著名作家沃爾特·艾薩克森在為特斯拉(Tesla)的首席執(zhí)行官撰寫的新傳記中稱,埃隆·馬斯克因為動蕩不安的童年(包括經歷了南非的種族隔離時期和父親的語言虐待)而患有創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,。
據信,,全球約有5%的人患有創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,。但這位六家公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人真的患有這種精神疾病嗎?艾薩克森是否像心理健康專家所說的常見情況,,誤用了這個詞,?還是說埃隆的精神狀態(tài)可能甚至比沃爾特·艾薩克森提到的更加復雜?
艾薩克森的新書《埃隆·馬斯克》(Elon Musk)在9月12日由出版社西蒙與舒斯特(Simon & Schuster)出版,。他在書里寫道,,作為一個在南非長大的孩子,埃隆·馬斯克對痛苦深有體會,,也知道如何應對痛苦,。
艾薩克森——曾經寫過其他暢銷傳記,包括史蒂夫·喬布斯,、杰夫·貝佐斯和列奧納多·達·芬奇等名人的傳記——在書中描述了青年埃隆在南非“野外生存營地野外學?!钡慕洑v。這位商業(yè)專家稱那里是一個“準軍事化管理的互相殘殺的世界”,。
艾薩克森寫道,,在野外生存營地,“欺凌被視為一種美德”,,“每個孩子分到少量的食物和水,,他們被允許——實際上是鼓勵——去爭奪食物和水?!碑敃r的埃隆矮小又笨拙,,第一次去那里就“被打了兩次”,并瘦了10磅(約4.54千克),。
艾薩克森寫道,,有一次,組織者把參加者“分成兩組,,并要求他們互相攻擊”,。“馬斯克回憶道:‘那次簡直是太瘋狂,,太令人印象深刻了,?!扛魩啄辏蜁幸粋€孩子死去。輔導員經常用這類事件來警告參與者,,他們會說:‘別像去年死了的那個笨蛋一樣愚蠢?!?/p>
精神創(chuàng)傷很常見,,但創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙不然
位于美國北卡羅來納州亨特斯維爾的Excel Psychiatric Associates的主任醫(yī)師、紐約州立大學(State University of New York)的精神病學助理教授克雷格·切普克醫(yī)生對該話題發(fā)表了講話,。他表示,,這類經歷可能會導致診斷出創(chuàng)傷后應激障,。
根據《精神障礙診斷與統(tǒng)計手冊》(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders),這種疾病的診斷標準包括“經歷過實際死亡,、重傷或性暴力或遭受過這些方面的威脅”,。正因如此,,人們一想起創(chuàng)傷后應激障,,就會想到戰(zhàn)場老兵或暴力犯罪(例如襲擊)的幸存者,。
切普克在談到這種疾病時指出,“但實際情況要復雜得多”,,它的起因也可能是親密伴侶的虐待甚至是一場“嚴重的車禍——任何造成威脅生命或肢體安全的嚴重創(chuàng)傷或令人感到極度恐懼的事件,。”
每個人都會不時感到恐懼,。切普克告訴《財富》雜志,,但那些患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的人的“恐懼程度顯著地加劇了”??紤]到情況的極端性,,人們會恐懼也在情理之中,但問題是大腦學會了保持恐懼,,以至于在威脅消除后的很長一段時間內,,依然持續(xù)出現(xiàn)戰(zhàn)斗或逃跑反應。
切普克稱,,不過并不是每個經歷過創(chuàng)傷的人都會患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,。為什么有些人會,而其他人不會呢,?基因可能是其中一種因素,。
但原因還有很多。切普克表示,,“我們的命運并不只是由命中注定”或基因決定,。不好的童年經歷(虐待、忽視,、家庭暴力,、離婚、父母患有精神疾病,、藥物濫用和監(jiān)禁等消極且往往是創(chuàng)傷性的事件)會讓人更容易患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,。這些事件甚至會導致其他精神疾病。
更為細致的診斷
