WHAT IS PTSD?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a distinct set of psychological symptoms that a person may develop after an especially horrifying or traumatic experience. This experience usually includes a threat to physical safety, or the safety of a companion or loved one, and results in feelings of helplessness, fear, and horror at the time of the event.
When the psychological impact of such an event does not diminish, but instead continues to affect a person's quality of life for months and years afterward, a diagnosis of PTSD may be appropriate.
PTSD YESTERDAY AND TODAY
Historically, PTSD was most commonly recognized in combat veterans who repeatedly witnessed and experienced violent and life-threatening events. It was known among military personnel as "shell shock" or "battle fatigue." In the early 1980's, these symptoms became recognized as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Currently, PTSD is understood to affect hundreds of thousands of men and women, both military and civilian. It can be triggered by events including combat exposure, sexual assault, abuse, accidents, and natural disasters.
The most common symptoms of PTSD are:
- sleep disturbance
- avoidance of reminders of the event
- mental and emotional replays of the event
- a tendency to become easily startled
- hypervigilance (hyper-awareness of possible threats)
- difficulties in recognizing or expressing emotion (feeling, numb, detached, or depressed)
Anyone can experience temporary PTSD symptoms as part of the normal response to traumatic stress – a motor vehicle accident, for example. But when these symptoms persist or even increase over time, the condition is identified as PTSD.
In delayed-onset PTSD, which sometimes occurs, a person begins to experience these symptoms months or even years after the trauma, rather than immediately after it.
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