It took me 20 years to get a proper diagnosis of C-PTSD. I was never diagnosed BPD because I lacked the abandonment issues and also was so out of touch with my own feelings I couldn't properly explain myself. For a long time I thought I might actually be a sociopath because of the extreme identity disturbances, manipulative ways, chronic emptiness, substance abuse and just plain coldness I can sometimes have. I am so relieved to understand this now. The victims of child abuse become extremely messed up adults and at 39 I'm still dealing with the aftermath.

I've had this question for 4 years now because complex PTSD isn't as heavily researched (I blame the DSM lol). In my observations, C-PTSD folks don't lack insight and don't lack the will to take accountability for their feelings the way BPD folks do even when BPD folks have co-morbid PTSD. The treatment options are VERY different, but I have seen the the two/three so often misdiagnosed it saddens me. In my opinion, I think everyone has some features of BPD when they experience interpersonal trauma, but not to a subclinical or pathological level unless they have BPD. Thank you so much for constantly answering the super nuanced questions!!!

I have cptsd and have had a difficult time explaining the bpd difference until now. I really appreciate your videos Thank you

Wow! I always thought that because of my childhood with my NPD mom and verbally abusive stepdad, that I had some mild borderline traits + PTSD until I got treatment in therapy. But now, thanks to your video, I realize it was always C-PTSD. Even my therapist never mentioned that. Thank you as always for the amazing insight!

I've been diagnosed with BPD and CPTSD. BPD seems to be the phase in my life where I inherited narcissistic coping mechanism from my abusive parents. CPTSD seems to be a more mature development form of the same trauma response with an acknowledgment of trauma rather than using escapism to avoid the shame of admitting having been a survivor.

Eugh, I really wish CPTSD was more accepted and diagnosed.. it really is completely different. Again, your breakdowns on these differences is phenomenal, Doctor. 🌹🌹

Facts ☑️ Thanks for using your platform to spread awareness about C-PTSD. Comparing it to BPD is a great way to highlight it’s distinguishing features 👏 Bravo!

CPTSD/PTSD doesnt include splitting which is a BPD trait. Also, while cptsd individuals have trouble maintaining interpersonal relationships, BPD is more fear of abandonment which is more than just co-dependency... realizing the difference between the two is key. I could say more but i would rant lol. I think suicide rates are higher than reported in CPTSD individuals and it depends on so many variables, i estimate that more who develop cptsd via continuous early trauma, would likely have higher suicide rates than those who's cptsd developed via unresolved, persistent ptsd. Cptsd and narc abuse is huge. My mother is a communal narc, my sister has BPD, and i have cptsd/hyperfocus adhd. I have alot of insight into this if anyone is having trouble telling the difference feel free to pick my brain. Anyway, good video, I agreed with most of what was said.

I wonder how this relates to someone that has been exposed to narcissistic abuse. My experience is the people that have been abused generally have a ton of anger, usually the abused person becomes highly vigilant towards people

I was dx'd with BPD & PTSD 30 yrs ago. However, about 18 years ago my clinicians dropped the BPD diagnosis as I wasn't "acting out". I don't think I ever really had BPD but greatly empathize with those who do. I never really related to PTSD as I didn't have any (at the time) clear indications of traumatic events. I didn't have flashbacks, etc... Then one psychiatrist heard my story (of being raised in a cult formed by my mother) & automatically said "oh, you have CPTSD". It made so much more sense to me. It fit - finally. For me I now can identify multiple traumas throughout my life but even more so the interpersonal trauma of having a narcissistic cult leader as a mother. Interpersonal ongoing trauma is so different from an event. Both are valid, but they are different. I'm active in a fb group for people with CPTSD & currently there are 12,000 members worldwide. Some have identified as having BPD as well as CPTSD & other comorbidities - narcissism, eating disorders, substance use disorders, OCD, add/ADHD, autism, etc... I believe there truly is a difference between the CPTSD diagnosis & BPD/PTSD diagnosis.

I have work to do!!! I can’t be watching you all day!!! I’ve watched you for 4 hours straight today!!! Today is when I found you... A M A Z I N G sheesh!!!

