Dark Side Of CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)

This biro pen drawing is my representation of CPTSD, a condition shaped not by a single moment, but by repetition, by what lingers long after it should have ended.

The figure is fractured, not cleanly, but in layers, as if the body itself is built from tension and memory. The lines are chaotic, overlapping, relentless, mirroring the way trauma embeds itself, not as something in the past, but something that continues to exist in the present.

The face is caught in a silent scream, a release that never fully leaves. It speaks to the internal state, where the body holds onto what the voice cannot always express. There is no clear beginning or end to the lines, just continuation, reflecting the way CPTSD does not follow a single narrative, but loops, repeats, resurfaces.

The darkness surrounding the figure is not separate, it seeps into the form, becoming part of it. This is the weight of hypervigilance, of being unable to fully rest, of always being aware, even in stillness.

Yet within the chaos, the figure remains. It has not disappeared, it has endured. The form may be fractured, but it still holds together.

This piece is not about the trauma itself, but about what it leaves behind. The patterns, the echoes, the way it reshapes the self over time.

This is a reflection of survival, of carrying what was never meant to be carried, and continuing anyway.