Can Emotional Abuse and Toxic Relationships Cause C-PTSD?

Thanks for all the support !!

Yes! That's awful to go through! It's especially likely to cause C-PTSD if you were young or felt trapped (as controlling relationships can cause). I understand what you're going through, I've gone through similar almost every day of my life and most of my coping mechanisms are centered around dissociating. I don't have any advice for dissociating though except maybe to not be too hard in yourself and to try and get to a safe place if you aren't there already. I wish you the best, Emily55. I hope it all works out!

Absolutely. I'm sorry you went thru that.

It absolutely can, especially if you have previous trauma as people with PTSD and CPTSD are more likely to be retraumatized with events that might not have been so bad if they didn't already have PTSD. But regardless what causes PTSD is dependent on the person's ability to handle stress and if they have a functioning support system, on top of that all of these situations are incredibly stressful and will definitely weigh on a person's mental health and is enough to give someone CPTSD. It's a pretty common experience for people with trauma and trauma disorders to feel like what they went through wasn't enough and minimize their feelings and experiences because it makes them feel like they don't deserve help or compassion for what they went through. It's important to let yourself acknowledge that these things are stressful, for everyone, and that it hurt you and you deserve to start healing from it. I also went through this for years despite being told how shocking and horrible my situation was.

Yes. Yes, it is. And its okay to feel that way. Its reasonable. You deserved consistent, safe care and support.