How complex trauma can affect us at work

Most of us think of trauma as a single, terrible event, a car crash, an assault, or a disaster. That's closer to the classic picture of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). One identifiable event that overwhelms us, leaving flashbacks, nightmares and a nervous system stuck on high alert.

Complex trauma works slightly differently. It builds up over time, and develops from prolonged, deeply stressful experiences. Complex PTSD, or C-PTSD, comes from inescapable situations, like childhood emotional neglect, growing up with unpredictability or criticism, being a child survivor of domestic violence, an abusive relationship, or chronic bullying. 

Unsurprisingly, the symptoms can be life-altering and affect all aspects of life, including work. 

The symptoms of complex trauma at work

“Often profoundly, and often invisibly, C-PTSD affects us at work because the workplace is full of the very dynamics that shaped the original wound: Power, authority figures, evaluation, belonging, the fear of getting it wrong,” says Counselling Directory member Tina Chummun.

Complex trauma can show up as chronic people pleasing or an inability to say no, because you’ve learned to keep others happy as a survival strategy. “It also shows up as perfectionism that never feels satisfied, as taking a single piece of feedback and spiralling with it in mind for days, as reading a manager's short email as evidence of impending disaster,” says Chummun. 

“A closed office door or an unexpected ‘can we have a chat?’ can trigger a genuine threat response, complete with a racing heart and flooding dread, entirely out of proportion to the actual situation.”

There's a nervous system explanation for this. When someone has lived through long-lasting early stress, the brain's threat detection system, otherwise known as the amygdala, becomes finely tuned to danger. At the same time, the body's stress hormone response system becomes more easily triggered.

(Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels)

Because many traumatic experiences occur during childhood and adolescence, when the brain, nervous system, and sense of self are still developing, these reactions become deeply ingrained. Long after the original threat has disappeared, the nervous system may continue to respond as though danger is still present, shaping how a person experiences and reacts to stress throughout life.

“So, a trauma-shaped nervous system is quicker to read ordinary workplace moments as threats and slower to settle afterwards. The result is a woman who often looks like the most capable person in the room while privately running on adrenaline, braced for a criticism or a rejection that, more often than not, never comes.”

What might seem like ordinary workplace situations are interpreted differently in those with a nervous system shaped by trauma. Where PTSD often tells us the world is dangerous, Chummun explains that complex trauma tends to whisper something more personal. “It tells us that we aren’t safe, we aren’t enough and that we have to earn our place,” she says.

“It frequently doesn't look like trauma from the outside. Many people carrying it are high achieving, competent and endlessly reliable, which is exactly why it so often goes unrecognised, including by the person living with it.”

How complex trauma contributes to burnout

If you've learned to believe that your worth depends on being useful, productive or needed, just ‘doing your job’ can feel unsafe. Setting boundaries, asking for help or delegating may trigger guilt rather than relief. Instead, you overfunction, constantly pushing yourself to do more, leading to burnout.

“You say yes when you're already at capacity. You treat exhaustion as weakness and push through it,” says Chummun. “You keep proving yourself to people who never actually asked you to. That isn't laziness or poor time management, it's your survival brain and strategy running on autopilot, and it's exhausting precisely because it never switches off.”

Complex trauma has a physiological cost. A nervous system that is constantly primed for threat keeps the body's stress response activated far more often than it's designed to be. Over time, persistently elevated stress hormones take a toll on both physical and mental health, disrupting sleep, impairing concentration, affecting mood, weakening the immune system and leaving the body in a constant state of depletion.

“The trauma survivor often arrives at burnout faster and harder because she was carrying a heavier internal load long before the workload was added on top. The burnout is real, but it's the smoke, not the fire, so to speak,” adds Chummun.

"A trauma-shaped nervous system is quicker to read ordinary workplace moments as threats"

Tina Chummun, psychotherapist

How to navigate complex trauma

Move from self-criticism to self-compassion

Recovery begins by replacing self-criticism with self-understanding. “So many women berate themselves for being ‘too sensitive’ or ‘not coping’, when what's actually happening is that a nervous system did exactly what it learned to do to keep them safe,” says Chummun. “Recognising that these patterns are adaptations, not flaws, is where change begins, because you cannot heal something you're busy being ashamed of.”

The three A's

Chummun uses a framework called the three A's: awareness, acceptance and authentic communication.

Awareness is noticing your emotional and physical signals before you move into autopilot, such as tension before sending an email or anxiety around setting a boundary. Acceptance means meeting those responses with compassion, recognising them as adaptations rather than flaws. Authentic Communication is where change happens, through small actions like saying no, leaving on time and allowing ‘good enough’ to be enough.

Healing the nervous system

Recovery also means learning to regulate your nervous system. Simple techniques, such as slowing and lengthening your exhale, can signal safety to the brain and help calm the body's stress response. 

Undoing negative beliefs about self-worth can take more than self-help. “Trauma-informed therapy can help address the underlying causes of burnout rather than simply managing its symptoms,” says Chummun.

Remember recovery is possible

Because these patterns were learned, they can be unlearned. The goal isn't to become less committed, but to stop working from fear and start working from a place of security, where rest is allowed, self-worth is not tied to achievement, and you no longer have to burn yourself out to prove your value.