Emotional extremes without a middle
From explosive rage to total shutdown — sometimes within the same hour. There's no gentle gradient. The emotional system didn't learn regulation because the environment never allowed it.
Trauma & Stress
Complex PTSD
This isn't one event you can't forget. It's years of events that rewired how you relate to yourself, to others, and to safety itself. The nervous system adapted — and those adaptations became the condition.
If previous therapy addressed individual memories but left the deeper patterns untouched — the shame, the relational loops, the emotional extremes — this page explains why. And what a different starting point looks like.
How it looks in practice
Not a checklist from a manual — but patterns you may recognise from years of living inside them.
A self that feels broken at the core
Not low self-esteem — something deeper. A persistent sense of being fundamentally damaged, worthless, or beyond repair. Not a thought. A felt position that shapes every decision.
Relationships that repeat the wound
Difficulty trusting — or trusting too fast. Merging with others or cutting them off completely. Patterns that look like choices but are wired into the attachment system.
The past bleeding through
Flashbacks, body memories, emotional flooding triggered by ordinary situations. The brain hasn't filed these experiences as past — they remain in the active threat layer.
Going blank
Losing time. Watching yourself from outside. A fog that descends when stress exceeds capacity. This isn't avoidance — it's a circuit breaker the nervous system installed during years of overload.
A nervous system that never learned safety
Hypervigilance. Startle responses. Scanning every room, every face, every silence for threat. The body is still running a programme that was once essential — and never received the signal to stop.
What this is not
Complex PTSD is not a personality flaw or a sign that trauma was 'too much to handle.' It's a structured neurobiological adaptation to prolonged danger — especially in early life. Diagnostics maps these adaptations precisely, so intervention can be targeted, not generic.
What it is
An operating system shaped by sustained threat
In C-PTSD, trauma didn't just leave memories — it shaped how the brain regulates emotion, constructs identity, and manages closeness. These aren't symptoms that sit on top of a healthy baseline. They are the baseline. The ICD-11 recognises this as a distinct condition (6B41): all core PTSD features plus disturbances in self-organisation — affect regulation, self-concept, and relational functioning.
Why standard approaches fall short
Treating events misses the system
Most trauma therapy focuses on processing specific memories. For C-PTSD, this addresses only part of the picture. The emotional dysregulation, the identity disturbance, the relational patterns — these aren't attached to one event. They are structural. Work that doesn't address the full system produces partial results at best — and re-traumatisation at worst. A different architecture of intervention is required.
How we work with Complex PTSD
Not memory processing alone. Systematic work across all domains of disturbance.
Full-spectrum diagnostic mapping
C-PTSD requires assessment beyond standard trauma measures. We map affect regulation capacity, self-concept structure, relational patterns, dissociative features, and comorbidities. The ITQ and structured clinical interview form the foundation — but the picture is wider than any single instrument.
Extended diagnosticsWorking with the system, not just the story
Mental Engineering addresses the neurobiological architecture maintaining the condition — not just the narrative. Affect regulation, identity stabilisation, and relational pattern restructuring are integrated into a phased protocol. Sessions are structured. Nothing is improvised.
Mental EngineeringProgress measured across all domains
Change in C-PTSD isn't one metric. We track affect regulation, dissociation levels, relational functioning, and core belief shifts separately. Written reports document each domain. You see exactly where movement is happening — and where the work still needs to go.
Measurement-based care
For the first time someone didn't just ask what happened — they mapped how it changed me. The shame, the relational patterns, the emotional shutdowns. Seeing the full picture was the thing that made structured work possible.
Two paths. One result.
Some come to understand first. Others already know their condition and want to start immediately. Both paths lead to the same point. Choose what’s right for you now.
Standard diagnostics
Suitable if you’re seeking professional diagnostics for the first time — or want to understand exactly what you’re working with before deciding on therapy.
€3502–3 sessions
- PCL-5 + clinical interview
- Written clinical report (12–18 pages)
- Recommendations for further work
- Results review — separate session
Online · Confidential. Terms
Recommended for C-PTSD
Extended diagnostics
For those who have already tried therapy and want a full clinical picture: comorbidities, differential diagnosis, specific intervention plan. The report can be used with any specialist.
€5203–5 sessions
- PCL-5 + structured interview
- Differential comorbidity diagnostics
- Written clinical report (20–30 pages)
- Structured therapy plan
- Results review — separate session
Online · Confidential. Terms
Let's discuss it first
15 minutes to understand if we’re a good fit. You explain what’s happening. We explain how we work. No obligations. If you continue — the fee is credited in full.
€49credited
BookOnline · Confidential. Terms
Better value in a programmeAll packages and terms
Therapy programme
Therapy is not a set of separate sessions. It’s a structured route. Each session 110–130 minutes, with documentation and a plan for the next step. The longer the programme — the lower the per-session cost.
€180All packages and terms
PackageTotalPer session
1 session€180€180
5 sessions€675€135
12 sessionsBest€1,379€115
Online · Confidential. Terms
Not sure where to start? How to get started or See all fees
Related conditions
Complex PTSD reaches into multiple systems at once. Diagnostics maps every layer — because treating one while missing the others leads nowhere.
Questions & Answers
Frequently asked questions
PTSD typically develops after a single traumatic event or a short series of events. Complex PTSD arises from prolonged, repeated trauma — often in childhood or in situations where escape wasn't possible. The key difference is the addition of disturbances in self-organisation: problems with emotional regulation, a deeply negative self-concept, and persistent difficulties in relationships. These aren't just 'more symptoms' — they represent a different clinical picture that requires a different approach.
That's actually more characteristic of C-PTSD than PTSD. Complex PTSD often develops from accumulated exposure — childhood neglect, emotional abuse, domestic coercion, institutional harm — where there may be no single 'worst moment.' Diagnostics doesn't require you to identify one event. It maps the pattern of adaptation across your emotional, relational, and identity functioning.
Yes. The ICD-11 (World Health Organisation's current diagnostic classification) includes Complex PTSD as a distinct diagnosis under code 6B41. It is not yet in the DSM-5, though the clinical evidence base is well established. Mentallect diagnostics follows ICD-11 criteria and uses validated instruments designed specifically for C-PTSD assessment.
This is common with C-PTSD. Standard trauma-focused work often addresses intrusive memories effectively but leaves the self-organisation disturbances — emotional dysregulation, identity issues, relational patterns — largely untouched. These require a different level of intervention: structural, phased, and targeting the systems that maintain them. Diagnostics clarifies what was addressed and what wasn't.
There is no honest single answer. C-PTSD involves multiple interacting systems, and the duration depends on severity, comorbidities, and what previous work has already addressed. What we can say: diagnostics provides a clear map of scope within 3–5 sessions. From there, therapy is structured in phases with measurable milestones — so progress is visible at every stage, not promised at the end.
The full picture is where real work begins.
Not all damage comes from a single event. And not all of it is visible from the surface. We know how to map the whole system — and that's where change becomes structural.
Path 1 — UnderstandStart with diagnostics
Path 2 — Start workStart work — €49
Crisis situation? Mentallect is not a crisis service. If you are in danger or experiencing suicidal thoughts: