A developmental approach to complex PTSD: Childhood and adult cumulative trauma as predictors of symptom complexity

TLDR

Exposure to multiple traumas, especially in childhood, is thought to produce a complex of PTSD symptoms that includes self‑regulatory disturbances. The study examined how accumulated exposure to diverse traumatic events relates to the total number of symptom types (symptom complexity) in adult (N = 582) and child (N = 152) clinical samples. Childhood cumulative trauma predicts greater symptom complexity in both adults and children, showing that complex PTSD symptoms arise in a rule‑governed way and that early trauma strongly shapes adult symptomatology.

Abstract

Exposure to multiple traumas, particularly in childhood, has been proposed to result in a complex of symptoms that includes posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as a constrained, but variable group of symptoms that highlight self-regulatory disturbances. The relationship between accumulated exposure to different types of traumatic events and total number of different types of symptoms (symptom complexity) was assessed in an adult clinical sample (N = 582) and a child clinical sample (N = 152). Childhood cumulative trauma but not adulthood trauma predicted increasing symptom complexity in adults. Cumulative trauma predicted increasing symptom complexity in the child sample. Results suggest that Complex PTSD symptoms occur in both adult and child samples in a principled, rule-governed way and that childhood experiences significantly influenced adult symptoms.