Simplifying Complex PTSD: Definition, Measurement and Clinical Utility

Description

Presenter: Dr. Marylene Cloitre is the Associate Director of Research of the National Center for PTSD Dissemination and Training Division at the Palo Alto VA Health Care Services and Clinical Professor (affiliate) of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. Her research and clinical work for the past 20 years has focused on the long-term effects of chronic trauma on social and emotional functioning. She is past-president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ISTSS) and was a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) ICD-11 working group on trauma-spectrum disorders. Overview: The credibility of the Complex PTSD diagnoses as recently proposed for the ICD-11 is supported by a growing empirical literature that includes the presence of distinct populations in adults, adolescents, and children that manifest Complex PTSD as compared to PTSD symptom profiles. Complex PTSD populations are now known to be distinct from Borderline Personality Disorder populations with contrasting clinical features. The development of valid and reliable measurement of Complex PTSD is advancing. Objectives: (1) Describe the differences between the ICD-11 definition of PTSD versus Complex PTSD. (2) Describe the types of trauma that create risk for Complex PTSD as compared to PTSD. (3) Recognize differences between Complex PTSD and Borderline Personality Disorder presentations.