Trauma Symptoms Checklist
The Comprehensive PTSD Symptoms Checklist:
I often say that the simplest way to diagnosis trauma is through symptoms - if we are symptomatic we are likely suffering with unresolved trauma - whether or not we yet know why or what that trauma may be. This list is not a means of concluding a medical diagnosis, it is simply here to serve you in your personal journey toward healing, wholeness & peace, and perhaps point you in the right direction.
It is important to note that it is unlikely we will be exhibiting all of these symptoms, although some of us may be. One symptom alone, such as addiction, anxiety, depression or chronic pain, may have been dominant throughout your life, or you may recognise that you express many symptoms interchangeably. This checklist is only a guide and it is recommended you seek further guidance and support if you are suffering with any of these issues or believe you may be struggling with CPTSD.
The two main earmarks of CPTSD/Childhood Trauma are said to be emotional flashbacks and dysregulation. I will explain these two issues below, BUT, my experience is that we can be suffering with these and not know it – even when they are explained to us as below.
As such, what seems to be more common is that we are aware of the surface level symptomology that masks and or/helps us cope with the emotional flashbacks and dysregulation. That is why a more complete list of symptoms is provided for your reference below.
Emotional Flashbacks:
Flashbacks associated with short term or single incident trauma (PTSD) are memories, usually visual, but sometimes felt (body memories) that intrude when triggered by outside stimulus. For example, the sound of a car backfiring may trigger a soldier who has been at war, in that moment he may flash back to a bomb going off and even momentarily feel or believe that he is back in that experience. Another example would be in the case of sexual assault. A women who was molested as a child or raped at some stage in her life may experience visual flashbacks or body memories - felt sensations that occurred at the time of the rape when being intimate with a partner or receiving any kind of tactile touch, however innocent.
Emotional flashbacks in the context of CPTSD (trauma from prolonged exposure to emotional distress) can be harder to identify despite the destructive effect they may have on our life.
An emotional flashback is when something or someone triggers your body to feel an old feeling. It is like a memory but without (usually) any visual accompaniment. The way this is experienced is that someone can say something or something will happen that seems to trigger an emotional response in you that you don’t entirely understand or intuitively feels more magnified or ´´dramatic´´ than the circumstance might warrant. It can also mean that we behave in ways that we don’t seem to have any power/control over. It is like we are being flooded by a feeling or compelled to react in a certain way without really understanding why.
Examples of emotional flashbacks would be:
Your boyfriend says that he is going out of town to enjoy a music festival and this causes an extreme feeling of jealousy and insecurity in you. It feels like being abandoned or as though you are not good enough for him. It brings up a huge amount of reactive fear and probably sparks an argument. You don’t really want to argue, but you cant stop yourself from being sulky, upset, and angry. Even though intellectually you kind of know its perfectly reasonable that he would like to go and enjoy this experience and that it is healthy to do things separately, even though your partner has done nothing to suggest he is not trustworthy … you cannot quiet the emotional storm and sense of panic it has disturbed inside you. You feel deeply afraid and insecure, and likely ashamed of that insecurity, like you don’t know what's wrong with you and why you cant ´´just accept it´´ or ´´be more relaxed´´. You are likely experiencing old emotions from childhood here that are asking for your attention. They are simply being activated by something in the current circumstance, not being caused by it. Your body is remembering painful emotions that have got stuck in the system. Your brain is perceiving threat where there is none because of painful past learning
The cash assistant is rude and dismissive. She looks at you funny. You feel obsessed with her all day, enraged, affected, oddly upset. You cant stop thinking about her and imagine conversations with her, putting her in her place and giving her a piece of your mind. You have no idea why this stranger, who was probably just in a bad mood (maybe her dog died), has impacted you so badly. It feels silly, but you cannot switch it off. You are likely experiencing old emotions from childhood here that are asking for your attention. They are simply being activated by something in the current circumstance, not being caused by it. It could have something as simple as the way she looked at you that sparked this emotional ´´memory´´. Your body is remembering painful emotions that have got stuck in the system. Your brain is perceiving threat where there is none because of painful past learning
You have an argument with your partner. You want to back down, stop, make up, but you cant. For some reason you keep going, you dig deeper, you get nastier or you shut down completely. You behave in ways that the next day you feel shame about, but in the moment, you felt powerless over yourself . Something about the experience has triggered your brain to perceive threat and your body is remembering painful past emotions that have got stuck in the system.
