What is the Current State of Psychological Interventions for Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), and How Does This Affect Help Seeking Behaviours?

PhD (full time)

Start date: 02/10/2023

Director of Studies: Professor Andy Guppy

Second supervisor: Professor Ann Weatherall

Summary:

Since traditional PTSD was established, research has put forward several additional symptoms in terms of PTSD and proposed that this can best be described as C-PTSD (WHO, 2018). Professionals over the years have argued over the differences in both disorders, and to understand what these differences are and what they mean for assessing and treating individuals who have had traumatic experiences (Brewin, 2019).

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Health Disorders (DSM-IV) recognise PTSD and C-PTSD as the same disorder with no distinct differences (APA, 2013), whereas the International Classification of Disease (ICD-11) recognises that PTSD and C-PTSD are two separate disorders based on three additional symptoms (WHO, 2018). However, the National Health Service (NHS)will not be introducing the ICD-11 until 2026, this means that those experiencing C-PTSD are not receiving effective treatment for their symptoms and continue to receive treatment for traditional PTSD symptoms (NHS, 2023).

Health professionals and individuals with symptoms of C-PTSD will be interviewed to gage their experiences of the interventions offered thus far and how well these interventions work. This will provide raw experiential data that will contribute to the research into CPTSD which has declined somewhat over the years (Lewis, et al, 2021), whilst recommending future guidelines in preparation for the introduction of the ICD-11 in health care settings.

Contact: ashleigh.fraser@study.beds.ac.uk