My ptsd is from being in a tornado. I'm hyper- vigilant about bad weather, especially during the spring , winter and fall. We have tornado weather during those seasons. I find ALL extreme weather very anxiety inducing.

I have PTSD and BPD and I never even knew of this question..... thank you, once again! 💗

thank you! This is the vid I've been waiting for. Can't believe how similar BPD and CPTSD are! Seems a simple way to distinguish between BPD and CPTSD is that the issue is BPD if there is self-harm/suicidality, or issues with the self, e.g., changing/fluctuating, weak or negative sense of self.

This is very, very interesting. Thank you, Dr. Grande. Sharing this with a C-PTSD peer support group on Facebook. Many thanks for taking the time to make all these great videos for us.

Thanks for this interesting discussion. I have BPD and PTSD and some other psych issues. Also ASD and ADHD . So it is really good to hear discussion on the topic of diognosis and co morbidity and misdiognosis risks of disorders.

I felt a little bit blue today, but seeing Dr. Grande in dark blue I suddenly feel so much better 😃. Thank you for this very informative video. Yes it's complex, but I think I understand it better now doc 👍

Great topic. Thanks for giving us a better understanding. Glad you mention in your presentations how difficult it is to diagnose a patient.

Thank you for another insightful analysis of these complex issues. It's good to see an explanation about C-PTSD symptoms and the way these are expressed differently to those with BPD. Regarding confusing C-PTSD with BPD that happens a lot when a clinician is unaware of the traumatic background and the different expressions of the symptoms.

Great differentiation! This video is so needed for treatment. To have a successful diagnosis, we need a long time with the patient to really differentiate the symptoms. Great presentation! Much appreciated

THANK YOU, Dr. Grande! Both CPTSD and BPD have been the two biggest problems in my life and have plagued me throughout the years for different reasons. First, I have CPTSD. Second, I have lived with people with BPD in my family and other relationships. Both disorders are devastating for the sufferers, and there is not enough understanding in the clinical and general community about both. Please keep talking about this, this is critical to the community!

I believe people with CPTSD and PTSD have more self awareness there is a problem with themselves and the state of mind they experience then people with BPD

IMO: It's not the "traumatic event", it is instead the persons perception of how powerless they were in the situation.... I would hazard a guess it would be influenced by trait neuroticism and extroversion, maybe even openness.

You're a wealth of knowledge Dr Grande! Thank you!

Thank you for another great video! This was incredibly helpful and particularly validating for me. I got a diagnosis of BPD back in the day, and it made a lot of sense because of a lot of my symptoms lined up with it and I spent a lot of my life managing myself based on that. It helped but I never got that far and I have REALLY STRUGGLED to thrive at all in life. Once I got trauma focused treatment I have come leaps and bounds forward in a very short period of time compared to when I was just managing based on the BPD diagnosis. I wish my CPTSD had been addressed so much sooner. This gave me a much better understanding of how these two disorders go together and how they can be confused. After listening to this I would say that I'm low in BPD but it's there and certainly related to my repeated childhood and youth trauma but it is the CPTSD that has really held me back in life. I'm doing much better these days BTW. I still struggle a lot to function in society but I have a great support system and am really learning to trust and hopefully one day thrive.

This video was very insightful! Thank you, Dr. Grande~

Girl here. I am very angry as is my brother. I am hyper vigilant that people are going to hurt me. We were profoundly abused, physically and emotionally. I'd rather be alone, isolate, than get more hurt. So I do. Because of this I am miserable, fearful and so lonely. I am so sad that my parents did these things to me. I was such a sweet, gentle, loving child. Even now I would hurt no one, am hyper empathetic & cry every day over human & animal suffering. It's too much. People consider my brother & I to be very physically attractive. We were financially very comfortable growing up. These things made/make people think our lives are charmed, easy. It's all I can do to survive the hell that is my life. Our parents tore my brother & I apart in fear we would collude & expose them. That continues today & is heartbreaking. I have no one. People don't even believe this because of how I look. Even many "professionals." It's so ignorant. I am very curious of what this is to be "called." I think I have CPTSD. But really I just wish to feel better. A lifetime of trying things. NOBODY knows how to help this stuff. Not really. I know I cannot be alone in my feelings. This business is not for sissies. Take good care of yourselves, everyone. ❤️

Difficult subject. Thank you, doctor. 🌹👍

I got diagnosed with AvPD, BPD, PTSD... CPTSD wouldn't cover the things i have... A "complex mess" diagnosis suits me better than just 1 thing.

