Is there a link between Complex PTSD and Autism

[Juliettaa]

@Fitzo - I can identify with what you've written. I have been diagnosed with C-PTSD due to sustained childhood physical, emotional and mental abuse from both parents.

I've often thought that me being autistic 'saved' me from what so many C-PTSD survivors do to cope such as self medicating with alcohol and/or drugs. I've always felt that my rigid behaviour and need for control would not allow me to fall into a spiral of self destruct with alcohol and drugs.

For decades I completely disassociated myself from the trauma. My nightmares were so graphic and frightening but I would not allow those memories to surface while I was awake. Control, dissociation and suppression were my destructive coping mechanisms. Post prolonged therapy and no contact with my narc mother, I no longer have nightmares.

I feel for you @Fitzo as childhood trauma is deeply painful and the negative effects are lifelong. I often wish I could die and wake up belonging to a different set of parents, parents who would care about me; but that's totally unrealistic, so I just make the best of what I have and if that means being away from a toxic family, so be it. After all, no family is better than a toxic one.

I'll stop here and not ramble on about my circumstances, but I just want to say that you don't have to remain in contact with your mother. The most powerful feeling is the power of saying 'NO'

 

[Adora]

I have been diagnosed with both Aspergers and C-PTSD and I grew up in a rather abusive household,My dad was a severe alcoholic and was very verbally and emotionally abusive towards me,I did notice that my father’s abusive behaviour got worse when I hit puberty and while he was abusive towards me before puberty it was like the minute I hit 13 he became even more abusive.

The things I remember him saying was that it’s my fault for the families problems to telling me that I have nothing going for me and he also use to attack me for my weight and appearance even though I wasn’t obese.

He use to also put down my special interests and also call me a nerd or a geek,but sadly he wasn’t the only one abusing me I also was badly bullied at school and my dad even said to me that I deserved to be bullied.

I also dealt with some trauma beyond my school years and I have been taken advantage of in a way no one should have to deal with and what made it worse is that no one believed it happened and even now I still struggle to talk about it.

I am very hypervigilant now and I have periods where I will have nightmares where my husband has sometimes had to wake me up because I was screaming or crying,I still get triggered if something reminds me of my past and even now I am afraid of schools because they make feel how I felt when I got bullied.

C-PTSD also makes you feel like you are never safe and always on guard so I haven’t been able to relax for a long time.

Sorry for such a long post but this is how C-PTSD has affected my life and I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

 

[Mary Lyn]

I've often thought that me being autistic 'saved' me from what so many C-PTSD survivors do to cope such as self medicating with alcohol and/or drugs. I've always felt that my rigid behaviour and need for control would not allow me to fall into a spiral of self destruct with alcohol and drugs.

^^^^^^ YES!

 

[Fitzo]

@Fitzo - I can identify with what you've written. I have been diagnosed with C-PTSD due to sustained childhood physical, emotional and mental abuse from both parents.

I've often thought that me being autistic 'saved' me from what so many C-PTSD survivors do to cope such as self medicating with alcohol and/or drugs. I've always felt that my rigid behaviour and need for control would not allow me to fall into a spiral of self destruct with alcohol and drugs.

For decades I completely disassociated myself from the trauma. My nightmares were so graphic and frightening but I would not allow those memories to surface while I was awake. Control, dissociation and suppression were my destructive coping mechanisms. Post prolonged therapy and no contact with my narc mother, I no longer have nightmares.

I feel for you @Fitzo as childhood trauma is deeply painful and the negative effects are lifelong. I often wish I could die and wake up belonging to a different set of parents, parents who would care about me; but that's totally unrealistic, so I just make the best of what I have and if that means being away from a toxic family, so be it. After all, no family is better than a toxic one.

I'll stop here and not ramble on about my circumstances, but I just want to say that you don't have to remain in contact with your mother. The most powerful feeling is the power of saying 'NO'

There have been times when I have self medicated with drugs and alcohol, but like you I need to feel in control so it was never to a serious extent or for a prolonged period.

