Complex PTSD in the Workplace
What happens when trauma shows up at work?
People who experience a traumatic event (war combat, sexual assault, violence) sometimes develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result. However, when the traumatic event happens on a regular basis (interpersonal violence, domestic violence, childhood abuse and neglect), sometimes people develop complex PTSD.
While individuals who have PTSD talk about their life before the event, most of the people with complex PTSD cannot remember a time when the abuse or neglect was not happening.
This group of individuals often do not have a “before” memory. There is no previous version of the self “to get back to.” The earliest memories are often about abuse or neglect. There are often flashbacks and nightmares about specific events that happened during childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood.
We often discuss how trauma impacts us in our relationships, but we do not always acknowledge how it shows up at work or when we operate our own businesses.
Trauma is not only an event, but trauma can also determine how our brains and our bodies respond to the event, thus, we can be triggered in unhealthy work environments.
What your mind does not remember, your body likely does. This is why the sound of someone’s voice can make you feel uneasy even though you just met them.
This is why certain smells, perfumes, colognes, etc. cause you to feel anxious and you are not aware why. Our five senses hold trauma memories that our brains never registered.
It starts with small thoughts such as, “My boss reminds me of my father,” or “I am so anxious during performance reviews because I think I am in trouble.”
Only a few people have the good fortunate to work in a trauma-informed company or organization, everyone else works for themselves or in a company/organization that prioritizes productivity and profit over people. Those two values never support good mental health outcomes.
What does cPTSD look like at work?
Penny Marion, a trauma and career coach, listed 10 ways cPTSD shows up in the workplace to include:
1. Difficulty establishing and maintaining relationships;
2. Experiencing flashbacks and triggers;
3. The inability to regulate emotions;
4. Being hypervigilant;
5. Taking more sick days due to symptoms;
6. Having trouble making clear and rational decisions;
7. Experiencing difficulty with authority figures (being told what to do);
8. Engaging in perfectionism;
9. Experiencing self-doubt; and
10. Engaging in social isolation.
I know I am being triggered at work, now what do I do?
We do not have to suffer or open our own businesses to succeed in the world of work if we have cPTSD. There are ways to thrive in your work environment.
First, you must determine if the work environment is healthy. If it is a healthy work environment, you can find ways to be successful.
If it is an unhealthy work environment, it may be in your best interest to contact the local Department of Rehabilitation (DOR) or Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) to get assistance in locating new employment more appropriate for people with cPTSD. Each state has a DOR or VR office that helps people with disabilities find employment.
Second, consider your duties when you request reasonable accommodations. The Job Accommodation Network provides a list of accommodations that may be helpful to people with PTSD. Review the list of accommodations, and it will become clear which accommodations would help you do your job better.
Some employers will respond positive to an informal request to a no-cost accommodation, other employers require a specific form that you and a medical provider or mental health professional will complete.
Lastly, consider finding a trauma specialist to work with to start the healing journey. A trauma specialist can help you understand what happened to you, what parts of you were violated during the traumatic events, and how it is impacting your present-day life.
You can learn new skills for moving forward in a healthy manner. A cPTSD diagnosis is not the end, it is the beginning of understanding how something that happened to you that was not your fault is negatively impacting you and how to thrive despite what happened.
Some individuals have experienced multiple traumas and then they experience trauma in the workplace, such as a mass shooting or a coworker killing themselves. If you have experienced trauma in the workplace and you already were living with cPTSD, you may have a different response to the event than colleagues.
You are not broken, you are not overly sensitive, you were pre-disposed to trauma and additional traumas require specific processing for you to properly move those memories through your mind and body and place them all in the proper perspective.
Some workplace trauma is interpersonal. This is when the employee is treated in a hostile manner by a superior or colleague. I have heard more stories about EEOC complaints than I can recount here. When a superior or colleague creates a physically or emotionally unsafe space at work, your health will suffer.
While some individuals report an EEOC claim and receive a settlement, they rarely keep their jobs. The person who caused the EEOC complaint usually stays at the job while the person filing the complaint is asked to leave as a condition of the settlement.
There is the trauma that happened at work, then there is the employer’s response that some individuals wondering if they are the problem.
Unfortunately, several million people experience multiple traumatic events and some of those individuals develop cPTSD.
The good news is that most people have learned how to survive their traumatic experiences and are now learning to thrive in their own lives, to include the workplace.
You do not have to live with these symptoms alone. Help is available.
Considering therapy and live in California or Missouri? Schedule a consultation today.