Complex PTSD doesn't seem to go hand-in-hand with mental illness, according to that link. I have the hypervigilance, but I also have raging mental illness of one sort or another. Can one have both mental illness and CPTSD?

I can think of a few things that I experienced while incarcerated that could have easily caused PTSD in anyone. There are things that I have never told a living soul that I endured while incarcerated, nor have any intention of doing so.

Which brings up another question that probably deserves its own thread: Is the mental illness that can arise in people while incarcerated for lengthy periods of time, manifesting often as PTSD-like symptoms upon release, deserved as part of their sentence?

I've had people tell me, "Well, if you didn't put yourself there, you wouldn't be in the situation you're in now." You'll never hear me claim I was innocent, but does that abrogate my right to complain about my current situation that has resulted from both the incarceration and the resultant mental illness? Does that also negate the injustice of mental illness being afflicted upon me by incompetent, lying, manipulative therapists using their position to inflict suffering upon those they deem deserving of it simply because they can and will always get away with it?

I feel most days like Mad Max after he was put on a horse with his hands tied behind his back and sent off to die in the desert.