Reinforcing the new diagnosis of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress disorder (CPTSD) of ICD-11: exploring the clinical outcomes in youth exposed to complex trauma

Abstract

Introduction: Youth exposed to complex trauma (CT) show an increased risk of psychiatric morbidity, including a wide range of psychiatric disorders.However, to date, there is no specific diagnosis in the DSM-5 that capture the clinical complexity of these patients. Properly, the last version of the ICD-11 includes a diagnosis termed Complex Post-Traumatic StressDisorder (CPTSD), which considers the pattern of post-traumatic stress symptoms, plus life-impairing disturbances in self-organization (emotion dysregulation, negative self-concept and interpersonal problems). Clinical research about CPTSD, especially in younger population, is still limited. Objectives: To explore the symptomatology of CPTSDin a sample of youth exposed to CT and its association with worse clinical outcomes. Methods: 187 youth aged 7 to 17 years participated in the EPI-young-stress-project (116 with current psychiatric disorder and 71 healthy controls). CT was evaluated following the TASSCV criteria. To identify CPTSD symptomatology, we performed an exploratory factor analysis including CBCL and TEIQue items. The global level of functioning was measured by CGAS. Results: Preliminary results pointed that youth exposed to CT showed greater internalizing (p