Symptoms of a dissociative disorder include memory loss for certain time periods, events, people and personal information, a sense of detachment from yourself and your emotions, a distorted perception of reality, and a blurred sense of identity. 

Symptoms of Dissociative Disorder

People with complex ptsd may go through depersonalization. Completely detaching from their past self. This often leads to difficulty in maintaining relationships.

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difficulty controlling emotions, negative self perception, dissociation, loss of values

Symptoms of complex PTSD

This is a list of circumstantial conditions that result in a condition of an abnormal state of mind for the individual. These conditions include:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Mania
- Psychosis
- Stress


List of Conditions that Affect the State of Mind

- emotional numbness
- dissociation may occur when either fight or flight fails to protect or is not an option
- hiding the emotions or the abuse itself from self/others

Barriers to treatment for children with developmental trauma: loss of touch with self

This symptom causes dramatic outbursts, persistent waves of depression, and constant suicidal ideation.

Difficulty controlling emotions

The constant feeling of helplessness, guilt, and difference from other people.

negative self perception

dissociation

Includes losing importance in past values like religion, beliefs, and general hope.

Loss of values

Meta analysis has proved several drastic anatomical changes in the brains of C-PTSD patients.

Anatomical Brain changes 

Generally speaking, anxiety is a reaction by the body that ensues negative internal experiences such as negative thoughts or feelings. Physical changes may also follow, such as an increase in blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, trembling, and so on.

Anxiety

Generally speaking, depression is an overall feeling of sadness. More specifically, those with depression tend to experience several things such as: an increase or decrease in weight, troubles with concentration, feelings of meaninglessness or worthlessness, thoughts of death or suicide, and so on. 

Depression

Mania can be described as an extended period of elevated mood and hyperexcitation. This can last days or weeks, or possibly even longer. Symptoms include, but are not limited to:
- Irritability
- Increase in risk-taking behavior (i.e. hypersexuality, gambling)
- Racing thoughts
- Rapid speech
- Distractibility
- Increased activity, multitasking
- Decreased sleep
- Grandiosity 

Mania

Emotional numbing is the inability to feel emotions. In DDD patients, this may be observed on a spectrum. It often manifests as a loss of affection, pleasure, fear, or disgust. Sometimes it's an absolute inability to experience emotional states and other times it's a more subtle impairment (unable to experience emotional feelings that normally color perception and mental activity). An inability to perceive objects or concrete situations with emotional feeling, rather than a general inability to experience emotional states is also seen. Cognitive empathy is intact, but affective empathy is impaired.

Emotional Numbing

- Children can identify with animals because, like children, they are small and "helpless". The perception that animals can trust the therapist may lead children to be more inclined to trust the therapist
- The therapist can openly talk about all of the animal's characteristics and show love and acceptance for all of them. For example, an animal who bites would still be shown love. Children can learn that these parts of themselves are acceptable too.

Animal Assisted Therapy can help Children with Developmental Trauma

Walter Cannon's theory posits that in response to a perceived threat, the body activates the sympathetic nervous system, triggering a cascade of physiological changes. Cannon viewed this response as a fundamental, built-in mechanism for maintaining homeostasis, the body's stable internal environment. He considered it an adaptive function that prepares an individual to either fight or flee, enabling them to adjust to environmental threats and ultimately enhance their chances of survival.

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