I have C-PTSD and am working in therapy to treat it. I finally reached out for therapy when I stumbled across BPD and matched a lot of those symptoms. At the time I wasn't aware that cptsd was even a concept. I knew I had repeated trauma that I hadn't treated and while I matched ptsd symptoms, mild depression, and generalized anexity but neither matched what I was internalizing and not telling people. Thet didn't explain my responses to my triggers which is why when I came across borderline and that did explain a lot more if those symptoms I new I needed help. Then I came across cptsd and finally felt I was on the path to getting the help I desperately needed. My treatment plan follows a mix of treatment but really focus on emotionally regulation and dealing with my triggers in a healthy manner.

In a bit of a trigger Dr Grande. Will watch in a bit. Thank you!

Thanks for the insightful videos. 🤗

I honestly would have never thought of BPD first, I would think ADHD (distractability, emotional dysregulation), or Autism (for the same reasons) if CPTSD were to be a "simple" comorbid issue. I say that as someone with ADHD and on the spectrum, it's so so difficult to see when/what/why this or that. Real puzzle!

This was informative and gave me food for thought. I think you hit the nail on the head wrt the reason it's important to make the distinction being about what therapeutic modality might be most helpful.

Thanks Dr. Grande 🐾🌎🌺 you’re videos bring me clarity

Thank you Dr Grande, again, you have started a revelation, ( in a good way), we are so grateful, for in my opinion, you’re humility is your greatest asset, we love how you can laugh at yourself and and you are a truly the most balanced person on you tube when dealing with this community, I love your commentary on how some life coaches are prescribing the very personality traits they profess are the cause of the problem, this filters out of our minds the insidiousness of the damage narcissist can do, result. More healing 😊

Getting diagnosed with BPD was the most invalidating thing that happened to me. Some mental health professionals thought this diagnosis gave them the right to treat me like crap. I liked DBT therapy but I am glad I am no longer diagnosed with BPD. I have PTSD and would probably be diagnosed with C-PTSD if they had that diagnosis in the USA.

Have both bpd and cptsd. Thank you for your videos.

Thank you Dr. G, you nailed it down for me. My overwhelming fear of intimacy is about trust. Opening up and becoming vulnerable will lead to being severely hurt, which seems to fit with the Complex PTSD diagnosis. Now the proper healing can begin.

Thank you for this and your other videos surrounding CPTSD, I recently have been diagnosed with it, but still have overlap with BPD symptoms. I’m awaiting treatment, which will take a long time, but until I start, I am grateful for you explaining this to us and I can show people what it actually means when I tell them what is wrong with me

You are brilliant!

Excellent video.

As a counseling grad student pursuing med school, I find that 99% of your vids are relatively easy to follow. That being said, I believe creating a chart to show the similarities, differences, & overlap will allow viewers to get the most out of the content you’re sharing with us. Getting the correct diagnosis is vital in order to use the right interventions. In addition, there’s possibly different pathophysiological effects that later develop from the longitudinal effects of psychopathology

Exelent, very helpful! Thank you so much!

Thank you Dr Grande. I have been puzzling over this distinction for the last few months. I think I have a better handle on it now.

My daughter (now 19) confided a terrible rape by an adult man when 12. I advised her to go to the doctor’s for support as (obviously) this trauma has effected her emotionally. After 10 minutes with a GP he diagnosed ‘BPD’ which I was deeply uncomfortable with and felt it was C-PTSD thanks for confirming my thoughts.

I'm suing them for giving me a diagnosis that actively prevented me from being able to work and created a negative social stigma that prevented me from having much of a life at all. BPD isn't a diagnosis IMO It's an embarrassment and a punishment because it actually prevented people from hiring me. I didn't tell them I had anything wrong with me. It showed up in my work and I don't think it's part of BPD. I have a blood clot on my brain that causes Petit mal seizures and I discovered I was having them off and on, all day long. Every day. You don't GET relegated to the Outer Limits when you have cancer. They never want to talk about it but they don't look down on you if you say you have Ductal Breast Cancer. You can GET A JOB when you have DBC.

