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<p>The paper analyses <i>Squid Game</i> (Seasons 1–2) released in year 2021 and 2024 respectively in light of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), a psychological syndrome associated with long-standing exposure to structural violence, emotional abuse and systemic marginalisation. The study analyses how <i>Squid Game</i> visualizes trauma as a condition of social and psychological entrapment sustained rather than isolated through the analysis of the series’ narrative structure, character arcs, and recurring motifs. C-PTSD is paralleled by this depiction of debt, exploitation, betrayal, and coerced competition in the series. Seong Gi-hun, Kang Sae-byeok and Cho Sang-woo are not just players in a lethal game; they are offspring of emotional neglect, abandonment, and economic disenfranchisement. These are repeated behaviors, which go from emotional numbness to moral decay, and are identical to the main characteristics of C-PTSD, including multiple personality, hypervigilance and compulsive coping techniques. It also interprets the aesthetics of the series: surreal game arenas, disembodied authority, and childlike symbols as metaphors for dissociation, emotional regression, and the inner landscapes of unresolved trauma. Trauma is no longer merely depicted in <i>Squid Game</i>; it is made into the sensory: viewers are urged to be smeared by the tension, the cost, and the betrayal of being alive. This article also situates <i>Squid Game</i> within contemporary trauma and media studies, expanding the framework through theoretical concepts derived from the work of Judith Herman, Bessel van der Kolk, and Cathy Caruth. It contributes to trauma-informed media criticism by linking psychological theory with audiovisual form.</p>

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Reading Squid Game through the Lens of Complex PTSD: Trauma, Survival, and the Fractured Self

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月13日

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  • Sonika Sheoran,
  • Nipun Kalia,
  • Srishti Kapri

摘要

The paper analyses Squid Game (Seasons 1–2) released in year 2021 and 2024 respectively in light of Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD), a psychological syndrome associated with long-standing exposure to structural violence, emotional abuse and systemic marginalisation. The study analyses how Squid Game visualizes trauma as a condition of social and psychological entrapment sustained rather than isolated through the analysis of the series’ narrative structure, character arcs, and recurring motifs. C-PTSD is paralleled by this depiction of debt, exploitation, betrayal, and coerced competition in the series. Seong Gi-hun, Kang Sae-byeok and Cho Sang-woo are not just players in a lethal game; they are offspring of emotional neglect, abandonment, and economic disenfranchisement. These are repeated behaviors, which go from emotional numbness to moral decay, and are identical to the main characteristics of C-PTSD, including multiple personality, hypervigilance and compulsive coping techniques. It also interprets the aesthetics of the series: surreal game arenas, disembodied authority, and childlike symbols as metaphors for dissociation, emotional regression, and the inner landscapes of unresolved trauma. Trauma is no longer merely depicted in Squid Game; it is made into the sensory: viewers are urged to be smeared by the tension, the cost, and the betrayal of being alive. This article also situates Squid Game within contemporary trauma and media studies, expanding the framework through theoretical concepts derived from the work of Judith Herman, Bessel van der Kolk, and Cathy Caruth. It contributes to trauma-informed media criticism by linking psychological theory with audiovisual form.