這本新傳記里說到,,除了在野外學校和其他地方的創(chuàng)傷性經歷外,,埃隆還因為受到父親的語言虐待而擁有一個極其糟糕的童年。
在提到埃隆及其弟弟金巴爾時,艾薩克森寫道,,老馬斯克“具有雙重性格”,。“前一分鐘他還很友好,,下一分鐘他就會毫不留情地辱罵你一個小時甚至更長時間,。每次在一通謾罵的末尾,他都會告訴埃隆他有多么悲催,?!?/p>
艾薩克森寫道,這位世界首富回憶起父親可謂“精神折磨”的長篇累牘的謾罵,,稍帶哽咽地說他的父親“深諳如何搞砸一切”。
這種虐待經歷并不符合創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的正式診斷標準,。不過,,切普克指出,這符合復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的診斷標準,。他稱其為“另一種類型的創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙”——因為經歷慢性或長期的創(chuàng)傷(或稱為“微創(chuàng)傷”)而患上的一種心理健康疾病,。
這位精神病學家認為,復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的患者“并沒有經歷過某個特定的,、決定性的事件,,比如他們曾經在伊拉克費盧杰經歷朋友踩到簡易爆炸裝置之類的事件”。復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙可能起因于一系列“不太符合標準定義的創(chuàng)傷,,它們積微成著,,最終導致創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙——這與現(xiàn)實情況十分相符?!?/p>
他說,,患有復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的人通常會自卑和難以與人建立關系?!八麄儗e人極不信任,。他們會變得高度警惕,會認為與自己交往的人都不懷好意,,因為他們根本不知道如何信任他人,。”
切普克稱,,并不是每個復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙患者都能夠意識到自己患有這種疾病,,他們甚至可能都不知道自己經歷過虐待或創(chuàng)傷。
他說:“多年來,,我遇到過不知多少這樣的患者,。我會問他們:‘你遭遇過虐待、忽視和欺凌之類的事情嗎?’而他們會答道:‘沒有,,我度過了一個正常的童年,。’”
“然后他們會說:‘不過,,從我5歲到13歲,,我爸確實每天晚上都會把我打得屁滾尿流。但這很正常,,不是嗎,?’”
切普克補充道:“他們并沒有開玩笑。由于往往缺乏參照的標準,,對他們來說,,那樣就是正常的?!?/p>
或患有這兩種疾病中的一種或兩種,,或兩者都沒有,亦或患有其他疾病
與創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙一樣,,有人可能遭遇過被診斷出患有復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙所需經歷的創(chuàng)傷性事件,,但卻并沒有患上這種疾病。因此,,埃隆可能患有這兩種疾病中的一種或兩種,,也可能兩種疾病都沒有,還可能患上的是其他疾病,。
艾薩克森寫道,,埃隆“因為童年經歷患上的創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙……逐步使他對滿足產生厭惡”。然而,,切普克認為,,“在流行文化中,幾乎每一種精神疾病的診斷都經常被濫用,?!?/p>
他說:“如果某人聽到好消息就情緒高漲,而聽到壞消息就情緒低落,,有人可能會說:‘這種人有雙相情感障礙,。’如果某人整潔和有條理,,他們則會說:‘這種人有強迫癥,。’”
切普克表示,,人們同樣會誤用創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙這一術語,?!叭绻橙俗钕矚g的橄欖球隊輸了比賽,他們可能就會說:‘天啊,,這場比賽中四分衛(wèi)失誤了五次,,我都有創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙了?!T如此類的話,。顯然,他們并沒有患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,。”
