of self. In this chapter, you will gain an understanding of depressive symptoms in the context of C-PTSD.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Interpersonal problems: Attachment issues tend to interfere with your ability to form healthy relationships in adulthood. It can be difficult to trust or feel close to others. You might feel overly dependent and have difficulty asserting yourself in relationships. Or you might have developed an opposite pattern of becoming overly self-reliant, whereby you falsely believe you cannot depend upon anyone and, as a result, you push loved ones away unnecessarily.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“child may create an idealized mommy or daddy to avoid facing the reality of the external world. Physiologically, dissociation involves neurochemicals that numb feelings and sensations, leaving you feeling foggy, dizzy, nauseous, and tired. Sometimes, dissociation makes it difficult or impossible to remember traumatic events, which can lead to further disorientation.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“One of the challenges of all types of post-traumatic stress is feeling like you are being threatened when you are actually safe. These pervasive feelings of danger can cause hypervigilance—being highly sensitive to sounds and sights in your environment.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“The ability to coherently and accurately talk about your past is a sign of earned security. Understanding your attachment problems allows you to practice reaching out for support from others and, increasingly, to tolerate authentic connection.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“There are three main categories of PTSD symptoms: re-experiencing, avoidance, and pervasive feelings of danger.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“When traumatic events remain unhealed, it is common to replay these events in your mind as recurrent memories, flashbacks, nightmares, or disturbing feelings that invade your current life and relationships. Moreover, your ability to care for yourself as an adult is often a reflection of how well you were cared for as a child.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“You might have feelings of shame, unworthiness, or helplessness. Perhaps you feel plagued by anxiety or believe that you don’t belong in this world. These kinds of thoughts and feelings might lead you to withdraw from relationships in order to avoid further rejection or hurt. Or, you might use food, alcohol, or drugs to disconnect from or numb yourself to the pain. If you relate to these symptoms, it is important to know that you are not alone. The painful emotions of complex PTSD are remnants of your past. More importantly, you can heal.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma

“Our earliest years should prepare us for the inevitable challenges of life, such as working through conflicts with loved ones or coping with loss. However, when you have grown up with childhood trauma, you have to fill in the gaps left behind by neglect or abuse, and this process takes time. I encourage you to recognize that reclaiming your life from childhood trauma requires a long-term commitment to yourself and to the healing process. Your symptoms are the result of traumatic injuries that occurred over an extended period. It is important to be realistic about the timeline for healing.”
― Arielle Schwartz, A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma