Psychological–forensic expert assessment of complex post traumatic stress disorder in victims of gender-based violence

Abstract

Given the inclusion of the Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD) in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), this article analyses the C-PTSD as a possible new diagnosis in women victims of gender-based violence to explain a wide range of symptoms resulting from interpersonal, persistent, continuous, severe, and uncontrollable traumas that may occur in this context. Thus, it describes the psychological impact and the psychopathological consequences it produces on the victims, which are most serious when the violence suffered has occurred repeatedly and over time. In addition, it delves into the differential diagnosis of C-PTSD with other psychopathologies. Finally, a protocol for forensic psychological assessment is proposed based on C-PTSD as a clinical disorder, which explains the serious psychological impact on the evaluation of women victims of gender-based violence, considering this disorder as an alternative diagnostic hypothesis in the forensic psychological assessment of the psychological injury.