“不能僅僅因為有人這么說就斷定一個醫(yī)學診斷是有依據的,。”
舉一個可能具有說服力的例子:《財富》雜志此前曾經報道,,2022年11月,馬斯克稱自己患上了“經濟衰退創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,,因為他領導X公司和PayPal熬過了2000年的經濟衰退,,又領導特斯拉熬過了2009年的經濟衰退,?!?/p>
另一個例子是:埃隆的三個孩子的母親格萊姆斯曾經提到,太空探索技術公司(SpaceX)的星際飛船于4月20日爆炸后,,她其中一個名叫X的孩子“因為創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙而奔潰了三天”。
切普克稱,,有些人可能經歷過創(chuàng)傷性事件而沒有患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙或復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,,但仍然會表現(xiàn)出這類疾病的相關癥狀,例如過度警惕或焦慮,。
他說:“他們可能患有重性抑郁障礙,、雙相情感障礙和人格障礙。如果他們從未經歷過那種創(chuàng)傷,,也可能患有許多其他完全不相關的精神疾病,,而這些疾病原本就會發(fā)生,。各種情況還可能出現(xiàn)重疊?!保ㄘ敻恢形木W)
譯者:中慧言-劉嘉歡
著名作家沃爾特·艾薩克森在為特斯拉(Tesla)的首席執(zhí)行官撰寫的新傳記中稱,,埃隆·馬斯克因為動蕩不安的童年(包括經歷了南非的種族隔離時期和父親的語言虐待)而患有創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙。
據信,,全球約有5%的人患有創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,。但這位六家公司的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人真的患有這種精神疾病嗎?艾薩克森是否像心理健康專家所說的常見情況,,誤用了這個詞,?還是說埃隆的精神狀態(tài)可能甚至比沃爾特·艾薩克森提到的更加復雜?
艾薩克森的新書《埃隆·馬斯克》(Elon Musk)在9月12日由出版社西蒙與舒斯特(Simon & Schuster)出版,。他在書里寫道,,作為一個在南非長大的孩子,埃隆·馬斯克對痛苦深有體會,,也知道如何應對痛苦,。
艾薩克森——曾經寫過其他暢銷傳記,包括史蒂夫·喬布斯,、杰夫·貝佐斯和列奧納多·達·芬奇等名人的傳記——在書中描述了青年埃隆在南非“野外生存營地野外學?!钡慕洑v。這位商業(yè)專家稱那里是一個“準軍事化管理的互相殘殺的世界”,。
艾薩克森寫道,,在野外生存營地,“欺凌被視為一種美德”,,“每個孩子分到少量的食物和水,,他們被允許——實際上是鼓勵——去爭奪食物和水?!碑敃r的埃隆矮小又笨拙,,第一次去那里就“被打了兩次”,并瘦了10磅(約4.54千克),。
艾薩克森寫道,,有一次,組織者把參加者“分成兩組,,并要求他們互相攻擊”,。“馬斯克回憶道:‘那次簡直是太瘋狂,,太令人印象深刻了,。’每隔幾年,,就會有一個孩子死去,。輔導員經常用這類事件來警告參與者,,他們會說:‘別像去年死了的那個笨蛋一樣愚蠢?!?/p>
精神創(chuàng)傷很常見,,但創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙不然
位于美國北卡羅來納州亨特斯維爾的Excel Psychiatric Associates的主任醫(yī)師、紐約州立大學(State University of New York)的精神病學助理教授克雷格·切普克醫(yī)生對該話題發(fā)表了講話,。他表示,,這類經歷可能會導致診斷出創(chuàng)傷后應激障。
根據《精神障礙診斷與統(tǒng)計手冊》(Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders),,這種疾病的診斷標準包括“經歷過實際死亡,、重傷或性暴力或遭受過這些方面的威脅”。正因如此,,人們一想起創(chuàng)傷后應激障,,就會想到戰(zhàn)場老兵或暴力犯罪(例如襲擊)的幸存者。