Dysregulation & Hypervigilance:
This is when the adverse experiences in childhood have actually shut down a part of the brain and upset the function of the nervous system. The body and brain are suspended in states of hypervigilance (stress/fear). This can be experienced as a permanent state of overwhelm (often expressed more symptomatically as chronic stress, illness, anxiety, depression, general edginess etc) and or/a sense of disassociation from the body. This can mean that we literally experience numbness in areas of the body or can mean that we struggle to feel our feelings and think that we aren’t a very emotional person.
When we have been experiencing these symptoms our whole life we may not know it is not ´´normal´´. We may see ourselves as being ´´just an overly emotional/sensitive person´´ or ´´cold hearted/not very emotional´´ (I hear both of these statements or versions of them from clients often.)
Survival Responses:
When we feel under threat primal states are triggered in response to that perceived threat. For those of us with (C)PTSD we may realise that these types of responses are being activated regularly in our day to day life or recognise that we are in fact suspended in one of these survival states continuously.
FIGHT: Quick to Anger, Aggressive, Violent, Argumentative, Defensive, Narky, Stubborn, Dismissive
FLIGHT: Anxiety, OCD, Needing to keep busy all the time, Behavioural addictions/methods of distraction such over exercise, compulsive eating, Binge watching TV, Incessant social media scrolling, Literally being a runner, Substance addiction to try to dull the restlessness and dis-ease, High Blood Pressure
FREEZE: Depression, Fatigue, Isolation, Duvet Diving Days, Low Blood Pressure, Slow Metabolism, Inability to speak up or advocate for oneself, Substance addictions to try to feel energised, socially engaged and alive.
FAWN: People pleasing, manipulation, difficulty knowing what you want, what you think or how you feel, constantly concerned with the needs of others, perfectionism, pressure to fulfill social roles such as the ´´perfect´´ mother, daughter, husband etc (NB Fawn is a uniquely human response related to how we employ emotional or psychological tactics to attempt to resolve the sense of threat)
List of further symptoms/expressions of CPTSD (Chronic stress stuck in the system and/or emotional wounding)
NB: Many of these symptoms overlap or reference a similar condition or issue but the terms have been used for their simplicity of understanding.
Emotional Symptoms:
Low self esteem
Toxic shame (constant sense that something is wrong with you)
Nagging sense of aloneness, feeling apart from or different than, that you dont fit in
Feeling like a burden
Difficulty asking for or receiving help
Difficulty connecting with or voicing how we feel (this manifests as numbess or over emotionalism)
Fear of judgment of others
Indecisiveness
Emptiness
Difficulty concentrating (ADD ADHD)
Anxiety
Depression
Suicide attempts or suicidal fantasy (ideation)
Excessive sense of responsibility to others
General unmanagebility
Irritable, restless, discontent, never satisfied
Avoidant or counterdependant - ''I dont need anyone'' attitude
Feeling victimised by life circumstances/powerless/stuck/unable to make change
Behavioural Symptoms:
Addictions in all forms, alcoholism, drug addiction inc pharamaceutical, workaholism, sex and porn addiction, food & exercise addiction
OCD and compulsive and neurotic behaviours
Eating disorders & body dysmorphia
Defensiveness
Anger management and aggression issues
Unhealthy relationship patterns and cycles
Codependency and the need to please, duplicity, being the fixer, caretaker or general agony aunt
Self harming including cutting, hair pulling, head banging, finger biting, pinching etc
Self sabotage
Sensory Disorders inc mysophonia, sensitivity to loud or specific sounds, light, tight clothing, labels etc
Bi Polar & Personality Disorders
Physiological Symptoms:
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia or sleep issues
Digestive problems inc Crohns and IBS
Chronic pain inc fibromyalgia, regular headaches, migraines, sciatica, back pain etc
Fatigue and general tiredness/lethargy
Skin inflammations inc acne, eczema, psoriasis
Asthma
Metabolic disorders
Immune disorders
Menstrual issues
Cancers
I often say that the simplest way to diagnosis trauma is through symptoms - if we are symptomatic we are likely suffering with unresolved trauma - whether or not we yet know why or what that trauma may be. This list is not a means of concluding a medical diagnosis, it is simply here to serve you in your personal journey toward healing, wholeness & peace, and perhaps point you in the right direction.