💛💜💛very informative and helpful💛💜💛thank you💛💜💛

I'm crying rn, Thank you, Im going to apply remedies for all three.

Frances Bernard here. What a good question and what seems to be a good answer depending on what kind of treatment is being offered. I once met a very nice second world war veteran already in his 80's in the year 2005 who was caring for a widow about his own age in a common law relationship. The only sign and symptom he had was admitting that he was up until I started caring for both of them in home care housekeeping afraid of telling anyone about what was truly going on around him while he was a soldier in the second world war because of possible cold war repercussions. Who knows why he never married in a traditional way, why he never had any biological children of his own, or why he felt afraid of being targeted again for so long. He did say that having a very slight build for a man while being taller than average too [over 6 ft. tall at only around 170 pounds which was very problematic while being a soldier].

Thank you so much for this video! I am seeing a therapist, but where i live mental health isn’t really talked about and my therapist doesnt even know what cptsd is. She is almost 100% sure that i don’t have BPD though, and after watching this video I’ve finally understood why she thinks so. Thank you so much.

Thank you for the great video! It would be interesting for you to look up and talk about Kip Kinkel.

Thank you Dr Grande, this helps me to accept my diagnosis of cptsd a little more. I have been worried about accuracy and effectiveness since starting therapy, but I don't even really know why except to say generally that I have a hard time trusting others. This video helps me calm down a little and see that I am in good and knowledgeable hands. Would you ever care to make a video on EMDR treatment? That's what I'm doing now (although we haven't gotten to the tough stuff yet), and I've heard people either sing it's praise or completely disparage it. I would love to hear more about what supports or doesn't support it as an effective treatment. Thank you Dr Grande

Thanks for covering this topic. I am fascinated by you're psychology videos. Tonight ther theme is PTSD.

Dr Grande, I can't get over the amount of content you have regarding comorbidity and disorders. I have more disorders or traits personally as well as with my partner than I can list. You mention my exact overlap all the time. I'm sure that's not unique to my weird situation, since only one disorder is rare

Thank you for this. My psychiatrist and I are looking at CPTSD as a diagnosis and it seems to fit. I find it annoying when my trauma symptoms are misconstrued as a more severe, inborn sort of instability. I don't really identify with the negative self image part but emotional dysregulation more and more seems to be a relevant issue. Also frequent bad dreams that are not in any clear way a reflection of my experience but seem to represent free floating fear and anxiety. I think childhood traumas and traumatic relationships in adulthood have led to CPTSD in my case.

Dr.G you're wearing a different color today. I like it. Love the video. Happy Tuesday! 😊

From all of my research, as my husband has DID, and strong BPD traits (his therapist won't DX him), I conclude that this is a trauma spectrum that starts with PTSD and ends with DID due to the nature in which each disorder starts with the same base traits, but then move on along a scale with new traits added on. So, PTSD, CPTSD, BPD then DID. I honestly would love to see the DSM be revised to reflect this by putting them all under 1 name trauma umbrella, but providing sub types to distinguish. Much like how Autism and related disorders were reclassified under 1 DX in the DSM-V .

As an older person with CPTSD one thing that I think is relevant to concider is how the expression of CPTSD (at least in my case) has changed over time. I can imagine as I child I would have been diagnosed with a severe anxiety disorder or panic disorder, I went through a phase in adolescence where I had suicidal depression (that I never physically acted on), as an adult I have been diagnosed with autoimmune diseases and it was speculated that all of those problems are somatic, and my sleep disturbances and sleep walking could have been diagnosed as a sleep disorder, there was a point that I was so numb and had no sense of self and have such people pleasing behaviour, I could have been diagnosed with with NPD or who knows what... I think what is most important is to be able to listen to the individual and not just one symptom experienced at one time in one isolated circumstance.

