This book is about the symptoms of complex trauma: loss of meaning, flashbacks, a sense of difference, and the origins of these experiences. It explores what trauma is, the differences between PTSD and CPTSD, and dissociation as the essence of trauma. It explores how trauma is not only caused by a threat to life, but also by loss of freedom, isolation, and betrayal.

About the difficulties of diagnosis: CPTSD usually has subtle manifestations, is not necessarily associated with extreme experiences, but is always associated with chronic stress, and is very common: according to leading trauma therapist Janina Fisher, 40 percent of people experience some form of traumatic symptoms. Many disorders, including borderline personality disorder, are solutions to CPTSD as a problem.

On collective trauma: the repressions and wars of the 20th century as periods of the most intense violence, the USSR as an artificially created bondage within the country, the traumatic nature of the 1990s and 2000s, and what is happening to us today.

The book is written in a lively and relevant language: it is a serious, profound, and very open conversation with a professional.

Anastasia Zhichkina is a social psychologist, researcher, and PhD candidate in psychology; author of the text "CPTSD: Rebuilding Connections" and the Telegram channel "CPTSD: A Suitcase of Texts."