Video · 15 minutes · C-PTSD · Body

C-PTSD is not only memories and mood. It often lives in the body: gut trouble, unexplained pain, sleep disruption, chronic bracing, and flashbacks that are physical rather than cinematic. This video is about recognizing those somatic signs.

Physical symptoms still deserve a medical workup. This is education about the trauma overlay, not a diagnosis of your pain.

What this video covers

  • How C-PTSD differs from single-event PTSD
  • Why dissociation is more common after early, repeated trauma
  • Emotion, trust, shame, and loneliness as they show up in the body
  • Why many flashbacks are not “movie scenes”
  • Common somatic signs: gut, pain, palpitations, fatigue, insomnia, muscle armoring
  • Why this is not a self-help project

Key takeaways

  • PTSD is often tied to one life-threatening event. C-PTSD comes from ongoing or repeated harm, often while the brain and body were still developing.
  • Dissociation rates are much higher in complex trauma than in single-incident trauma.
  • The thinking mind can know a partner is safe while the body still answers with fear, shame, or anger.
  • Flashbacks often feel like present danger, not a scene from the past. People frequently do not realize they are triggered.
  • Soma means body. Somatic symptoms are sensations, impulses, and urges — nausea, pain, shaking, exhaustion, sleeplessness, constant bracing.
  • Most clinicians are not trained in C-PTSD. Get assessed by someone who is.

Who this is for

Adults who:

  • Have “normal” medical tests and still live in a braced, exhausted, or gut-sick body
  • Feel in danger in safe rooms
  • Have emotional or sexual flashbacks without a clear visual story
  • Need language for what the body is doing before they start trauma therapy

Common somatic signs named in the video

  • Nausea and other digestive problems, including disruptive IBS-like symptoms
  • Severe pain with no clear medical finding
  • Palpitations, shaking, tremors
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Insomnia and broken sleep
  • Body hypervigilance / muscle armoring: living braced for the next hit
  • Somatic flashbacks: the body re-experiences pain, sensation, or impulse from the old situation

Next step

If you are a California resident and want to discuss fit, request a consult.

Transcript

Your Body and C-PTSD

Welcome. I’m Michael Quirke. Today I want to talk about your body and C-PTSD — complex post-traumatic stress disorder — and how to recognize the somatic symptoms that are an important part of it.

PTSD is often triggered by enduring or witnessing a life-threatening event. C-PTSD is caused by living through ongoing or repeated trauma: sustained physical, sexual, or emotional abuse. Many of the men and women I see had a rough start — neglect and abuse together. The syndrome can also follow more extreme conditions: a war zone, trafficking, slavery, organized abuse, kidnapping, long-term domestic violence.

Some symptoms overlap with PTSD. One important difference is that C-PTSD often causes somatic symptoms. A main reason is dissociation — neurological disconnection — which is far more common in complex trauma than in single-incident trauma such as a car accident or disaster. That is often because so much of the harm happened early, while the brain and body were still developing.

Common C-PTSD signs include difficulty regulating emotion. People struggle with anger and intense fear. That can look like sudden outbursts or sudden numbing, withdrawal, or dissociation. Neither extreme feels in the person’s control.

Another key sign is losing the ability to feel safe or to trust. Repeated abuse breeds hypervigilance: always on the lookout. You do not trust people. You lose faith that institutions will be loyal or take care of you. The world looks full of dangerous people. You keep your guard up. Clients often say the body feels like it is betraying them. The rational mind knows a partner is safe. The body still answers with fear, shame, or anger.

Running alongside that is a search for someone to rescue or guard you. Helplessness and shame matter here. The child in you feels betrayed and neglected. If the trauma included sexual abuse, shame is often central. Self-esteem is shattered. Some people try to convince themselves they deserved the treatment.

Another source of suffering is the sense that nobody understands you. Combined with lost trust, that is a lonely place. Left unchecked, persistent sadness can escalate into self-harm or suicidal thoughts. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 or 988.

Flashbacks are the norm in the people I work with. Many do not know they are having them because it is not like the movies. The body flashes back. It feels like real danger now. Visual and emotional flashbacks are common in both PTSD and C-PTSD. With C-PTSD, intensity, frequency, and the way they land in the body are the point.

Soma means body. Somatic symptoms are physical sensations, impulses, and urges. At first they may not look connected to C-PTSD. Get an assessment with a trauma professional who knows C-PTSD. This is not self-help work. People do get better with the right help. Most clinicians do not have that training.

Somatic symptoms include nausea and other digestive problems. Almost every man and woman in my practice has had chronic, disruptive gut issues such as severe IBS. Other common signs: extreme pain with no medical cause the doctors can find; palpitations, shaking, tremors; chronic fatigue you cannot kick; insomnia and broken sleep.

A specific sign in trauma survivors is body hypervigilance, or muscle armoring: constant tensing, as if you are bracing for more abuse. Overworked muscles exhaust and lead to chronic pain, tightness, and trouble moving.

A usual flashback can bring back the original emotion. A somatic flashback makes you physically re-experience the trauma — pain, discomfort, sensation, or impulse — depending on what you lived through. After sexual trauma, those flashbacks often bring guilt, shame, or disgust around physical intimacy.

Do not suffer this silently. Qualified help exists. It takes some looking, because most clinicians have no experience treating C-PTSD. Trying to make sense of cascading emotion and disconnection alone can make it worse. People do get better. Learn more at www.michaelgquirke.com.

This page and video are for education. They are not therapy, a diagnosis, a medical workup, a crisis service, or a substitute for personal assessment. Get unexplained pain and gut symptoms checked medically. Psychotherapy is available to California residents.