Complex Ptsd Quotes
Quotes tagged as "complex-ptsd"
Showing 1-30 of 73
![Bessel van der Kolk](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1617660077i/21280926._UY200_CR18,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Beneath the surface of the protective parts of trauma survivors there exists an undamaged essence, a Self that is confident, curious, and calm, a Self that has been sheltered from destruction by the various protectors that have emerged in their efforts to ensure survival. Once those protectors trust that it is safe to separate, the Self will spontaneously emerge, and the parts can be enlisted in the healing process”
― The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
― The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
![Judith Lewis Herman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1329220610i/44171._UX200_CR0,32,200,200_.jpg)
“...repeated trauma in childhood forms and deforms the personality. The child trapped in an abusive environment is faced with formidable tasks of adaptation. She must find a way to preserve a sense of trust in people who are untrustworthy, safety in a situation that is unsafe, control in a situation that is terrifyingly unpredictable, power in a situation of helplessness. Unable to care for or protect herself, she must compensate for the failures of adult care and protection with the only means at her disposal, an immature system of psychological defenses.”
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
“When you notice someone does something toxic the first time, don't wait for the second time before you address it or cut them off.
Many survivors are used to the "wait and see" tactic which only leaves them vulnerable to a second attack. As your boundaries get stronger, the wait time gets shorter. You never have justify your intuition.”
―
Many survivors are used to the "wait and see" tactic which only leaves them vulnerable to a second attack. As your boundaries get stronger, the wait time gets shorter. You never have justify your intuition.”
―
![Judith Lewis Herman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1329220610i/44171._UX200_CR0,32,200,200_.jpg)
“By developing a contaminated, stigmatized identity, the child victim takes the evil of the abuser into herself and thereby preserves her primary attachments to her parents. Because the inner sense of badness preserves a relationship, it is not readily given up even after the abuse has stopped; rather, it becomes a stable part of the child's personality structure.”
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
![Judith Lewis Herman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1329220610i/44171._UX200_CR0,32,200,200_.jpg)
“First, the physiological symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder have been brought within manageable limits. Second, the person is able to bear the feelings associated with traumatic memories. Third, the person has authority over her memories; she can elect both to remember the trauma and to put memory aside. Fourth, the memory of the traumatic event is a coherent narrative, linked with feeling. Fifth, the person's damaged self-esteem has been restored. Sixth, the person's important relationships have been reestablished. Seventh and finally, the person has reconstructed a coherent system of meaning and belief that encompasses the story of trauma.”
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
![Judith Lewis Herman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1329220610i/44171._UX200_CR0,32,200,200_.jpg)
“In situations of captivity the perpetrator becomes the most powerful person in the life of the victim, and the psychology of the victim is shaped by the actions and beliefs of the perpetrator.”
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
![Beverly Engel](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1467178399i/74593._UX200_CR0,24,200,200_.jpg)
“If you live your life to please everyone else, you will continue to feel frustrated and powerless. This is because what others want may not be good for you. You are not being mean when you say NO to unreasonable demands or when you express your ideas, feelings, and opinions, even if they differ from those of others.”
― The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused -- And Start Standing Up for Yourself
― The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused -- And Start Standing Up for Yourself
![Judith Lewis Herman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1329220610i/44171._UX200_CR0,32,200,200_.jpg)
“In this climate of profoundly disrupted relationships the child faces a formidable developmental task. She must find a way to form primary attachments to caretakers who are either dangerous or, from her perspective, negligent. She must find a way to develop a sense of basic trust and safely with caretakers who are untrustworthy and unsafe. She must develop a sense of self in relation to others who are helpless, uncaring or cruel. She must develop a capacity for bodily self-regulation in an environinent in which her body is at the disposal of others' needs as well as a capacity for self-soothing in an environment without solace. She must develop the capacity for initiative in an environment which demands that she bring her will into complete conformity with that of her abuser. And ultimately, she must develop a capacity for intimacy out of an environment where all intimate relationships are corrupt, and an identity out of an environment which defines her as a whore and a slave.”
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
― Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
![Beverly Engel](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1467178399i/74593._UX200_CR0,24,200,200_.jpg)
“Survivors who don’t stand up for themselves often develop physical and emotional illnesses. Many become depressed because they feel so hopeless and helpless about being able to change their lives. They turn their anger inward and become prone to headaches, muscle tension, nervous conditions and insomnia.”
― The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused -- And Start Standing Up for Yourself
― The Nice Girl Syndrome: Stop Being Manipulated and Abused -- And Start Standing Up for Yourself
“It is a rare person who can cut himself off from mediate and immediate relations with others for long spaces of time without undergoing a deterioration in personality.”
― The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry
― The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry
![Christiane Sanderson](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1591167460i/710575.jpg)
“The human need to be visible is countered by the need to be invisible to avoid further abuse, and the need for intimacy and the dread of abuse, all pose insoluble dichotomies which promote further withdrawal from human contact, which reinforces the sense of dehumanisation.”