I truly wish I could have no contact with my mother, but she is nearly 95 and I have recently had to find her a nursing home and attend to all the financial, physical and medical requirements that entails. Many of these are ongoing and there is no one else to do it. She may be a narcissist, but she is also old and frail and unable to deal with these things herself. I keep my visits to an absolute minimum and if she starts on me I just walk out, but no contact at all is not possible.
On the other hand my golden child brother, who I believe is also a narcissist is now on my no contact list. But it is never easy to just cut yourself off from your only family. I feel isolated enough already.
There is no way to know how much longer she will be around but she has an incredibly strong will and there is no end in sight at this point in time.

 

[Juliettaa]

I keep my visits to an absolute minimum and if she starts on me I just walk out,

That's good to know @Fitzo. Hopefully once she's settled into the nursing home, you can reduce contact even more.

But it is never easy to just cut yourself off from your only family. I feel isolated enough already.

No contact definitely isn't an easy option. I can testify to that. But for so many people it's the only way.

Low contact, for me, would have kept me in the FOG state - Fear, Obligation, Guilt.

 

[Mary Lyn]

@Fitzo

Low contact is sometimes the only option. You have the ability to just leave the conversation when it is too much and that is good. Sometimes we have left it too late and leaving them old and frail is not possible and can cause extreme levels of guilt after they are gone.

I can't believe how many of us are in the same boat.

 

[Fitzo]

@Fitzo

Low contact is sometimes the only option. You have the ability to just leave the conversation when it is too much and that is good. Sometimes we have left it too late and leaving them old and frail is not possible and can cause extreme levels of guilt after they are gone.

I can't believe how many of us are in the same boat.

If I had realised what I was dealing with 20 or 30 years ago I would have walked away then, but I only became aware about 5 years ago. It was just too late when she was nearly 90.
But I agree that no contact is the best option if at all possible.

 

[Mary Lyn]

If I had realised what I was dealing with 20 or 30 years ago I would have walked away then, but I only became aware about 5 years ago. It was just too late when she was nearly 90.
But I agree that no contact is the best option if at all possible.

When my mother was still alive, I did not know she was narcissitic. I did not want to see her but did because I did not want to shame her with the rest of the family. My healing would have begun a lot sooner had it cut contact.

 

[Autistamatic]

If you simply type "autism and PTSD" into a search engine you will find numerous conversations and scholarly articles to read.

Are they linked? Yes & no. One cannot cause the other but they can often exist side by side. In addition since PTSD & cPTSD can cause (temporary but prolonged) changes in behaviour which make the sufferer seem autistic-like in their demeanour and communication, there are instances when PTSD is incorrectly self or medically diagnosed. It is one of the reasons why diagnosis should not be frivolously disregarded and why autism diagnosis should always be conducted by a specialist in the field.

One can self-diagnose as autistic due to commonalities in experience, behaviour and outlook and thereby miss the true problem of PTSD/cPTSD caused by severe trauma which could, with adequate attention, be ameliorated or even remedied.

All that said - there is an acknowledged higher incidence of mental illness in autistic people including PTSD. There is much debate as to whether this is biological in cause, or social. Many academics & researchers are postulating that there may be little or no neural or biological link between autism & co-occurring stress related illnesses. The link, they suggest, is predominantly social and is related to the increased stress and pressure almost all autistic people are subjected to in modern society, even without diagnosis or identification.

 

[Aspychata]

This is an extremely difficult thread for me, l am so old and yet l am still haunted by my childhood, as many others are at this forum. This led me to poor decision choices in relationships which l have paid for emotionally, financially. But at least l can tie it altogether in cause and effect statement. But l am still in denial about my narcissistic mother, and my horrible step-father. Later in my life, people would approach me and tell me they were shocked at how l was treated, which is hard to process especially if you did such a great job of giving that part of your life a permanent burial data cloud. Coping, hoping for everyone here to hold a special place for themselves and to feel better today .

 

[Fitzo]

This is an extremely difficult thread for me, l am so old and yet l am still haunted by my childhood, as many others are at this forum. This led me to poor decision choices in relationships which l have paid for emotionally, financially. But at least l can tie it altogether in cause and effect statement. But l am still in denial about my narcissistic mother, and my horrible step-father. Later in my life, people would approach me and tell me they were shocked at how l was treated, which is hard to process especially if you did such a great job of giving that part of your life a permanent burial data cloud. Coping, hoping for everyone here to hold a special place for themselves and to feel better today .

