Complex PTSD
From Surviving to Thriving
by Pete Walker · first published 2013
88% recommend12% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Explores how childhood trauma and emotional neglect shape adult reactions, for readers who suspect their upbringing still drives their behavior. It helps readers recover and parent differently.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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Some recent books that really enriched my life: - "Ace: What asexuality reveals about desire, society, and the meaning of sex" by Angela Chen. Really helped me understand my ace friends better. - "Complex PTSD: From surviving to thriving" by Pete Walker. Helped me recover from a lot of trauma that was causing me duress - "The Wizard and the Prophet" by Charles C. Mann. Helped me recover from anxiety disorder…
on “Ask HN: Any interesting books you have read lately?” ↗…resources that have helped me: - after many failed attempts doing CBT and mindfulness based therapy, doing psychodynamic psychotherapy with a therapist who takes relationships and trauma seriously - "Complex PTSD: From surviving to Thriving" (Pete Walker) - "The Tao of Fully Feeling" (Pete Walker) - "Treating Adult Survivors of Emotional Abuse and Neglect" (Hopper/Grossman/Spinazzola/Zucker) - "Adult children…
on “Childhood Adversity Linked to Earlier Puberty, Premature Brain Development” ↗…ways that does nothing but isolate you in harmful ways if you don't get a grip on it. For anyone else who this speaks to, I'd recommend reading this book: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20556323-complex-ptsd I just finished it a week or two ago and it was amazing.
on “Post-traumatic stress disorder may mimic autism in some children” ↗…and are being done and are finding evidence of somatization; when you aren't raised right your brain physically doesn't develop properly. Pick up a copy of the body keeps the score by Van der Kolk, and Complex PTSD from Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker. Your wife undoubtedly has gastrointestinal issues from her situation and you have your issues (likely over-resorting to fight, flight freeze or fawn responses),…
on “Exceptionally gifted children: long-term outcomes of acceleration (2006) [pdf]” ↗Look into the book "Complex Ptsd: From Surviving to Thriving" by Pete Walker. I reckon you have a background that wasn't kind to you. I would also add limit media consumption (tv, radio, newspapers, social media, etc). Gotta find…
on “Ask HN: How do you manage or avoid meltdowns?” ↗…trained to constantly pay attention to everything, all the time. Which is one way to look at ADD. If you want to research this more, look up: * Adult children of alcoholics and dysfunctional families * Complex PTSD by Pete Walker * Patrick Teahan videos on YouTube
on “Ask HN: I have diagnosed ADHD and cannot work with Slack anymore. Advice?” ↗…to past traumatic events and emotional trauma. It tries to help you avoid doing something that hurt you in the past, like a legacy broken failsafe mechanism. Possible root causes might include: - Complex PTSD [0][1] - Childhood emotional neglect [2] - Traumatic stress [3] - Style of your upbringing and some other issues from the past, including learned responses to life stresses [4] Sources referenced…
on “Telling your inner critic to chill” ↗…people's comments here about therapy, a big benefit to me. I've always seen it as something with no stigma - you are just adding tools to your mental toolbelt. There is a good book by Pete Walker on complex PTSD; it may be worth a buy to see if it sounds familiar to you. I also would suggest to you this: one of the best slogans I've ever heard is that we don't see other people's films, we see their highlight…
on “Ask HN: Struggling with poor memory and executive function. What to do?” ↗This book also changed my life in immeasurable ways and set me on a journey to recover from trauma: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20556323-complex-ptsd
on “Ask HN: Hacking your brain after trauma and mental health crisis?” ↗…learn and grow. Having a child helped focus my sense of purpose, but I already cared to help others, as a classroom teacher and private tutor. Parenting gave me a second childhood, during which I read Complex PTSD by Pete Walker (2010) and significantly reduced passing on the ongoing trauma I experienced during my childhood. I find joy in being okay with simply pausing and breathing like a resting dog (inhale until…
on “Ask HN: What do you care about? What is your joy and purpose?” ↗…which is more about symptoms and responses you have now caused by the continuous situations like you describe. It’s older and there’s been progress on the definition since it came out but Pete Walker’s Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving (and website) is a good resource for the differences between this type of effect form upbringing vs single event traumas. Personally since reading it and working through my…
on “ADHD, autism or complex trauma? [pdf]” ↗Your comment reads like a case study from "Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving" by Pete Walker. Many of his studies focus on childhood experiences that are overall "happy" but fall short of "emotionally fulfilling".
on “ADHD, autism or complex trauma? [pdf]” ↗Wow, this is interesting, very few books I've read more than once! Even fewer are non fiction, but they sure do explain a lot about me: - Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving by Pete Walker helped me process a number of assaults that happened to me as a child - Designing Data Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann helped me understand intuitively…
on “Ask HN: What nonfiction books do you keep rereading?” ↗…technological projects). (For those in a similar situation, the best books I read were: "Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents", "Running on Empty: Overcoming your Childhood Emotional Neglect", "Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving" and "Psychology of Self-esteem". I also recommend the post "What is a central purpose in life?" (plus comments) [1] for a discussion of how to integrate one's career values).…
on “Takeaways from coaching CEOs, founders and VCs” ↗…(instead of jumping from headline to headline). If you deal with people who suffer (ex veterans, or people who went through trauma) or even working through trauma yourself this is a great read: PTSD and Complex PTSD Symptoms, Syndromes, and Diagnoses https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/wilson5.pdf?t I strongly believe that we are mostly products of our own suffering (which is unique to every individual but true for…
on “Ask HN: How do you overcome Weltschmerz or fatalism about our future?” ↗