― Introduction to Counselling Survivors of Interpersonal Trauma
― Introduction to Counselling Survivors of Interpersonal Trauma
![Laura Hillenbrand](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1381983639i/30913._UX200_CR0,48,200,200_.jpg)
“But on Kwajalein, the guards sought to deprive them of something that had sustained them even as all else had been lost: dignity. This self-respect and sense of self-worth, the innermost armament of the soul, lies at the heart of humanness; to be deprived of it is to be dehumanized, to be cleaved from, and cast below, mankind.”
― Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
― Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience and Redemption
“I have met many, many severely distressed people whose daily lives are filled with the agony of both remembered and unremembered trauma, who try so hard to heal and yet who are constantly being pushed down both by their symptoms and the oppressive circumstances of post traumatic life around them.”
―
―
![Bessel van der Kolk](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1617660077i/21280926._UY200_CR18,0,200,200_.jpg)
“As I discussed in the previous chapter, attachment researchers have shown that our earliest caregivers don't only feed us, dress us, and comfort us when we are upset; they shape the way our rapidly growing brain perceives reality. Our interactions with our caregivers convey what is safe and what is dangerous: whom we can count on and who will let us down; what we need to do to get our needs met. This information is embodied in the warp and woof of our brain circuitry and forms the template of how we think of ourselves and the world around us. These inner maps are remarkably stable across time.
This doesn‘t mean, however, that our maps can‘t be modified by experience. A deep love relationship, particularly during adolescence, when the brain once again goes through a period of exponential change, truly can transform us. So can the birth of a child, as our babies often teach us how to love. Adults who were abused or neglected as children can still learn the beauty of intimacy and mutual trust or have a deep spiritual experience that opens them to a larger universe. In contrast, previously uncontaminated childhood maps can become so distorted by an adult rape or assault that all roads are rerouted into terror or despair. These responses are not reasonable and therefore cannot be changed simply by reframing irrational beliefs.”
― The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
This doesn‘t mean, however, that our maps can‘t be modified by experience. A deep love relationship, particularly during adolescence, when the brain once again goes through a period of exponential change, truly can transform us. So can the birth of a child, as our babies often teach us how to love. Adults who were abused or neglected as children can still learn the beauty of intimacy and mutual trust or have a deep spiritual experience that opens them to a larger universe. In contrast, previously uncontaminated childhood maps can become so distorted by an adult rape or assault that all roads are rerouted into terror or despair. These responses are not reasonable and therefore cannot be changed simply by reframing irrational beliefs.”
― The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
![Laura Davis](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1616337860i/6475078._UX200_CR0,50,200,200_.jpg)
“Few of us have a healthy sense of boundaries. We either have rigid boundaries (“No one is ever going to get close to me”) or weak boundaries (“I’ll be anything anyone wants me to be”). Rigid boundaries lead to distance and isolation; weak boundaries, to over-dependency and sometimes, further abuse. The ideal is to develop flexible boundaries, boundaries which can vary depending on the circumstances.”
― Allies in Healing: When the Person You Love Was Sexually Abused as a Child
― Allies in Healing: When the Person You Love Was Sexually Abused as a Child
![Christopher Dines](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1716679535i/5224793._UY200_CR49,0,200,200_.jpg)
“The reality is that there are plenty of trustworthy people in the world rebuilding their lives. It was a very gradual process for me to open up and talk about what was really going on in my recovery. The more I started to take risks by talking to others, however, the more I had an opportunity to exercise boundaries. As I asserted new boundaries, I started to gravitate towards people with integrity, warmheartedness and decency.”
― Drug Addiction Recovery: The Mindful Way
― Drug Addiction Recovery: The Mindful Way
![Dana Arcuri](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1509399744i/6451514._UX200_CR0,33,200,200_.jpg)
“The reason why you need emotional support is because it's important for survivors to be heard. To be understood. To be able to express yourself without fearing criticism or harsh judgement. To be validated for your pain, suffering, and loss. For others to be there for you to encourage you, especially if you're having a bad day or feeling triggered.”
― Soul Cry: Releasing & Healing the Wounds of Trauma
― Soul Cry: Releasing & Healing the Wounds of Trauma
![Olga Trujillo](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1335226597i/4801685._UY200_CR33,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Controlling my environment was still a compelling need for me. I did everything I could to not be surprised by anything...
Looking back, I think that my need to predict how my day was going to unfold was a direct response to the amount of chaos in my childhood.”
― The Sum of My Parts: A Survivor's Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder
Looking back, I think that my need to predict how my day was going to unfold was a direct response to the amount of chaos in my childhood.”
― The Sum of My Parts: A Survivor's Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder
![Bessel van der Kolk](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1617660077i/21280926._UY200_CR18,0,200,200_.jpg)
“In the same way that people can drive each other mad, the company of people, and being understood by people, can also heal us.”
―
―
![Christopher Dines](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1716679535i/5224793._UY200_CR49,0,200,200_.jpg)
“Emotionally wounded addicts have an extremely difficult time with intimacy and with trusting themselves and others. They have a deep desire to trust, but their emotional scars and traumatic memories haunt them whenever an opportunity to trust another person arises. Naturally this can lead to a very lonely existence.”
