Sasuke & c-PTSD: a meta
okay so I talk a lot about this headcanon and I decided to finally do a detailed meta about it.
first and foremost, let’s talk about what c-PTSD is. c-PTSD stands for complex post-traumatic stress disorder, a differing disorder from the more common PTSD. it’s worth noting that c-PTSD isn’t an officially recognized disorder in the DSM - it’s been deemed too similar to PTSD and BPD for its own diagnosis, but it’s still used informally and I believe has its merit. I have PTSD and would describe it more specifically as c-PTSD.
anyway, onto the specifics, and what this means for Sasuke himself:
1. the trauma
putting under a cut because this baby is looong and image-heavy. sorry if you’re mobile and it shows the whole thing.
when talking about sasuke, i don’t think i have to delve too deep into what and why it is that traumatized him. the core of his entire character is based around the night his brother slaughtered his family, changing his life forever.
now, one of the determining factors of c-ptsd vs ptsd, is that the trauma is:
- extended/over a long period of time (as opposed to singular brief event)
- repeated, multiple traumas
- and/or the sort of trauma from which one feels like they can’t escape.
it could be argued that the uchiha massacre is a single event and therefore doesnt qualify. however, i would argue that this isn’t enough to cancel it out. for one:
the massacre lasted three days for sasuke. it wasn’t just seeing the massacre itself - it was watching it on loop, over and over in itachi’s tsukuyomi. time works… weird in the tsukuyomi. it’s said to last 72 hours, but when kakashi was in the tsukuyomi, one stabbing took one second of this supposed timeline. so, assuming we can put the same logic of one massacre loop taking one second, sasuke saw this over 500,000 times.
furthermore, i dont think the massacre was the end of trauma for sasuke:
to recover from post-traumatic stress and not develop the disorder, one needs distance from the trauma. this is not something sasuke is given or allows himself to have. he lives in the same house as where the trauma occurred for roughly five years, and by the looks of his other symptoms/goals, is not benefiting him through exposure/de-sensitization. i would argue this is consistently re-traumatizing.
without proper care and development of healthy bonds, sasuke remains completely alone - and a child without any care or support can be just as traumatized from that alone.
this isn’t even going into the potential implications of re-traumatization through his victimization at the hands of orochimaru, and later on obito, which would only compound his issues.
2. affect regulation
one of the parts of sasuke’s character that gets completely mischaracterized one way or the other is how emotional he is. he tends to either be depicted as entirely explosive with anger or nearly void of it at all. this doesn’t come from nowhere - sasuke displays these extremes consistently throughout the manga.
this panel and the one i posted above are literally two pages apart - rapidly cycling between completely inhibited or explosive expressions of anger. this is shown most clearly in scenes like this, post-itachi’s death, when he’s arguably at his most fragile, but other examples would be the way he seems completely detached from his emotions for the majority of the first half of shippuden:
whereas he seems almost completely consumed by anger throughout part 1:
these emotional extremes are a key part of c-ptsd, and tend to be far more recognized in it than ptsd.
next, under affect regulation falls self-harm, suicidal ideation, and self-destructive behaviors:
one thing i can say for sasuke is he’s not prone to as overt of self-harming gestures. this scene where he slams his fist into a wall over and over again is the only one i could think of of that sort of obvious behavior. but that doesn’t mean it’s the only kind of self harm.
he has little regard for his well-being over his goals. strength and testing himself are higher in his priorities than safety, and i wouldn’t be surprised if he considers pain as deserved punishment for his weakness.
when it comes to suicidal tendencies, this is honestly a central part of sasuke and his story. he’s willing to sacrifice literally anything for his goals - even his own life.
for a time it seemed evident he was putting things above his goals - the lives of his comrades. but this was still always put before his own life.
orochimaru commented bonds were making him weak and willing to throw his life away for others, whereas a true ‘avenger’ should focus on his goal above all else. neither behavior is healthy, and both show a tendency towards reckless suicidal behavior. yet one was perhaps a stepping stone towards recovery, which orochimaru sought to eliminate.
bizarrely, in a way, it is his goal that keeps him alive for as long as he has been. ‘living only to kill you’ implies a lack of will to live outside of it to me.
after itachi’s death, sasuke is then left without a proper goal. he quickly clings to the one presented to him by obito during a time of great vulnerability - sticking to revenge as is his comfort zone, and in fact one of even greater self-destructive implications. sasuke spent the better part of a decade training tirelessly to kill one man. he can’t possibly believe he can so easily destroy an entire ninja village near singlehandedly, much less by starting with attacking the acting hokage in a highly secure international political summit. these actions are reckless at best, genuinely suicidal at worst. and therefore fits with that part of this.
let’s move on now though since this is getting long.
