Has anyone experience delayed affective development due to CPTSD?

[BeeBeen]

What I mean by "delayed affective development" are things like not knowing how to give an hug or how to play with others.

I was misdiagnosed as having autism as a child due to it, I think I actually had RAD.

[woodsgnome]

Hi, BeeBeen. Yes, I can relate to the hug factor right off the top. Decades later, I still can't hug comfortably, as it never happened until I was an adult. Plus any touch as a youth came with bad to awful vibes.

There's lots of other arrested development traits I can identify but the list is pretty long so won't go into it except to say this kind of thing created a social awkwardness I've been slow to handle to where I feel like I'm a person living in a bubble, observing the world out there. Although I can be very friendly, anything beyond -- like a simple handshake -- can get me off stride, at least inside where my ever-alert self is very careful around people.

So I can understand how this must be for you. That said, there's a safety here and this handy but heartfelt method --  -- of expressing what is normally so difficult.

[Snookiebookie]

Woodsgnome, I like how you describe "living in a bubble, observing the world out there". It accurately described my disconnectedness.

BeeBeen, I think miss a lot of social cues due to not having experience or knowledge.  And I don't know how to make friends. I just simply don't know how, or how I should act. People take this as disinterest or rudeness.   

[LearnToLoveTheRide]

Hi BeeBeen

Yes, I can relate completely. In fact, I've been diagnosed Schizoid Personality Disorder as a comorbidity specifically due to these arrested development traits. I can't name them because I simply don't know I'm missing them - woods for the trees type of thing.

Be easy on yourself... LTLTR