It is important to note that it is unlikely we will be exhibiting all of these symptoms, although some of us may be. One symptom alone, such as addiction, anxiety, depression or chronic pain, may have been dominant throughout your life, or you may recognise that you express many symptoms interchangeably. This checklist is only a guide and it is recommended you seek further guidance and support if you are suffering with any of these issues or believe you may be struggling with CPTSD.
The two main earmarks of CPTSD/Childhood Trauma are said to be emotional flashbacks and dysregulation. I will explain these two issues below, BUT, my experience is that we can be suffering with these and not know it – even when they are explained to us as below.
As such, what seems to be more common is that we are aware of the surface level symptomology that masks and or/helps us cope with the emotional flashbacks and dysregulation. That is why a more complete list of symptoms is provided for your reference below.
Emotional Flashbacks:
Flashbacks associated with short term or single incident trauma (PTSD) are memories, usually visual, but sometimes felt (body memories) that intrude when triggered by outside stimulus. For example, the sound of a car backfiring may trigger a soldier who has been at war, in that moment he may flash back to a bomb going off and even momentarily feel or believe that he is back in that experience. Another example would be in the case of sexual assault. A women who was molested as a child or raped at some stage in her life may experience visual flashbacks or body memories - felt sensations that occurred at the time of the rape when being intimate with a partner or receiving any kind of tactile touch, however innocent.
Emotional flashbacks in the context of CPTSD (trauma from prolonged exposure to emotional distress) can be harder to identify despite the destructive effect they may have on our life.
An emotional flashback is when something or someone triggers your body to feel an old feeling. It is like a memory but without (usually) any visual accompaniment. The way this is experienced is that someone can say something or something will happen that seems to trigger an emotional response in you that you don’t entirely understand or intuitively feels more magnified or ´´dramatic´´ than the circumstance might warrant. It can also mean that we behave in ways that we don’t seem to have any power/control over. It is like we are being flooded by a feeling or compelled to react in a certain way without really understanding why.
Examples of emotional flashbacks would be:
Your boyfriend says that he is going out of town to enjoy a music festival and this causes an extreme feeling of jealousy and insecurity in you. It feels like being abandoned or as though you are not good enough for him. It brings up a huge amount of reactive fear and probably sparks an argument. You don’t really want to argue, but you cant stop yourself from being sulky, upset, and angry. Even though intellectually you kind of know its perfectly reasonable that he would like to go and enjoy this experience and that it is healthy to do things separately, even though your partner has done nothing to suggest he is not trustworthy … you cannot quiet the emotional storm and sense of panic it has disturbed inside you. You feel deeply afraid and insecure, and likely ashamed of that insecurity, like you don’t know what's wrong with you and why you cant ´´just accept it´´ or ´´be more relaxed´´. You are likely experiencing old emotions from childhood here that are asking for your attention. They are simply being activated by something in the current circumstance, not being caused by it. Your body is remembering painful emotions that have got stuck in the system. Your brain is perceiving threat where there is none because of painful past learning
The cash assistant is rude and dismissive. She looks at you funny. You feel obsessed with her all day, enraged, affected, oddly upset. You cant stop thinking about her and imagine conversations with her, putting her in her place and giving her a piece of your mind. You have no idea why this stranger, who was probably just in a bad mood (maybe her dog died), has impacted you so badly. It feels silly, but you cannot switch it off. You are likely experiencing old emotions from childhood here that are asking for your attention. They are simply being activated by something in the current circumstance, not being caused by it. It could have something as simple as the way she looked at you that sparked this emotional ´´memory´´. Your body is remembering painful emotions that have got stuck in the system. Your brain is perceiving threat where there is none because of painful past learning
You have an argument with your partner. You want to back down, stop, make up, but you cant. For some reason you keep going, you dig deeper, you get nastier or you shut down completely. You behave in ways that the next day you feel shame about, but in the moment, you felt powerless over yourself . Something about the experience has triggered your brain to perceive threat and your body is remembering painful past emotions that have got stuck in the system.
