(Note - this is important information so it is also posted elsewhere in this board.)
As many of us know, there has been ongoing debate among clinicians and researchers regarding CPTSD as an official diagnosis. See for example, the various articles from 2012 in the references; there was quite the 'to and fro' about this leading up to the publication of the 2015 edition of American Psychological Association Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Bryant, 2012; Herman, 2012; Resnick et al., 2012a, 2012b; Weiss, 2012). In the end, CPTSD was included in the DSM, but only as a subsection under the more well-known Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
Since then, however, there has been a growing body of research which provides evidence for including CPTSD as a unique or separate construct (Cloitre, Garvert, Weiss, Carlson & Bryant, 2014; Elklit, Hyland, & Shevlin, 2014; Hyland, 2016; Knefel, Garvert, Cloitre & Lueger-Schuster, 2015). As a result, it is anticipated that CPTSD will be included as a separate and distinct entity in the 11th version of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD11) to be published in 2017. It remains to be seen if this will be the case for the next edition of the APA diagnostic manual.
References
Bryant, R. A. (2012). Simplifying complex PTSD: Comment on Resick et al. (2012). Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(3), 252-253. doi:10.1002/jts.21696
Cloitre, M., Courtois, C., Ford, J. Green, B., Alexander, P., Briere, J., Herman, J. Lanius, R., Pearlman, L., Stolbach, B., Spinazzola, J. & van der Hart, O. (2012). ISTSS expert consensus treatment guidelines for Complex PTSD in adults. International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
Elklit, A., Hyland, P., & Shevlin, M. (2014). Evidence of symptom profiles consistent with posttraumatic stress disorder and complex posttraumatic stress disorder in different trauma samples. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 51(10). doi:10.3402/ejpt.v5.24221
Herman, J. (2012). CPTSD is a distinct entity: Comment on Resick et al. (2012). Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(3), 256-257. doi:10.1002/jts.21697
Hyland, P., Shevlin, M., Elklit, A., Murphy, J., Vallières, F., Garvert, D. W., & Cloitre, M. (2016). An Assessment of the Construct Validity of the ICD-11 Proposal for Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, And Policy, doi:10.1037/tra0000114
Knefel, M., Garvert, D. W., Cloitre, M., & Lueger-Schuster, B. (2015). Update to an evaluation of ICD-11 PTSD and complex PTSD criteria in a sample of adult survivors of childhood institutional abuse by Knefel & Lueger-Schuster (2013): a latent profile analysis. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 61-6. doi:10.3402/ejpt.v6.25290
Resick, P. A., Bovin, M. J., Calloway, A. L., A. M., King, M. W., Mitchell, K. S., & Wolf, E. J. (2012). A critical evaluation of the complex PTSD literature: Implications for DSM-5. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(3), 241-251. doi:10.1002/jts.21699
Resick, P. A., Wolf, E. J., Stirman, S. W., Wells, S. Y., Suvak, M. K., Mitchell, K. S., & ... Bovin, M. J. (2012). Advocacy through science: Reply to comments on Resick et al. (2012). Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(3), 260-263. doi:10.1002/jts.21702
Weiss, D. S. (2012). Introduction to the special feature on complex PTSD. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25(3), 239-240. doi:10.1002/jts.21711
Note: Unfortunately I cannot upload the articles due to length and copyright, but your GP and/or T will likely be able to do so if there is any requirement.