切普克在談到這種疾病時指出,,“但實際情況要復雜得多”,,它的起因也可能是親密伴侶的虐待甚至是一場“嚴重的車禍——任何造成威脅生命或肢體安全的嚴重創(chuàng)傷或令人感到極度恐懼的事件?!?/p>
每個人都會不時感到恐懼,。切普克告訴《財富》雜志,但那些患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的人的“恐懼程度顯著地加劇了”,??紤]到情況的極端性,人們會恐懼也在情理之中,,但問題是大腦學會了保持恐懼,,以至于在威脅消除后的很長一段時間內,,依然持續(xù)出現(xiàn)戰(zhàn)斗或逃跑反應,。
切普克稱,不過并不是每個經歷過創(chuàng)傷的人都會患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,。為什么有些人會,,而其他人不會呢?基因可能是其中一種因素,。
但原因還有很多,。切普克表示,“我們的命運并不只是由命中注定”或基因決定,。不好的童年經歷(虐待,、忽視、家庭暴力,、離婚,、父母患有精神疾病,、藥物濫用和監(jiān)禁等消極且往往是創(chuàng)傷性的事件)會讓人更容易患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙。這些事件甚至會導致其他精神疾病,。
更為細致的診斷
這本新傳記里說到,,除了在野外學校和其他地方的創(chuàng)傷性經歷外,埃隆還因為受到父親的語言虐待而擁有一個極其糟糕的童年,。
在提到埃隆及其弟弟金巴爾時,,艾薩克森寫道,老馬斯克“具有雙重性格”,?!扒耙环昼娝€很友好,下一分鐘他就會毫不留情地辱罵你一個小時甚至更長時間,。每次在一通謾罵的末尾,,他都會告訴埃隆他有多么悲催?!?/p>
艾薩克森寫道,,這位世界首富回憶起父親可謂“精神折磨”的長篇累牘的謾罵,稍帶哽咽地說他的父親“深諳如何搞砸一切”,。
這種虐待經歷并不符合創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的正式診斷標準,。不過,切普克指出,,這符合復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的診斷標準,。他稱其為“另一種類型的創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙”——因為經歷慢性或長期的創(chuàng)傷(或稱為“微創(chuàng)傷”)而患上的一種心理健康疾病。
這位精神病學家認為,,復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的患者“并沒有經歷過某個特定的,、決定性的事件,比如他們曾經在伊拉克費盧杰經歷朋友踩到簡易爆炸裝置之類的事件”,。復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙可能起因于一系列“不太符合標準定義的創(chuàng)傷,,它們積微成著,最終導致創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙——這與現(xiàn)實情況十分相符,?!?/p>
他說,患有復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙的人通常會自卑和難以與人建立關系,?!八麄儗e人極不信任。他們會變得高度警惕,,會認為與自己交往的人都不懷好意,,因為他們根本不知道如何信任他人?!?/p>
切普克稱,,并不是每個復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙患者都能夠意識到自己患有這種疾病,,他們甚至可能都不知道自己經歷過虐待或創(chuàng)傷。
他說:“多年來,,我遇到過不知多少這樣的患者,。我會問他們:‘你遭遇過虐待、忽視和欺凌之類的事情嗎,?’而他們會答道:‘沒有,,我度過了一個正常的童年?!?/p>
“然后他們會說:‘不過,,從我5歲到13歲,我爸確實每天晚上都會把我打得屁滾尿流,。但這很正常,,不是嗎?’”
