Millions of people are affected by disabilities every day. When people think of a disability, they often think of people in wheelchairs or who are blind. However, many disabilities cannot be seen.
This article will cover complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) and how it is affected by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
What is CPTSD?
Complex post-traumatic stress disorder forms when people experience ongoing and inescapable relational trauma, such as child abuse or neglect. The pain suffered by abuse or neglect leaves scars because it was repeated and usually, but not always, perpetrated by a family member or friend.
The National Council estimates for Behavioral Health that 70% of adults in the United States have experienced at least one traumatic incident in their lifetime. Also, 33% of children have been exposed to community violence. This exposure to violence and trauma causes the child to grow into an adult with CPTSD.
Adults with CPTSD often experience symptoms different from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), such as amnesia, chronic mistrust, chronic physical pain, dissociation, debilitating flashbacks, body memories, anxiety, and severe problems regulating volatile emotions. These adult survivors also develop concurrent diagnoses such as depression, toxic shame, auto-immune disease, and other life-altering symptoms.
Another severe impact of CPTSD is isolation, as people who suffer from it isolate themselves to cope with their overwhelming sense of unsafety. The isolation is meant to keep the survivors safe, but it interferes with their ability to form relationships, leading to despair and suicidal thoughts and actions.
CPTSD: An Invisible Disability
The word disability has many meanings depending on who you are and if you have one. It is vital to note that because a person lives with a disability does not necessarily mean they are on ‘disability.’ Many people can work despite their limiting conditions and do so successfully in either part-time or full-time capacities.
A disability does not mean that the person is less than anyone else or weaker. Some disabilities are easy to see, such as a blind person and their service animal or someone who uses sign language to communicate. However, some disabilities are not visible to the general public. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder is one of them.
The definition of a disability as given by the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 states a person with a disability:
“Has a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activities; has a record of such an impairment or is regarded as having such an impairment.”
They also say that:
“A person is considered to have a disability if he or she has difficulty performing certain functions (seeing, hearing, talking, walking, climbing stairs and lifting and carrying), or has difficulty performing activities of daily living, or has difficulty with certain social roles (doing schoolwork for children, working at a job and around the house).”
These statements describe 20% of Americans, meaning many live with mental health conditions such as complex post-traumatic stress disorder and have disabilities unseen by the public.
Invisible disabilities are also covered under the ADA.
What Does the ADA Say?
Luckily, the ADA is a broad provision that protects people with disabilities, be it physical or mental, from discrimination. Besides the different visible disabilities, people who have problems with:
• Learning
• Reading
• Concentrating
• Thinking
• Communicating
• Working
• Caring for yourself
• Problems interacting with others
The person’s condition does not need to be severe to qualify for protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, the impairment must significantly impact a person’s ability to do activities compared to others in society.
Although this piece has spoken about the ADA covering mental health conditions, this did not come about until the ADA was amended in 2008. The Americans with Disabilities Act Amendments Act became law in 2009 for people with mental health conditions added. The ADA has five titles, including I, II, III, IV, and V. All the following information is found at this link.
Title I Employment. Designed to aid people with disabilities, Title I was created to assist people with physical or mental problems to access and have the same opportunities as those without disabilities. This means employers must provide reasonable accommodations to applicants or employees living with a disability as they do others. Reasonable accommodations mean employers must modify or adjust the work environment to enable people with disabilities to participate in the application or job process. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission enforces this title, which states that employers with fifteen or more employees must comply.
In the case of a disability such as complex post-traumatic stress disorder, this title may mean creating a quiet office space.
Title II (State and Local Government). This Title of the ADA prohibits discrimination against qualified individuals because they have a disability.
The title implies all state and local government departments and agencies and any other arrangement or special purpose in state or local government districts. This includes systems that receive funding from federal agencies and cover all entities that provide public transportation.
If you have CPTSD, this provision might mean you can have a service animal with you and ride on public transportation. However, there are restrictions on the type of animal and other rules. It is vital to check with the ADA to see what these rules are.
Title III. (Public Accommodations). This Title prohibits private places of public accommodation from discriminating against someone with a disability. These places include restaurants, hotels, doctor’s offices, stadiums, etc. The Title sets the minimum standards for accessibility for alterations and new construction to make the building accessible.
In the case of CPTSD, this may mean constructing temporary walls around a workspace to aid in providing a calming and quiet place to work. However, the demands for accommodations must be reasonable.
Title IV (Telecommunications). This Title requires telephone and internet companies to provide nationwide systems that allow people with hearing and speech disabilities to communicate over the telephone.
This may or may not directly affect those living with complex trauma unless you are also visually or auditorily disabled.
Title V (Miscellaneous Provisions). The last Title has a variety of provisions related to the ADA, including a prohibition against retaliation or coercion, illegal use of drugs, and attorney’s fees. It also provides a list of conditions that are not considered disabilities.
