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Autism or cPTSD? Which?

Damojo

I have a suspicion I have complex PTSD, but I don't really know if some of my traits are just plain old Autistic traits and not cPTSD at all. How would I know the difference?

For example, I feel extremely aware of people in the space around me (in public or private). I am constantly trying to predict how they will move or act or interact and trying to plan how I will deal with all possibilities, particularly if they might do something irritating, or something against the "rules". A lot of the time, I feel threatened (anxious rather than terrified) and under siege (from the relentlessness of it all), particularly if I have no easy means of escape (perhaps I'm masking and trying to stick it out to appear "normal"). It is exhausting and really stressful. Is that Autistic hyperawareness, or cPTSD hypervigilance, or just overthinking, or something else entirely?

Does anyone else have similar experiences and do you know how they might relate to Autism vs. cPTSD?

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  • Damojo said:
    I have a suspicion I have complex PTSD, but I don't really know if some of my traits are just plain old Autistic traits and not cPTSD at all. How would I know the difference?

    There is an interesting article explaining the two here:

    https://neurodivergentinsights.com/ptsd-and-autism/

    For the terminology, PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) typically results from a single traumatic event, while cPTSD (Complex PTSD) arises from prolonged, repeated trauma over time. Both share similar symptoms, but cPTSD includes additional challenges like emotional dysregulation and difficulties in relationships.

    You can be autistic and suffer PTSD and/or cPTSD, the symptoms are the same but autism means we experience the symptoms differently to neurotypicals.

    To work out which aspects of PTSD/cPTSD can be attributed to autistic experiences, the following diagram is useful:

  • in reply to Iain

    Thank you for that, Iain. I can see some PTSD things like "avoidance" and "stuck points" and being on "high alert" as being more likely not related to Autism. I probably tick those boxes.

    I also notice that I have to be experiencing a high enough base level of stress before this "high alert" thing kicks in and starts to take over and rapidly ramp up my stress/anxiety level. If I can keep my stress level down low enough, I can avoid this stress/anxiety spiral. Recently, I've found noise-cancelling earbuds to be very helpful in this regard, though I never would have associated noise levels with my stress levels before. Less noise now means less stress, and less stress now means I am less likely to go into "high alert" mode and have things spiral out of control and head towards meltdown territory. It also helps that I have become very conscious of this process and I can talk myself through what is happening to me and that helps me stay more calm.

    When it comes to things like flashbacks and nightmares, I'm not really sure if my experience is what others with cPTSD experience.

    I can replay lots of traumatic experiences in considerable detail at will, but they are only occasionally intrusive (a few times a week, perhaps) and generally don't linger for more than a few minutes. Do they count as "flashbacks" or just memories?

    Nightmares that I would relate to trauma are far less frequent, maybe less than once per year. I had a really bad one last year when I was very depressed, it took me hours to get over it. It was in itself traumatic enough that I have replayed it in my mind often since then and wondered how damaged do I have to be to experience something like that 30-40 years after the events that I am sure it related to?

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  • in reply to Iain

    Thank you for that, Iain. I can see some PTSD things like "avoidance" and "stuck points" and being on "high alert" as being more likely not related to Autism. I probably tick those boxes.

    I also notice that I have to be experiencing a high enough base level of stress before this "high alert" thing kicks in and starts to take over and rapidly ramp up my stress/anxiety level. If I can keep my stress level down low enough, I can avoid this stress/anxiety spiral. Recently, I've found noise-cancelling earbuds to be very helpful in this regard, though I never would have associated noise levels with my stress levels before. Less noise now means less stress, and less stress now means I am less likely to go into "high alert" mode and have things spiral out of control and head towards meltdown territory. It also helps that I have become very conscious of this process and I can talk myself through what is happening to me and that helps me stay more calm.

    When it comes to things like flashbacks and nightmares, I'm not really sure if my experience is what others with cPTSD experience.

    I can replay lots of traumatic experiences in considerable detail at will, but they are only occasionally intrusive (a few times a week, perhaps) and generally don't linger for more than a few minutes. Do they count as "flashbacks" or just memories?

    Nightmares that I would relate to trauma are far less frequent, maybe less than once per year. I had a really bad one last year when I was very depressed, it took me hours to get over it. It was in itself traumatic enough that I have replayed it in my mind often since then and wondered how damaged do I have to be to experience something like that 30-40 years after the events that I am sure it related to?

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