3. consciousness
one of the common/important symptoms of c-ptsd is dissociation, which can be used fairly broadly, but at its basis is a disconnection from one’s self/present/physical reality/etc. this is incredibly common in coping during trauma, to disconnect from the horror of reality as it happens, but absolutely in the aftermath in order to cope then as well. we see this greatly here in the scene directly after sasuke wakes up from his coma after fighting itachi. i don’t think it needs to be said why this would put him in such a fragile state.
sometimes it’s more obvious than others, but also he kind of does this. a lot
like.
a lot.
further as part of consciousness, is reliving experiences, both through literal flashbacks and obsessively ruminating on the trauma.
after first receiving his curse mark, we see sasuke thrown directly into visual/all-encompassing flashbacks of his trauma. and this isn’t the last time we see him have this reaction either. during his reunion with itachi, its pretty clear that the encounter brings back some horrible memories for him.
another example being during his breakdown brought on by obito’s reveal of the truth of the uchiha massacre. through his flashbacks, he has a severe panic attack, to the point that he passes out and obito restrains him.
on a broader scale, i would say that sasuke literally never lets himself stop thinking about his trauma. it’s in everything he does, every choice he makes. so even without direct showcases, it can be assumed he has ruminating thoughts of it near constantly. making the obsessive reliving of trauma a part of one’s personality is especially common in c-ptsd.
one last thing under this section that i think is relevant is sasuke’s intense fear in early missions.
he gets overwhelmed by his fear and freezes - jumping to suicidal ideation just to escape the fear.
4. self-perception
at his core, sasuke is deeply insecure and plagued by feelings of guilt and shame. he sees himself as being to blame for the massacre, for not being able to protect his family. then, as he gets older, he feels shame for not being able to be strong enough even to avenge them. his desperation for power and to achieve his goal as fast as he can rests in this shame, always feeling like he should be better and that he never is quite good enough.
constructed both by the system in which he lives, and the identity that itachi built for him as an avenger, he places his sense of self in being strong and capable. and when this is displaced, he crumbles back into this shame of being inferior and not enough.
i know i’ve talked a lot about this hospital scene a lot already, but - here sasuke is dealing with jealousy of naruto, but more notably, inferiority and uselessness. he was unable to protect naruto from itachi, or stand at all against him. no wonder this sends him spiraling for some sense of control.
after finding out the truth of the massacre, this shame shifts in sasuke and takes new form. he already dealt with survivor’s guilt, but this multiplies with the discovery itachi’s choice being one of love, not selfish, malicious gain. he likely perceived his survival before as punishment, as a way for itachi to make him suffer worse than death, but with the new-found insight it only leaves him heavier with guilt.
additionally under self-perception is a sense of specialness or difference from others. which uh. i dont feel like i have to explain this much. sasuke feels as if no one understands him, and this his experience is entirely unique. this is both entirely terrifying to him, as well as being where he draws much of his identity, for better or worse. and so when this is challenged, he responds as if he’s being threatened.
5. perception of perpetrator
in c-ptsd, we see a preoccupation with the perpetrator of the trauma, most specifically with revenge against said perpetrator. especially in older children and adolescents, this is often the best way one can see to cope, and this certainly applies to sasuke.
additionally under this, we can see the victim tending to accept the perpetrator’s rationalizations and belief systems. sasuke doesn’t do this so directly, but he certainly does to an extent.
itachi tells him to become strong, to become an avenger and kill him. and so he does, accepting this guidance readily in the face of horrible trauma. after all, even if itachi is the source of his pain, he was his most loved and trusted family member. he can’t throw this out so easily. itachi paints himself as evil, and sasuke accepts this performance readily.
i could go on here but frankly… it makes me sad and involves a great deal of speculation. so im moving on.
6. relations with others
here’s the fun part. (it’s not fun).
so a huge part of c-ptsd is isolation and withdrawal from interpersonal relationships, often self-induced. there’s a lot of fear of emotional attachment, for fear that one will get hurt like they were before, either from abuse or loss.
we see sasuke first start to really, truly pull back from his relationships after the encounter with itachi. sure, he was a little distant before, but nothing like this.
sasuke is terrified here, and he’s pulling out all the stops to return to isolation without bonds. it’s easier not to care about something because then you don’t have to be scared of losing it - and this personal self-destruction of relationships is unfortunately common for those with c-ptsd.
he’s slow to trust, if he ever does, on anything resembling a genuine fundamental level. despite taka’s importance to him, he never manages to truly emotionally open up to them. i don’t doubt for a minute that if he’d been concerned with that happening he would’ve ditched em immediately.
solitude is safe for sasuke, but it’s also why we never truly see him start his road to recovery until the very end of the manga. he can’t heal alone.
i… was going to add one more section, delving into his systems of meaning / faith, but i think i would largely be repeating myself. his sense of purpose and identity are entirely based in revenge, and shatter without that as an anchor.
so, in conclusion:
the boy’s traumatized, and specifically in ways that make him prone to struggling with morality, meaning, and emotional connection.
his trauma greatly impacted his development and ability to emotionall attach or detach. so. i think he’s got C-PTSD. honestly, writing much of this meta felt… obvious, or redundant. but also i probably skipped things because it felt simple to me. feel free to talk to me about it! also, i’m by no means a diagnostic professional lol. i’m just a traumatized naruto blogger that sees a lot of myself in sasuke. so. there it is. i’m tired please take this 2k meta from me
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