― Drug Addiction Recovery: The Mindful Way
― Drug Addiction Recovery: The Mindful Way
![Chil Rajchman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1384779031i/2914045._UX200_CR0,31,200,200_.jpg)
“I become almost wild and shout at them: - To whom are you reciting Kaddish? Do you still believe? And what do you believe, whom are you thinking? Are you thanking the Lord for his mercy and taking away our brothers and sisters, our fathers and mothers? No, no! It is not true; there is no God. If there were a God, he would not allow such misfortune, such transgression, where innocent small children, only just born, or killed, by people who want only to to honest work and make themselves useful to the world are killed! and you, living witnesses of the great misfortune, remain thankful. Whom are you thanking?”
― The Last Jew of Treblinka
― The Last Jew of Treblinka
![Dana Arcuri](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1509399744i/6451514._UX200_CR0,33,200,200_.jpg)
“We cannot outrun our past trauma. We can’t bury it and think that we will be fine. We cannot skip the essential stage of processing, accepting, and doing the hard, yet necessary trauma recovery work. There’s a body-mind connection. Trauma can manifest itself into chronic physical pain, cancer, inflammation, auto-immune conditions, depression, anxiety, PTSD, Complex PTSD, addictions, and ongoing medical conditions.”
― Soul Rescue: How to Break Free From Narcissistic Abuse & Heal Trauma
― Soul Rescue: How to Break Free From Narcissistic Abuse & Heal Trauma
![Chil Rajchman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1384779031i/2914045._UX200_CR0,31,200,200_.jpg)
“He cannot forgive himself for having saved himself when his wife and child went to their deaths we are all as if drugged. Yesterday all of my family were living and now - all are dead. Each of us stands as if turn to stone. I weep for my fate, for what I have left to see.”
― The Last Jew of Treblinka
― The Last Jew of Treblinka
“Jo tried to think about her suspicion that Lynn liked her. She figured that Lynn was nice to her because she was a patient. Jo's mother had shown her what it meant to have a professional mask. The times Jo saw her mother at work in the lab, busy and efficient as she drew blood and marked vials. Nancy smiled warmly at the patients, ready with a sympathetic comment. If a patient or a doctor called Nancy at home, she immediately became the caring professional, no matter what had been happening before the phone rang. When Lynn hung up after an evening phone call from Missy, Jo suspected that Lynn resumed screaming at her husband or kids.”
― The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality
― The Flock: The Autobiography of a Multiple Personality
![Christopher Dines](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1716679535i/5224793._UY200_CR49,0,200,200_.jpg)
“In my personal recovery, mindfulness has helped me to become aware of my trauma responses and given me an anchor to stay present when I have been triggered. Being able to feel my triggers without reacting must be largely credited to learning to anchor myself in my body through mindful body scan meditation.”
― Drug Addiction Recovery: The Mindful Way
― Drug Addiction Recovery: The Mindful Way
![Dana Arcuri](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1509399744i/6451514._UX200_CR0,33,200,200_.jpg)
“Healing is comparable to a garden. It needs tended to on a consistent basis. For weeds to be pulled out. The garden needs water and sunshine in effort to grow. Like a lotus flower, you will sprout through the soil, reaching up through the dark water towards the sunlight, stretching to the surface where you will beautifully bloom.”
― Soul Cry: Releasing & Healing the Wounds of Trauma
― Soul Cry: Releasing & Healing the Wounds of Trauma
“But I'd begun, slowly, to understand that complex post-traumatic stress disorder, or cPTSD, was different. It was particularly difficult to treat, because - like a flat landscape - it didn't offer a significant landmark, an event, that you could focus on and work with. Complex post-traumatic stress, according to the psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman, is the result of 'prolonged, repeated trauma,' rather than individual traumatic events. It's what happens when you're born into a world, shaped by a world, where there's no safety, ever. When the people who should take care of you are, instead, scary and unreliable, and when you live years and years without the belief that escape is possible.
When you come from a world like this, when all your muscles are trained to tension and suspicion, normal life feels unbearable. It doesn't make sense, getting up, going to class, eating lunch, returning home, sleeping. You don't trust it. It doesn't feel real. And unreality can hurt more than pain.”
― A Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma
When you come from a world like this, when all your muscles are trained to tension and suspicion, normal life feels unbearable. It doesn't make sense, getting up, going to class, eating lunch, returning home, sleeping. You don't trust it. It doesn't feel real. And unreality can hurt more than pain.”
― A Flat Place: Moving Through Empty Landscapes, Naming Complex Trauma
![Chil Rajchman](https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/authors/1384779031i/2914045._UX200_CR0,31,200,200_.jpg)
“The murders force us to cut off the hair of our sisters a few minutes before their deaths and we, temporarily spared, do it in the shadow of the whips. We have been deprived of a reason and are the tools of criminals. My friend who worked with me sorting clothes as me quietly:— Why have you changed so much? I don't recognise you!”
―
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