The Americans with Disability act covers people with difficulties linked to their emotional problems, including complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
The ADA celebrated its 31st anniversary on July 26, 2022.
Ending Our Time Together
Discrimination is a terrible thing. It separates people by their differences and makes life even harder for those who have a disability.
Although many believe that the ADA is only for those with visible disabilities, they are wrong. The ADA also covers those with disabilities that are not easily noticed or seen by the public. People with a heart condition or a mental health problem such as complex post-traumatic disorder are also covered.
If you work in an environment that is not suitable to help you with handling your mental health, then speak to your employer and ask for what you need. If it is a reasonable request, they are required by law to accommodate you.
No matter your condition, you are guaranteed by law that you will receive no discrimination in one of the most critical places in your life, work.
“Happiness is not out there for us to find. The reason that it’s not our there is that it’s inside us.” – Sonja Lyubomirsky
“Every person on this earth is full of great possibilities that can be realized through imagination, effort, and perseverance.” – Scott Barry Kaufmann
Progress & Transition Coaching
U.K. Recovery Support
Are you a therapist who treats CPTSD? Please consider dropping us a line to add you to our growing list of providers. You would get aid in finding clients and help someone find the peace they deserve. Go to the contact us page and send a note; our staff will respond quickly.
Shortly, CPTSD Foundation will have compiled a list of providers treating complex post-traumatic stress disorder. When it becomes available, we will put it on our website www.CPTSDFoundation.org.
Visit us and sign up for our weekly newsletter to help inform you about treatment options and much more for complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
The Healing Book Club
As of May 7th, 2022, the current book will be – “A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD: Compassionate Strategies to Begin Healing from Childhood Trauma.”
by Dr. Arielle Schwartz.
Here is an Excerpt –
Repetitive trauma during childhood can impact your emotional development, creating a ripple effect that carries into adulthood. Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) is a physical and psychological response to these repeated traumatic events. A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD contains research-based strategies, tools, and support for individuals working to heal from their childhood trauma. You don’t have to be a prisoner of your past.
Learn the skills necessary to improve your physical and mental health with practical strategies taken from the most effective therapeutic methods, including cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT), eye movement desensitization, and reprocessing (EMDR), and somatic psychology. When appropriately addressed, the wounds of your past no longer need to interfere with your ability to live a meaningful and satisfying life.
This book includes:
• Understand C-PTSD—Get an in-depth explanation of complex PTSD, including its symptoms, its treatment through various therapies, and more.
• Address the symptoms—Discover evidence-based strategies for healing the symptoms of complex PTSD, like avoidance, depression, emotional dysregulation, and hopelessness.
• Real stories—Relate to others’ experiences with complex PTSD with multiple real-life examples in each chapter.
Start letting go of the pain from your past—A Practical Guide to Complex PTSD can help show you how.
If you or a loved one live in the despair and isolation of complex post-traumatic stress disorder, please come to us for help. CPTSD Foundation offers a wide range of services, including:
• Daily Calls
• The Healing Book Club
• Support Groups
• Our Blog
• The Trauma-Informed Newsletter
• Daily Encouragement Texts
All our services are reasonably priced, and some are even free. So, sign-up to gain more insight into how complex post-traumatic stress disorder is altering your life and how you can overcome it; we will be glad to help you. If you cannot afford to pay, go to www.cptsdfoundation.org/scholarship to apply for aid. We only wish to serve you.
Trauma-Informed Meditation
Meditation can be an integral part of healing from trauma. Our 9-week self-study video course helps you integrate this fantastic grounding, centering, and focus method. Join the Mindfulness, Prayer, and Meditation Circle today!
A new Trauma-Informed Yoga program is now available! Check out our information page about this highly requested new program! #yoga #traumainformed #cptsd #mentalhealth #recovery #wellness https://cptsdfoundation.org/traumainformedyoga/
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My name is Shirley Davis and I am a freelance writer with over 40-years- experience writing short stories and poetry. Living as I do among the corn and bean fields of Illinois (USA), working from home using the Internet has become the best way to communicate with the world. My interests are wide and varied. I love any kind of science and read several research papers per week to satisfy my curiosity. I have earned an Associate Degree in Psychology and enjoy writing books on the subjects that most interest me.
Hello,
I think there may be some significant misrepresentations in this article. CPTSD is not currently in the DSM, but PTSD is. The ADA may theoretically cover CPTSD, but it is very unlikely until it is in the DSM. This article makes it sound as though the ADA certainly DOES cover CPTSD. This could be extremely misleading to someone hoping for help with this. American employers are not willingly going to extend coverage of the ADA unless they are legally forced to. This has not happened yet. I have CPTSD and I am very sympathetic.
The ADA covers all mental impairments. You can read it on one of the links in the article.
Hi Shirley,
Respectfully, I worked in HR for many years, and your employer has to be convinced to cover you when there is remotely any gray area. Since CPTSD is not in the DSM yet, this is still officially not recognized. (I certainly wish that it was recognized). People often have to struggle (unfairly) to get ADA coverage at work, with things that are in the DSM.
