The Hidden History of the Complex Trauma: From Denial to Recognition of the Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder between Clinical Reality and Diagnostic Problems

Abstract

The paper is aimed at the analysis of recognition and legitimacy problems, historically present in the study of psychological trauma, as well as to opening reflections on the possibility that these difficulties are still current. Recent contributions on the study of the developmental trauma disorder mainly highlight the importance of relational andcumulative aspects and during the developmental cycle when the subject experiences his/her traumatic events. Multiple exposures to interpersonal trauma in fact have a stronger impact on the first decade of life, resulting in predictable consequences on at least seven mental functioning areas. Several authors propose a new diagnostic label for the Complex Trauma, as its phenomenology and etiology are different from the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ones.