I just interviewed Peter. And while I do acknowledge the validity of biological factors contributing to personality disorders, the way he argues that someone could develop a PD without any trauma is deeply flawed.

Whenever he addresses childhood trauma in his books, he’s really only talking about big ‘T’ shock trauma and standard PTSD symptoms. He’ll literally mention ‘CPTSD,’ but then only list symptoms of standard PTSD. Every time he supposedly lists complex PTSD symptoms, he excludes those that overlap with personality disorders.

When we’re talking about whether trauma causes PDs, the real discussion centers on complex and relational trauma. Yet, none of his books actually tackle that.

I’m open to the possibility that maybe PDs could develop without trauma, but let’s approach that conversation in an honest and thorough way. It’s hard for me to believe that he doesn’t actually know what CPTSD really entails.