I often think that when people say that only 80 percent of people who have bpd had something traumatic early in there life I feel that it's just the people who admit to there child hood trauma so really I feel like really everyone who has the disorder has either witnessed a trauma early in life or were a strait up victim of that trauma I feel like the ones with the problems saying that they haven't I feel as though they accually have but either they just can't remember the event or maybe do remember but don't think it's a trauma or maybe they have been through one but maybe there hiding it to try to avoid thinking of it or try to pretend like it never happened at all or mabbey they'll be to scared to admit to the trauma like Mabey there afraid that if they tell anyone about the abuse or whatever they maybe afraid that the perp may come after them or afraid that that there going to just be ignored when they tell them about the trauma

Thank you. I found that extremely helpful. I'm trying to determine what I can do that will help me. I find the psychiatrists too focused on drug therapy and therapists too caught up in repetitive telling of traumatic experiences. Neither has helped me at all. Understanding the different responses to trauma, my behaviors, and strategies to retrain my brain's reactions to stress and anxiety to be the most helpful.

Thank you 🙏

I'm not sure how up to date this video is with the personality disorder research. BPD appears to be extremely highly correlated with the general factor of personality disorder - the common denominator between personality disorders. Research (not exclusively done by people invested in the trauma perspective) suggests that high comorbidities of disorders during adolescence/childhood disrupts personality development. So, it seems quite clear to dimensional understandings of personality disorders that c-ptsd is when a personality becomes disordered from chronic, persistent trauma. The name Posttraumatic Personality Disorder was offered in 2006, which I think is a better descriptor. C-PTSD always was supposed to be a replacement of BPD, but trauma didn't explain enough of BPD cases for C-PTSD to take the crown. Basically, BPD is a crappy name that no one likes, but C-PTSD didn't properly explain it. The developers of C-PTSD invested so much into the idea that they started changing the idea of the term to capture varying levels of trauma based personality disruption. This makes sense, because there are parts of BPD that don't match everyone with C-PTSD. While C-PTSD might have made more sense in the soon-to-be-defunct categorical paradigm of psychopathology, the dimensional paradigm of psychopathology and perspective of personality disorders captures those differences, and perhaps better. Still, C-PTSD is more palatable because it sounds like something that happened to somebody and not a character flaw, but this implies character flaws being a part of personality disorders, which is a misconception. It means that your personality has been disordered. In C-PTSD your personality has essentially to become disordered to various degrees by trauma (on top of otherwise the same vulnerabilities as personality disorders). It seems to me that at some point in the future we will return to something like the idea of Axis I and Axis II disorders and personality disorders (Axis II) will be largely defined by the comorbid disorders of someone's adolescence (Axis I). A person might have a diagnosis something like: Avoidant personality disorder, Mild deficit in personality functioning, Trauma and depression etiological specifiers.

Would you be able to talk about the comorbidity of CPTSD and BPD? Most of the info on these two disorders are either-or and I'm curious about the comorbidity of CPTSD and BPD

I've been diagnosed with CPTSD but I have often wondered about BPD as well. I've also had concerns about DID due to a "break" I had after some serious trauma that involved amnesia and a strong feeling of different personality states that were well defined. I've not seen much about CPTSD regarding the effects on personality instability. While I do often have a very low self image most of the time - I've been working on this, I've had experiences in other personality states that don't reflect this at all (except I can barely remember them now as an experience, but more like someone I sort of used to know or a character I made up even). To be honest, it's all very confusing. I do worry that with DID I've manipulated myself into believing I have it - and thus my psychologist - the further I get away from the point in my life whereby all of the "personalities" were very present and I could actually hear them arguing in my mind, (I was told these were pseudo hallicinations, since I knew they weren't in the outside world). I consider this in one of two ways; yes it was DID presenting, or no it wasn't and was instead a very interesting way of my very intense, very conflicting emotions expressing themselves. However, considering the existence of OSDD-1 and 2, the two arn't necessarily mutually exclusive.

