General public definition
- Complex trauma is currently not listed as a diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR or ICD-11.
- Complex trauma is a psychological injury that results from severe types of potentially psychologically traumatic events.
- Complex trauma is often used to refer to complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD).
- See the section on “Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD)” for more information.
Academic definition
- Complex trauma is currently not listed as a diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR or ICD-11.
- Complex trauma describes a psychological injury resulting from exposure to multiple psychologically traumatic events or a single prolonged psychologically traumatic event, particularly when the event was difficult to escape, such as repeated childhood sexual or physical abuse, prolonged domestic violence, torture, enslavement, or genocide campaigns.21-23
- Refer to the section on “Complex posttraumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD)” for more information.
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