Philosophy behind cptsd.wiki
Simple explainer
This wiki was designed and written with the person suffering from the worst symptoms of CPTSD, such as emotional flashbacks, suicidal ideation or brain fog, in mind. So at the top of each page we will have a simple explainer where we will use simple language.
Why did you choose Wiki?
We chose MediaWiki (the same software used by Wikipedia) so that content can be edited and improved regularly as new insights and information come to the fore. Everything you read on the wiki will be the best information available at that point in time with the expectation that when new insights arise the wiki will be updated by people in the community.
An analogy might be software. Modern software is written by many people and when issues are found (often by users) it is checked, new code is written which fixes the issue in the form of an update. Updates can also add new features that users want. The software will likely still work without the update. However the update process ensures there is constant improvement and an acknowledgement that the software is not perfect but the intention is that it improves over time to the express benefit of the users.
We expect everyone at some point in their journey to take a break from working on the wiki and for new people to come in and add information on new therapeutic modalities, and understanding. The wiki format allows us to do that without being tied to the motivation and involvement of a single person.
Who wrote cptsd.wiki?
Most articles you see on the wiki are the result of collaboration by multiple people from within the CPTSD community. People just like you.
Unless otherwise stated, the writer is the voice of the cptsd.wiki community rather than a single person. Opinion pieces by a single author will be marked as such.
The personification of that voice is a friend in the cptsd community who has been in recovery longer than the reader and is sharing their experience with them. The writer understands that they haven’t experienced everything, and so do not want to state their experiences as universal facts but wants to share their wisdom with the reader.
How will the wiki differ from other resources?
There are excellent cptsd resources out there already and our aim is to be an additional, not a replacement, resource. Our focus will primarily be on the experience of people recovering and to light the path for those who are just getting started.
cptsd.wiki filters everything through the prism of someone recovering from CPTSD. To that end will be a biased resource but we will write for our users in a non-biased way.
But the primary difference is that we are a wiki and that means that our work is collaborative. We invite anyone with recovery wisdom, who shares in our goals, to share in our project. The experiences of the cptsd community, we hope, will create content of a higher quality and far more practical than could be done by a single person.
The wiki is aimed at everyone in the cptsd community from those in the midst of emotional flashbacks to those who have been in recovery for a long time. We are mindful that untreated cptsd does not always allow people to be able to take in the information being presented to them, so we will include simple explainers throughout for those with brain fog, in freeze responses or with cognitive impairment. We will also give readers of the wiki numerous ways to understand information through analogies, videos, videos of people’s experiences, scientific resources and more.
The aim of this wiki is to be the site for all quality cptsd resources.
What is your view on controversial or emotionally charged issues?
cptsd.wiki is a place where readers get to understand all sides of a topic without the pressure to pick one. A lot of the modern world is presented in a binary way, whereas real life is shades of grey. By presenting various sides of complex topics, readers can develop a deep understanding that will serve them well in their recovery.
Because we are not selling a particular product, modality, or viewpoint the reader gets to see the complex truth.
We have to be very mindful of what we include, and how we present controversial subjects. People have strong yet differing opinions on many topics given their trauma history and beliefs. Nobody has all the answers or the perfect healing strategy.
So we will present information as neutrally as possible while also giving people a real world understanding of the experience of having and healing from the illness. This will hopefully ensure that the wiki can be most things to most people and similarly not full of bias.
We are LGBTQI+ & BIPOC friendly.