切普克補充道:“他們并沒有開玩笑,。由于往往缺乏參照的標準,,對他們來說,那樣就是正常的,?!?/p>
或患有這兩種疾病中的一種或兩種,或兩者都沒有,,亦或患有其他疾病
與創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙一樣,,有人可能遭遇過被診斷出患有復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙所需經歷的創(chuàng)傷性事件,但卻并沒有患上這種疾病,。因此,,埃隆可能患有這兩種疾病中的一種或兩種,也可能兩種疾病都沒有,,還可能患上的是其他疾病,。
艾薩克森寫道,埃隆“因為童年經歷患上的創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙……逐步使他對滿足產生厭惡”,。然而,,切普克認為,,“在流行文化中,,幾乎每一種精神疾病的診斷都經常被濫用?!?/p>
他說:“如果某人聽到好消息就情緒高漲,,而聽到壞消息就情緒低落,有人可能會說:‘這種人有雙相情感障礙,?!绻橙苏麧嵑陀袟l理,,他們則會說:‘這種人有強迫癥?!?/p>
切普克表示,,人們同樣會誤用創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙這一術語?!叭绻橙俗钕矚g的橄欖球隊輸了比賽,,他們可能就會說:‘天啊,這場比賽中四分衛(wèi)失誤了五次,,我都有創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙了,。’諸如此類的話,。顯然,,他們并沒有患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙?!?/p>
“不能僅僅因為有人這么說就斷定一個醫(yī)學診斷是有依據的,。”
舉一個可能具有說服力的例子:《財富》雜志此前曾經報道,,2022年11月,,馬斯克稱自己患上了“經濟衰退創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,因為他領導X公司和PayPal熬過了2000年的經濟衰退,,又領導特斯拉熬過了2009年的經濟衰退,。”
另一個例子是:埃隆的三個孩子的母親格萊姆斯曾經提到,,太空探索技術公司(SpaceX)的星際飛船于4月20日爆炸后,,她其中一個名叫X的孩子“因為創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙而奔潰了三天”。
切普克稱,,有些人可能經歷過創(chuàng)傷性事件而沒有患上創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙或復雜型創(chuàng)傷后應激障礙,,但仍然會表現(xiàn)出這類疾病的相關癥狀,例如過度警惕或焦慮,。
他說:“他們可能患有重性抑郁障礙,、雙相情感障礙和人格障礙。如果他們從未經歷過那種創(chuàng)傷,,也可能患有許多其他完全不相關的精神疾病,,而這些疾病原本就會發(fā)生。各種情況還可能出現(xiàn)重疊,?!保ㄘ敻恢形木W)
譯者:中慧言-劉嘉歡
Elon Musk has post-traumatic stress disorder from a turbulent childhood that included time in apartheid South Africa and verbal abuse from his father, famed author Walter Isaacson claims in his new biography of the Tesla CEO.
But does the co-founder of six companies actually have the psychiatric condition, thought to affect around 5% of the global population? Was Isaacson misappropriating the term, as mental health experts say commonly occurs? Or is Elon’s mental state, perhaps, even more nuanced than Isaacson alludes to?
“As a kid growing up in South Africa, Elon Musk knew pain and learned how to survive it,” Isaacson pens in his new book, “Elon Musk,” released on September 12 by publisher Simon & Schuster.
Isaacson—who has authored other best-selling biographies, such as those of Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and Leonardo Da Vinci—writes of young Elon’s time at a South African “wilderness survival camp known as veldskool.” The business savant refers to it as a “paramilitary Lord of the Flies.”
There, “bullying was considered a virtue,” Isaacson writes. “The kids were each given small rations of food and water, and they were allowed—indeed encouraged—to fight over them.” Small and awkward at the time, Elon was “beaten up twice” and lost 10 pounds during his first stint there.
At one point, attendees were “divided into two groups and told to attack each other,” Isaacon writes. “‘It was so insane, mind-blowing,’ Musk recalls. Every few years, one of the kids would die. The counselors would recount such stories as warnings. ‘Don’t be stupid like that dumb f**k who died last year,’ they would say.”
Trauma is common. PTSD isn’t
Such experiences could potentially lead to a diagnosis of PTSD, according to Dr. Craig Chepke, medical director of Excel Psychiatric Associates in Huntersville, N.C., and an assistant professor of psychiatry at State University of New York, who speaks on the topic.
Criteria for diagnosing the condition, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, include “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence.” Because of this, when people think of PTSD, their thoughts often turn to combat veterans or survivors of violent crimes like assault.
“But it really is so much more complicated than that,” Chepke says of the disorder, which could result from intimate partner abuse or even a “significant car accident—anything where there’s any sort of substantial trauma with threat to life or limb, or where there is substantial fear faced.”
Everyone gets scared from time to time. But in the case of fear experienced by those who go on to develop PTSD, “it’s a really dramatically elevated amount,” he tells Fortune. While the fear is appropriate, given the extreme nature of the situation, “the brain kind of learns to remain afraid, so the fight-or-flight response remains persistent long after the threat has been removed.”
But not everyone who experiences trauma will develop the condition, Chepke says. In fact, the vast majority won’t. Why some and not others? Genetics likely play a role, in addition to other factors.
