Trauma is no longer seen as a singular event but as a complex process that affects both the mind and body. With the recent recognition of Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) and Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD), we are entering a new era in understanding how unresolved trauma impacts mental health.
Complex PTSD: More Than Just PTSD
While PTSD is often linked to a single traumatic event, Complex PTSD (C-PTSD) develops from prolonged exposure to distress, such as childhood abuse, domestic violence, or captivity. Unlike PTSD, which primarily involves flashbacks and hypervigilance, C-PTSD affects self-perception, emotional regulation, and relationships on a much deeper level.
One of the defining features of C-PTSD is emotional dysregulation—those affected may experience intense mood swings, chronic anxiety, or numbness, making it difficult to manage daily life. Additionally, negative self-perception is common, with sufferers often feeling deep shame, guilt, or a persistent sense of worthlessness. C-PTSD impacts one’s core identity, leading to self-blame and a distorted sense of self-worth, often leading to challenges in relationships. Individuals may struggle with trust, intimacy, and attachment, leading to fear of abandonment, avoidance, or unhealthy dependency. They may find themselves in dysfunctional relationship patterns, unconsciously repeating past trauma.
Prolonged Grief Disorder: When Grief Becomes Unbearable
Grief is a natural response to loss, but for some, it doesn’t lessen over time. PGD occurs when the intense pain of losing a loved one persists beyond what is considered a normal grieving period, disrupting daily life.
While C-PTSD arises from prolonged exposure to traumatic events, often leading to emotional dysregulation, negative self-perception, and difficulty forming healthy relationships, PGD is characterised by intense, ongoing grief that disrupts daily life long after a loss. Both disorders reflect how trauma can persist, reshaping a person’s emotional and psychological well-being.
The complexity of grief and trauma requires a broader view of mental distress than just symptoms and diagnosis.
PGD highlights how mental distress extends beyond just symptoms and diagnosis. Grief and trauma are not isolated psychological events; they are deeply embodied experiences that affect both the mind and body. Traditional mental health models often focus on diagnosing symptoms—such as persistent sadness, intrusive thoughts, or emotional numbness—but this narrow view overlooks the deeper physiological and relational aspects of suffering.
Grief, like trauma, is not just an emotional response; it is a disruption of the nervous system and a fundamental loss of connection. When someone experiences a profound loss, particularly if it was sudden, traumatic, or unresolved, the nervous system may struggle to process and integrate the experience. This can lead to a state of dysregulation, where the body remains stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or shutdown, preventing natural mourning and adaptation.
A broader view of mental distress recognizes that prolonged grief is not simply about sadness—it is about a loss that continues to be relived at a biological and relational level. Healing requires more than cognitive processing; it involves restoring safety in the body, rebuilding a sense of connection, and addressing the physiological imprint of grief. Without this holistic understanding, individuals struggling with prolonged grief may be misdiagnosed or left without the support they truly need.
The Role of the Nervous System in Trauma
The nervous system plays a crucial role in how we respond to and process trauma. When we experience a threatening or overwhelming event, our autonomic nervous system (ANS) automatically shifts into survival mode, activating the body for fighting or fleeing.
In a fight or flight response, the sympathetic nervous system floods the body with stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol, preparing us to either confront the danger or escape. However, if neither option is possible—such as in cases of childhood abuse, domestic violence, or prolonged grief—the body may shift into a freeze response, where movement and emotional expression become inhibited. In some cases, individuals may enter shutdown, a state of emotional numbness, dissociation, and physical collapse controlled by the dorsal vagal system.
Trauma becomes “stuck” in the body when the survival response is never fully processed or discharged. Instead of returning to a state of balance, the nervous system remains dysregulated, leaving individuals feeling either chronically anxious and hypervigilant or emotionally detached and exhausted. This dysregulation can manifest in chronic pain, digestive issues, autoimmune conditions, and mood disorders, making it difficult to engage in healthy relationships or experience joy.
For those with Complex PTSD and Prolonged Grief Disorder, healing requires more than talk therapy alone. Somatic approaches, such as breathwork, movement, and body-based therapies, help release stored trauma and restore a sense of safety, connection, and emotional balance within the nervous system.
Healing Beyond Traditional Therapy: Effective Treatment Approaches
At Khiron Clinics, we go beyond simply managing symptoms or assigning diagnoses—we focus on uncovering the root causes of distress and facilitating true healing. Traditional talk therapy can be helpful, but it often doesn’t address the deep nervous system dysregulation that underlies trauma-related conditions like Complex PTSD and Prolonged Grief Disorder.
We integrate somatic therapies, such as body-based interventions, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, and breathwork to help clients process trauma stored in the nervous system. By working directly with the body’s stress responses, we support emotional regulation and lasting recovery.
True healing happens when we treat the whole person—mind, body, and nervous system—allowing individuals to move beyond survival mode and into a life of greater resilience, balance, and well-being.