Dysregulation & Hypervigilance:
This is when the adverse experiences in childhood have actually shut down a part of the brain and upset the function of the nervous system. The body and brain are suspended in states of hypervigilance (stress/fear). This can be experienced as a permanent state of overwhelm (often expressed more symptomatically as chronic stress, illness, anxiety, depression, general edginess etc) and or/a sense of disassociation from the body. This can mean that we literally experience numbness in areas of the body or can mean that we struggle to feel our feelings and think that we aren’t a very emotional person.
When we have been experiencing these symptoms our whole life we may not know it is not ´´normal´´. We may see ourselves as being ´´just an overly emotional/sensitive person´´ or ´´cold hearted/not very emotional´´ (I hear both of these statements or versions of them from clients often.)
Survival Responses:
When we feel under threat primal states are triggered in response to that perceived threat. For those of us with (C)PTSD we may realise that these types of responses are being activated regularly in our day to day life or recognise that we are in fact suspended in one of these survival states continuously.
FIGHT: Quick to Anger, Aggressive, Violent, Argumentative, Defensive, Narky, Stubborn, Dismissive
FLIGHT: Anxiety, OCD, Needing to keep busy all the time, Behavioural addictions/methods of distraction such over exercise, compulsive eating, Binge watching TV, Incessant social media scrolling, Literally being a runner, Substance addiction to try to dull the restlessness and dis-ease, High Blood Pressure
FREEZE: Depression, Fatigue, Isolation, Duvet Diving Days, Low Blood Pressure, Slow Metabolism, Inability to speak up or advocate for oneself, Substance addictions to try to feel energised, socially engaged and alive.
FAWN: People pleasing, manipulation, difficulty knowing what you want, what you think or how you feel, constantly concerned with the needs of others, perfectionism, pressure to fulfill social roles such as the ´´perfect´´ mother, daughter, husband etc (NB Fawn is a uniquely human response related to how we employ emotional or psychological tactics to attempt to resolve the sense of threat)
List of further symptoms/expressions of CPTSD (Chronic stress stuck in the system and/or emotional wounding)
NB: Many of these symptoms overlap or reference a similar condition or issue but the terms have been used for their simplicity of understanding.
Emotional Symptoms:
Low self esteem
Toxic shame (constant sense that something is wrong with you)
Nagging sense of aloneness, feeling apart from or different than, that you dont fit in
Feeling like a burden
Difficulty asking for or receiving help
Difficulty connecting with or voicing how we feel (this manifests as numbess or over emotionalism)
Fear of judgment of others
Indecisiveness
Emptiness
Difficulty concentrating (ADD ADHD)
Anxiety
Depression
Suicide attempts or suicidal fantasy (ideation)
Excessive sense of responsibility to others
General unmanagebility
Irritable, restless, discontent, never satisfied
Avoidant or counterdependant - ''I dont need anyone'' attitude
Feeling victimised by life circumstances/powerless/stuck/unable to make change
Behavioural Symptoms:
Addictions in all forms, alcoholism, drug addiction inc pharamaceutical, workaholism, sex and porn addiction, food & exercise addiction
OCD and compulsive and neurotic behaviours
Eating disorders & body dysmorphia
Defensiveness
Anger management and aggression issues
Unhealthy relationship patterns and cycles
Codependency and the need to please, duplicity, being the fixer, caretaker or general agony aunt
Self harming including cutting, hair pulling, head banging, finger biting, pinching etc
Self sabotage
Sensory Disorders inc mysophonia, sensitivity to loud or specific sounds, light, tight clothing, labels etc
Bi Polar & Personality Disorders
Physiological Symptoms:
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia or sleep issues
Digestive problems inc Crohns and IBS
Chronic pain inc fibromyalgia, regular headaches, migraines, sciatica, back pain etc
Fatigue and general tiredness/lethargy
Skin inflammations inc acne, eczema, psoriasis
Asthma
Metabolic disorders
Immune disorders
Menstrual issues
Cancers