But it’s more than that. “It’s not just that our fate is written in the stars” or in our genes, Chepke says. Adverse childhood experiences—negative, often traumatic events like abuse, neglect, domestic violence, divorce, and parental mental illness, substance abuse, and/or incarceration—can make one more susceptible to developing PTSD. And they can even lead to a different form of the condition.
A more nuanced diagnosis
Aside from traumatic experiences at veldskool and elsewhere, Elon has adverse childhood experiences in spades thanks to his verbally abusive father, Errol, according to the new biography.
The elder Musk “has a Jekyll-and-Hyde nature,” Isaacson writes, citing Elon and his brother, Kimbal. “One minute he would be friendly, the next he could launch into an hour or more of unrelenting abuse. He would end every tirade by telling Elon how pathetic he was.”
The world’s richest man recalls his father’s tirades as “mental torture,” choking up slightly and saying that his father “sure knew how to make anything terrible,” Isaacson pens.
Such abuse doesn’t officially meet diagnostic criteria for PTSD. But it can meet criteria for CPTSD, or complex PTSD, Chepke says. He refers to it as “a different flavor of PTSD”—a mental health condition developed by some who experience chronic or prolonged trauma, or “microtraumas.”
People with complex PTSD “don’t have one specific, defining event, like they were in Fallujah and their buddy stepped on an IED or that type of thing,” the psychiatrist says. Instead, CPTSD involves a series of “l(fā)ess discreetly defined traumas that build up like sediment, that contribute to PTSD—and it’s very real.”
People with the condition often have low self-esteem and relationship difficulties, he says. “They’re very distrustful of others. They become hypervigilant. They assume ill intent of anyone they interact with, because they have no conception of how to truly trust someone.”
Not everyone who has CPTSD realizes they have the condition or even recognizes that they’ve experienced abuse or trauma, Chepke says.
“I can’t tell you, over the years, how many patients, I’ll ask them, ‘Have you ever been abused, neglected, bullied, things like that? And they’ll say, ‘Oh, no. I had a normal childhood,’” he says.
“And then later on it will come out, ‘Well, you know, my dad did beat the shit out of me every night, from the time I was 5 years old until I was 13. But, that’s pretty normal, right?’”
“They genuinely mean it,” he adds. “They don’t have a frame of reference, often. For them, it was normal.”
One, both, neither, or something else entirely
As with PTSD, it’s possible to experience the traumatic events necessary for a CPTSD diagnosis and not develop the condition. Thus, it’s possible that Elon has one or both conditions—or possibly neither, or something else entirely.
Elon’s “PTSD from his childhood … instilled in him an aversion to contentment,” Isaacson writes. But “almost every psychiatric diagnosis is thrown around in popular culture,” Chepke contends.
“Someone who gets good news and is having a good day, and then gets bad news and is having a bad day—someone might say, ‘Oh, they’re so bipolar,’” he says. “Anyone who’s neat and organized, they say, ‘They’re so OCD” (obsessive-compulsive disorder).
The same misuse of terms occurs with PTSD, too, Chepke says. “If someone’s favorite football team loses, they might say, ‘Oh my God, I have PTSD from that game, when the quarterback had five turnovers’ or whatever. Obviously, that’s not PTSD.”
“You can’t assume it’s a verifiable medical diagnosis, just because it’s said.”
One potential case in point: In November, Musk referred to his allegedly having “recession PTSD from keeping X and PayPal alive through the 2000 recession, keeping Tesla alive in the 2009 recession,” Fortune previously reported.
And another: Grimes, the mother of three of Elon’s children, has referred to one of them, named X, having “a three-day PTSD meltdown” when SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft exploded on April 20.
It’s possible, Chepke says, for someone to experience traumatic events and not develop PTSD or CPTSD, but still display behaviors associated with those conditions, like hypervigilance or anxiety.
“They could have major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, a personality disorder,” he says. “They could have many other completely unrelated psychiatric illnesses that would have occurred, had they never experienced that trauma. There’s overlap.”