A Phenomenological Account of CPTSD

This chapter offers a phenomenological analysis of complex PTSD (CPTSD), reframing trauma as a disruption of the affective, temporal, bodily, and narrative structures that constitute subjectivity. Drawing on Husserl’s concepts of passive synthesis, time-consciousness, and affectivity, trauma is shown to persist not as a past event, but as a latent and recurring presence that fragments the self. Complementary insights from Heidegger and Lévinas highlight trauma as an ontological rupture and ethical accusation that resists assimilation into narrative meaning. CPTSD is explored across five axes—time, affect, body, imagination, and identity—revealing how trauma distorts memory, disrupts bodily orientation, colonizes symbolic thinking, and fractures the ego’s coherence. First-person testimonies are used to illustrate these effects. This chapter concludes by proposing a healing approach grounded in phenomenological epoché and interaffective exercises, emphasizing the reconstitution of presence rather than a return to pre-trauma normalcy. This model centers embodied awareness, emotional regulation, and relational attunement as the basis for recovery. Trauma is thus recast not merely as a clinical condition, but as a fundamental existential disturbance that requires philosophical, therapeutic, and ethical attention.