Thank you. I am also hopeful that CPTSD will one day get recognized in the DSM so that people will not need to struggle so hard for recognition to get their needs met. What are we to do until then? Have our doctor give us the diagnosis of PTSD? Most people with CPTSD also fall under the PTSD description in the DSM. Hm.
You might be right, though. I hadn’t considered the fact that CPTSD is not recognized by the psychiatric community yet because it is not in the DSM5. I’ll need to look into this further.
I’m so sorry you are facing such huge obstacles. Have you contacted your state for Medicaid? Medicaid can pay for outpatient services. I lost a very good job myself to mental illness. It was the hardest thing I’ve faced outside of the childhood trauma I endured. I, too, lived inpatient for over seven years but got out stronger than I went in. I tell you this because I want you to know you are not alone. Reach out to your state and apply for disability from the federal government. I warn you, though, that the process of getting disability is tough and can take a long time. I wish I could give you a hug, but a virtual one will have to do. *HUG*
Good luck on your journey. I hope you are helped soon
Thanks Shirley for your sentiments!! I’ll look into those options.
I didn’t realize it would post my whole name, would you be shoes to remove my last name or cover up the post please. TY!
I am a lifelong sufferer of C-PTSD Is there a way to officially diagnose a patient with the malady and define the level that will be recognised by government or law
If you are out of the United States, the World Health Organization already recognizes it in the ICD. You can get an official diagnosis through that recognition but not in the U.S.. I know, that’s insane but that is how it is. Shirley
I’m a Nurse, have a Psychology Degree and I had no idea I had CPSTD. I was so ms dx’d and on many medications, I should never have been placed on. I isolate, I have problems with daily living, “ nervous system regulation-co-regulating, daily activities, self care, etc.. I just moved to be near my Trauma Specialist and leave my toxic/abusive/verbal-household. I’m 49 and in SSDI. I saw the leasing company emailing us about letters they wanted, if your disabled, but it’s not “visible “. The complex I live in is supposed to be new. It’s not. I moved 900 miles away from everything I know, I’m all alone, terrified to go in and tell management, bc at the end of September, I told them the place was filthy and not done. I was told it was my fault. I didn’t get here for 2 months. Huh. I found that the the 2 doors, Patio and Front have 1 inch gaps, dt old door sweeps, not coming down, let air/debris and bugs in, the windows are not insulated, at all, the doors around. are all cracked and not installed correctly, so the insulation has cracked and doesn’t seal. I’m buying things I shouldn’t and can’t afford. I wasn’t shown a thing. Most I’ve spoken to, had a wonderful, long out of state move in experience. I don’t even have vents to cook. My water heater is leaking tonight, no hot water for shower,( others have complained), I have no hot water dt no pressure in my bathroom in master and I’m allowing this to kill/control, my entire life right now, bc I’m beyond unhappy 😞 and my healing journey. So I’m told. They don’t care. And they know, as I have a co signer, I’m on disability. They left things unpainted, the hvac room should be condemned, brand new washer, mive in day broken, 2++ weeks later, they came in unannounced, while I was showering, took new, hauled out, scratched the crap out of dryer, gave me a musty, dented rented, no manual, different, not energy efficient machine. I’ve not slept in months, dt upstairs, next door, DT the paper thin walls and nobody stops the blasting music you hear on the streets, ever day, until they go to work?. Or Weekends, when office is closed it’s unbearable. It’s literally like they’re in my bedroom …and all they write about is, what the outside looks like, & fines will get. etc.. I have, I smoke, but I’m considerate & trying to quit. My new upstairs neighbors, the husband, he knows I’m below, I pay more than him to be on the bottom, with missing railing pieces and a whole cracked patio, etc, but he flicks right on my head, my chairs, we are not supposed to smoke, but they let us. So I will not, as I’m terrified as he’s my neighbor and in general, say anything. It’s all over my porch. He actually has a wood patio, with 1 inch plus slat holes, crushes his cigarette out on top of porch and me/my chairs and porch. I’m just waiting for it to catch fire. I was healing so well, felt amazing when I came, then I had a change, dt my therapist needing time to herself. Understandable. Now she’s offering groups/hypnosis in it. I need to find a Trauma Specialist who understands this modality. The courage to walk into office and speak up for myself. I noticed this way more about “work” environment. I don’t know how to deal. I’m so sleep deprived and was supposed to be here to heal in peace.one thing But, one thing I will say I noticed, hypnosis-Trauma focused, not CBT/DBT, or talk therapy, looping you, I don’t/haven’t seen it in many places. Including here.? At all, I’ve written about it and given names, when this foundation started on IG. Trauma Hypnosis-includes inner child healing, polyvagl/Somatics/Breath work, Subconscious heal and release, sometimes energy work and more. Healing is Hard. Too hard and we are definitely survivors, surviving healing.
Sort for spelling-new phone