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I have done some research on CPTSD this week while my computer was down and I was out of business. Fortunately I found a used computer that is compatible enough with mine that I was able to get my hard drive to work in it and I am now back in business! I am still a bit puzzled about something I learned this week, though, and I wanted to see if I can get some feedback here about it.

Have any of you been told by a professional that you have Complex PTSD? I knew of one person outside of the USA who claimed to have this diagnosis and I believed her because I thought that it was an official diagnosis for her but apparently there is no such thing in any mental health diagnostic manual. It has been proposed for a number of years but it has not been approved. Now there is someone else who says she was told she has CPTSD. How can that be if there is no such diagnosis?

I can't help but wonder if professionals are lying to people telling them they have something that is not an official diagnosis in order to hide their real diagnosis from them or if therapists are not professional enough to use the DSM correctly for diagnostic purposes. Anyone with a treatment plan would need to have an official diagnosis and it seems it would be a person's right as a client to know the truth. I don't understand why a therapist would lie about something like that so it is bothering me, as a basic issue of integrity in the mental health profession. Am I misunderstanding something?

As I understand it, the way things get into the DSM is that first psychiatrists try out the diagnosis. Not sure completely how that works, but it would mean coming up with the diagnosis and putting it into use BEFORE it makes it into the DSM.

It's not lying to say someone has something that's not in the DSM. The DSM doesn't define our brains. Looking at something in a way that's not in the DSM doesn't make what one is looking at less real.

I don't see any reason why an officially sanctioned diagnosis would be needed for a treatment plan. And, frankly, if I was seeing a psychiatrist or therapist, I'd be more concerned that the person sees me for who I am than that they stick to the official ways of looking at things.

DSM diagnoses are needed for statistical purposed (the S in DSM), and for insurance. But seems to me sticking religiously to the DSM might not always be the best way to help the client.

I know you asked your question to those who have the diagnosis. Still seems to me the question can be discussed by those who don't have it as well.

My T, although I don't see him anymore, when I asked him what he thought was 'wrong' with me told me that he believed I was suffering from MDD, GAD, BPD and CPTSD. He was not fond of labels, however. He did not like me asking him to label me, as he said the treatment for whatever was to learn coping strategies in the Now to better deal with my issues. It was the first I heard of my having any form of PTSD and I kinda forgot about it until it was brought up on this board. The only official diagnosis that went into my file was MDD and BPD and the BPD only went in at my family's instistance. My T didn't want the label to follow me. Therapy was something I was really ready for and I believe I worked really hard and progressed pretty quickly. I had gone into therapy after a major breakdown, but I wanted to get better and was in a positive, albeit fragile, frame of mind. I am still using the tools my T gave me and I have an open-door policy with him where I can come back if I need to. I haven't needed to yet. This board helps.
I think it's kinda like using meds for things they are not specifically labeled for. Like, Topomax is FDA labeled as a seizure disorder (anti-convulsant) med but they found it very useful for people with migraines gaining FDA approval for this use too. They are considering FDA approval for using Topomax for binge eating disorders, bi-polar disorder, alcholism, smoking cessation and even PTSD, although it is precribed for these things without FDA approval. They found all this out by prescibing it for it's labeled use (anti-spazmotic) and getting reports from the patients of the benificial side effects. And, I'm sure, looking at it's molecular structure and chemical binding methods.
In the case of PTSD, I think they needed to call it something else when it was not necessarily caused by one traumtic event but maybe trauma over time and lasted chronically, hence CPTSD. There seems to be much 'we'll try this and see if it fits' before something gets into the DSM, including reports from individual therapists and psychiatrist who believe their patients have the disorder.