I try not to dwell on it but my life is also littered with bad relationship choices and lost friendships. As well as projects I had to abandon when the stress became too intense. Sometimes it's hard not to feel cheated.
I just hope I can learn some healing techniques and salvage something before it's too late. I just don't know if it's possible while my mother is still alive.

 

[Aspychata]

Your mother can no longer harm you. Only you can free yourself or stay in the same pattern of feelings and thoughts. My ex said that it is called riding the mule, we ride around on the same track because it's familarity turns into our mule on it's track. l broke the mules back, it was scary, but l have no repercussions. We control our thought process, our thought process has no control, you and l are the programmers, we write the code. Try changing the instructions, subsitute different thoughts, refuse to ride the mule so that you can open the door to a different life for you.

 

[Aspychata]

l fall down now and then, but l don't hit the floor with the same intensity, and l get back up and embrace myself.

 

[Streetwise]

I try not to dwell on it but my life is also littered with bad relationship choices and lost friendships. As well as projects I had to abandon when the stress became too intense. Sometimes it's hard not to feel cheated.
I just hope I can learn some healing techniques and salvage something before it's too late. I just don't know if it's possible while my mother is still alive.

go to the place in your mind that you don't like to visit Think how quickly will I become accustomed to the change when I have cut off contact i've started thinking in single words and then try not to avoid the feeling that comes after them instead of just constantly concentrating and relying (really on logic )on words

 

[Pats]

I kind of think there's a high number of CPTSD with autism because people on the spectrum are such easy targets for abuse in one form or another.

 

[Fitzo]

Your mother can no longer harm you. Only you can free yourself or stay in the same pattern of feelings and thoughts. My ex said that it is called riding the mule, we ride around on the same track because it's familarity turns into our mule on it's track. l broke the mules back, it was scary, but l have no repercussions. We control our thought process, our thought process has no control, you and l are the programmers, we write the code. Try changing the instructions, subsitute different thoughts, refuse to ride the mule so that you can open the door to a different life for you.

The problem is that my mother CAN and does still hurt me. Just when I think there's nothing else she can say, she finds something new. This just immediately plunges me back into past experiences and trauma. My stomach churns just at the thought of seeing her because I never know what's coming. If she was suddenly struck dumb I'd be fine!
And bizarrely if we do get through a visit without any acrimony, I immediately start to feel much better.
It's almost as if a part of me is still a little kid waiting for her to start behaving like a proper mother. IDK.

 

[Aspychata]

l am truly sorry, but we give that power to people, we can take that power away. I know my mother will say something insenstive, and hurtful, but l kinda of expect it, so l have already reduce her down and her "noise". That is the whole point of her narcissism, to reduce you down , that's why they say no contact with this particular pathology. If l could, l would show up and say, you know l was so expecting you to say that, that is so very typical, thank god, l place no importance on verbal diarrhea spews from your mouth, is your head going to spin around like 10 times?Like that movie, Linda Blair? Wait can l cam this for youtube? Hey, good luck, we are in your corner. Please feel strong, maybe bring someone to soak up that toxic crap, and help you.

 

[Aspychata]

Truly, she was never a mother, pretty much like my mom. l gave up on that mother "crap" along time ago. My so called mother is clueless about that.

 

[mw2530]

I think the main difference between PTSD and C-PTSD is that PTSD usually relates to one major trauma (or experience such as war) which is sustained as an adult and usually shows itself relatively quickly afterward. C-PTSD usually occurred in early childhood which actually shaped and changed your neurology. Therefore there is certainly an overlap in symptoms but things like shame or guilt, thinking that it may be your own fault, difficulty with concentration and dissociation as well lifelong feelings of being different to others are more likely with C-PTSD. Flashbacks are also more likely to be 'emotional' memories rather than actual memories of traumatic events. These things often do lead to being marginalised and bullied which is fuelling further trauma.

That makes sense. For me then, I believe I have experienced C-PTSD throughout my life. I feel like there is much more awareness around PTSD and media coverage but C-PTSD is not discussed much.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

I think if you have autism, you are more easily overwhelmed, so maybe you can get ptsd easier??

But that's just my guess