As Pete Walker, the author of "From Surviving to Thriving" writes (going to have to paraphrase here), "As one notable psychological scholar has quipped that if C-PTSD were given it's due, the DSM would shrink from the size of a large dictionary to a small pamphlet". C-PTSD, is the umbrella....symptoms include, arguably (depending on the individual), every anxiety disorder, mood disorder, personality disorder, as the good Doc pointed out, it's more correlated with PPD, APD (and I'm certain we'll get high correlations with high functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders, Schizoid and Schizotypal, etc.and all addictions( Gabor Mate-"Don't ask why the addiction, ask why the pain") than Borderline. In sad reality, these really are reorderings...great adjustments to need to tolerate the humanness and lack of consciousness which is so pervasive here in the west. How do we treat it? Seems ISTSS (International Society for Traumatic Stress ___" has put out a "phased protocol", as it's been made clear neurologically and anatomically that the varied reorderings are all remedied (as can be the case) by replacement neuroplasticity which starts with safety, because I'll bet that in fMRI's/Diagnosis examination for correlations, which have been done (Dr.'s Dan Siegal, Alan Schore, Bruce Perry, etc.) for ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) Scores, showing clear changes in the brain, correlations to every friggin' disorder, including psychosis. I respect you good Doctor, and appreciate all of the information you share, along with your voice, intonation and clarity. This is some complicated (thus complex stuff), and all of this reductionism is getting quite ridiculous because if Childhood Trauma is the real issue, and I believe that it is, in every "personality" disorder, it means that the person adjusted, quite well to craziness. We've all been neglected, emotionally, by emotionally neglegent people who were neglected. Now, I too carry that on my shoulders, as I'm sure many of us do. But since the DSM hasn't accepted C-PTSD, insurance companies aren't covering, because it's long and hard to heal and will be "depressing" at times, and we have to work through that, rather than medicate it away because it's how trauma heals. BPD, C-PTSD?? I'm sure that aside from the the 3 additional criteria addition, they'll by psychometric in play, but no time soon. I have rambled. I have been diagnosed with C-PTSD, after diligent self and formal education, It, for me, feels like the Newtonians must've felt when Quantum Physics "came on the scene". You see how we're trimming the hedges, (trying to), when the root of the weed and what does society want to do about that? Because the Mellenials have my generation's (mine, personally, as well as collectively) unconscious to deal with. Maybe "Millenlial" will one day be a personality disorder, but certainly, only for a very short time!

Thank you for the very educational video, things really make sence now, it took my stepmom a little more than 2 years to kill my mother to get full control over me as a 10 year old child, by using very many types of abusive most emotional/mental forms of abuse, she created a scapegoat out of me, or a servant for the rest of my stepfamilies life, when I became 18 and had a large sum of money they used it for my stepmoms education as pedagogue to cover several murders and by then I had a light form of cptsd, but later in life when married to a pedagogue, choosen by my stepmom, I was severely damaged by a lot of emotional and mental abuse including financial abuse and getting poisened, but awoided most of it, after divorce I got diagnosed with skizofrenia in the psychiatry, but I know today by all the educational videos, that it's and was cptsd, but by reading and watching all the educational videos, it's possible to get behind all the abuse and make a real good explanation, why it developed and how to handle it. Thank you Dr. Grande 👍😎

Thank you so much for this video. Could you please elaborate more on the differences in regard to impulsivity and substance use between C-PTSD vs BPD

I think the symptoms overlap between BPD and CPTSD and they might even be caused by similar trauma experiences, but in my opinion (untrained layman with CPTSD), CPTSD behaviors can be severely lessened with trauma treatment. BPD seems more like a lifelong struggle with persistent behaviors and symptoms. As far as self harm, I often wished I could die (especially before I got treatment), but I never did any self harm.

It is confusing. I'm diagnosed with bpd and ptsd, but cptsd isn't diagnosable in my country, though I would likely meet the criteria for cptsd as well, especially with the overlap between cptsd and my bpd/ptsd. I don't doubt it's possible to have all 3.

I would argue BPD is CPTSD with an added element of narcissism, narcissistic coping mechanisms inherited through trauma that is. BPD has idealization and devaluation which is quite distinct. Avoidance of self acceptance through self destructive behaviors and substances is also characteristic of narcissism.

I was in a emotionally , physically , verbally abusive marriage at age 25-to age 34. I was in a constant state of high stress/ anxiety. After about 5 times trying, I finally left the marriage, but I was still in Constant fear that he would show up and kill me. I had restraining orders for myself & our kids, but the fear was constant. Long story short .. he ended up dying a year or so later from his alcoholism/ drug use. I am 50 years old now. I am on medication for anxiety / depression. I have gained so much insight from your channel , I am no wondering if I may have complex PTSD? I struggle when I am in a relationship w a man. I freak out easily emotionally when we have an argument, and his voice raises . I can have anger outburst, then I feel like I gotta get out of there ! I always end up running away., so amped up I feel as if my heart is gonna pop out of my chest! I feel as if I’m going to die 😑I run to my car n drive away or run to a room n lock myself in :( I have been watching your videos on BPD& CPTSD. I think I may be both? What disorder would this type of trauma more commonly cause?

I know someone who's mom would scare them when she was an infant so that the mom could see the baby get scared and the baby would reach out her arms and legs and have a terrified look on her face. The mom thought that was very funny so much so that the mother to this day says, "I probably shouldn't laugh but when she was a baby I would scare her and she would make the funniest expression." So that kind of mother can do the kind of damage that leads to CPTSD it seems?

It matters, you easily get treated wrong and even mistreated, if ppl think you have the "classical" BPD. I had the BPD diagnosis, because I had a problem with self-harm. They said to me this is the main reason. Many years later, it turned out wrong and all the therapies didn't really help. I even got retraumatized. Now I have a good therapist and made great progress in just one year, the therapy concept is clearly different. It's just sad to see, that a lot of other ppl in my situation made similar experiences. Fortunately the concepts of how to treat ptsd and cptsd got more precisely and better within the last 10 years. For example: you don't have to "talk everything through". I remember how my first therapist said, it is necessary to do so, a lot of therapists thought that.

So what is your opinion on the relation of BPD DID and CPTSD. CPTSD is a strong factor in DID. But DID is often confused with BPD. I was just wondering if you could clear that up for me. I know it's all not really looked that much into. Or at least not from what I've seen. I guess a lot of these disorders tend to have other baggage and that tends to be another disorder. :/

thankyou dr todd

I have PTSD due to my military service going to Iran, there are noises that set me off. I'm wondering can you do a video on night terrors? I get those two or three times a week and I'm on medication for that I also have a therapy cat vet well be there for me when I come down from a night terror which can take hours and be interesting to hear your take on this subject

In Australia they cluster PTSD together with BPD & call it CPTSD. And my partner was told the only treatment for this is therapy sessions.

I was the emotional support child in my family. I have been diagnosed with CPTSD due to may many years of grooming and sexual assault as a child. I also have been diagnosed with ADHD and ASD. I have met people diagnosed with BPD and thought is was lazy psych work. You have given ne a better understanding of those in me life with BPD

I was diagnosed with PTSD, Major Depression, BPD and mood disorder NOS but the BPD diagnosis wasn’t agreed upon by other psychiatrists I worked with. A social worker friend told me she thought I might have cptsd instead also. Now my therapist believes I just have social anxiety disorder since my PTSD symptoms have lessened and idk what happened to the MD diagnosis and she doesn’t see BPD either so who knows. It’s frustrating when you’re told different things by different mental health professionals, they can’t seem to agree with each other. I see more of the cptsd in myself rather than the BPD also though.

I was raised in a horrific household, severe abuse from parents, severe isolation used as punishment, I was also “homeschooled” so I couldn’t report the abuse. I also experienced chronic homelessness as a child and then was finally taken away by the state when I ran away at 15. I was originally diagnosed with depression and anxiety in 2001 when I was 16. I continued to have issues as I got older, I married a special forces guy and the depression and anxiety and nightmares didn’t go away. The relationship was abusive from the start but I didn’t see it coming, it just looked normal to me. In 2009 When I was 24 I went to Vocational Rehab for help because I wanted a future. They diagnosed me with PTSD, Depression, anxiety and BPD. This diagnosis never actually fit, I didn’t devalue my partners they did very abusive things that scared me and I had to leave with my children because it wasn’t safe. Not that I didn’t have maladaptive behaviors. Finally in 2019 when I had a PTSD episode that put me in the hospital and was diagnosed with CPTSD, since then I’ve really gotten into CBT and it’s helped so much 🙌 My deep trust issues come from serious childhood abuse and not being able to actually trust the people around me and I was not allowed to develop relationships outside of the family. It’s hard to imagine everyone isn’t like the people I encountered early in life. Once I started to address the severe domestic violence I experienced throughout my childhood I started to heal.

I’ve been thinking about this question (are BPD and C-PTSD distinct) for a long time. I think you make a good argument here. I also think it’s the case that many people, women in particular, who actually have C-PTSD are misdiagnosed as having BPD, and this results in them not getting any appropriate treatment. (And getting a sticky, stigmatizing diagnosis instead.)

This is really interesting. On a related note, do you think you could address the debate about a dissociative subtype of BPD? I've also heard some people argue that BPD should be considered a dissociative disorder outright. Also, that shirt is a good color for you. You should wear navy more often!

Once again I think this is a bit different in Finland. My SCID 1&2 examination revealed severe ptsd(complex, but as it's not an official diagnosis it's just calles ptsd) and no indication of BPD at all. So to me it sounds like it's very easy to distinguish between these two phenomena. Of course it could be that my case is just particularly clear. But at least it proves that they are indeed different things.

Thanks so much for this video! I’ve had so many conversations with peers and therapists around the overlap and distinctions. I’m new here so forgive me if you’ve answered this before. But it’s another feature that’s relevant to me personally. I have complex ptsd comorbid with a dissociative disorder (ddos in the dsm.) Many folks in my life are BPD and I’ve noticed they often have dissociative symptoms around their personality disorder. But their experiences seem not to warrant a dissociative diagnosis in its own right. While my history does. I would love to hear any insight you may have around this. I’m aware it’s likely highly complicated to answer on such a platform and I’m not asking a simple question that’s easily answered.

When I was six years old my stepmother left me in a doorway with a note saying not wanted...

I have cptsd and bipolar 1 from a mother with npd.

Great explaination of C-PTSD. I'm trying to survive it. I saw someone mention night terrors in the comments. I get both night terrors AND sleep paralysis attacks. I was wondering if you could discuss these two sleeping disorders, & perhaps compare & contrast them?

This will be interesting as I have been dx at 40ish with both

I'd think the variability on the individuals personality and experience would indeed cause different manifestations, but that common theme of trauma and its various results is usually there as you said repeated is more typical of BPD and CPTSD (not in our manual indeed), I have seen therapists reccommend DBT for CPTSD. Richard Grannons channel always uses term CPTSD and he at same time said if tested for BPD, would have met all 9 earlier in life.

i have cptsd, was diagnozed first with GAD than it was major depressive and only after a year, my doctor ( a new one) diagnosed me with ptsd and since than things have been a lot better for me, the therapy and medications do help.

thank you so much for yet another interesting video! in your opinion, in what ways could comorbid adhd and cptsd misdiagnosed?

Excellent comparison, thank you so much. Idk why I reacted so adversely when watching it for the first time. 🦆

Dang this was very helpful. I’m certain my ex has BPD yet fear it’s a CPTSD diagnosis. What I dont understand is how patients can fool their therapists for yrs. There has to be red flags along the way that therapists are not fact checking or going down those avenues. 4 yrs of therapy couldn’t save my family.

what exactly constitutes frantic efforts to avoid abandonment? What if you have cptsd from being abandoned/betrayed - would it not make sense that for those people, abandonment would be a severe trigger? why does that specific trauma get lumped into BPD as opposed to CPTSD?

There can be similarities if you read about it in the DSM or academically but I think manifest very differently in interpersonal relationships, depending esp on the subtype of BPD and depending on if there's comorbidity of C-PTSD and something else. Like past first impressions vs. with time seeing the manifestations. I think the problem also lies in C-PTSD being a newer concept and diagnosis that we need to try to view the symptoms through a new lens instead of the residual ways of how they were seen previously.

Exactly differences when triggered & emotional expression. Lots of traumas over a lifetime.

As an Aspie, you strike me as a little Aspergian yourself Dr. Grande. Any chance of that?

Could you do a video on C-PTSD comorbid with Aspergers and OCD.

Can you do more videos on social anxiety?