Understanding the Mind-Body Effects of Complex Trauma (Day 2)

Welcome to Healing the Hungry Ghost! 🪷 I’m Summer, a trauma therapist exploring the roots of stress, disconnection, and emotional suffering — and what it truly means to heal. Today’s video covers some of the most common physical and mental health symptoms linked to Complex PTSD (CPTSD). If the full list feels overwhelming, you’re not alone. That's why, over the next three videos of this series, we'll zoom in on three of the most life-shaping effects of CPTSD: 1️⃣ Living with a chronically activated nervous system 2️⃣ Struggles with relationships and attachment 3️⃣ A fragmented or distorted sense of self Whether you're living with CPTSD or supporting someone who is, this series is here to offer clarity, understanding, and compassion. Timestamps⏱️ 00:00 Complex Trauma vs. Chronic Stress 02:15 Prevalence of CPTSD 03:05 Major Symptoms of CPTSD 03:48 Long-Term Effects of CPTSD 05:05 Impacts of CPTSD on Physical Health 06:15 Focusing In on 3 Main Impacts of CPTSD Sources consulted in this video: Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (US). (2014). Trauma-Informed Care in Behavioral Health Services. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, No. 57. Chapter 3, Understanding the Impact of Trauma. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB... Feriante, J., Sharma, N.P. (2023). Acute and Chronic Mental Health Trauma. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NB... Harris, J., Loth, E, & Sethna, V. (2024) Tracing the paths: a systematic review of mediators of complex trauma and complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Front. Psychiatry 15:1331256. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1331256 Jae, S. (2024). Analyzing the different types of trauma and their impact on mental health. Neuropsychiatry, 14(5), 743. https://doi.org/10.37532/1758-2008.20... Maercker, A., Cloitre, M., Bachem, R., Schlumpf, Y. R., Khoury, B., Hitchcock, C., & Bohus, M. (2022). Complex post-traumatic stress disorder. Lancet (London, England), 400(10345), 60–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(22... Maté, G. (2011). When the body says no: exploring the stress-disease connection . J. Wiley. Piao, X., Xie, J. & Managi, S. (2024). Continuous worsening of population emotional stress globally: universality and variations. BMC Public Health 24, 3576. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-024-20... Ross, N., Gilbert, R., Torres, S., Dugas, K., Jefferies, P., McDonald, S., Savage, S., & Ungar, M. (2020). Adverse childhood experiences: Assessing the impact on physical and psychosocial health in adulthood and the mitigating role of resilience. Child abuse & neglect, 103, 104440. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020... Smith, M.D., Wesselbaum, D. (2025). Global evidence on the prevalence of and risk factors associated with stress. Journal of Affective Disorders, Volume 374, Pages 179-183, ISSN 0165-0327, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.01... Stenz, L., Schechter, D. S., Serpa, S. R., & Paoloni-Giacobino, A. (2018). Intergenerational Transmission of DNA Methylation Signatures Associated with Early Life Stress. Current genomics, 19(8), 665–675. https://doi.org/10.2174/1389202919666... Van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The body keeps the score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking.