Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Also known as "PTSD"

What Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Syndrome (PTSD)?

Post traumatic stress disorder syndrome is a condition that is brought on by a traumatic event in someone’s life that they are unable to put behind them. Events like an airplane crash, sexual assault or an experience during military service are common causes of PTSD. The individual that has been affected simply cannot get the images and the event out of their thoughts and they will constantly relive the events that they experienced.

You can imagine how traumatic this must be for those individuals as they relive the worst moment of their life over and over again. Anyone suffering from this must undergo mental therapy and over time, they will hopefully understand the grip that this event has on their life and will hopefully be able to put it behind them or at least confront it to a point that they are no longer allowing it to control their lives.

Some interesting numbers are available to show how much this condition affects people in our country. Over half of our population will experience some type of major traumatic event and of those individuals; about 10% will end up with PTSD. These percentages are higher in women than men because of one factor; they are more subject to rape (about 10x more likely) and therefore are much more likely to suffer from PTSD.

There is also an interesting fact that the bulk, over 80% overall, of people that have PSTD, also have another form of mental disorder. Depression is very common and understandable for people with PSTD, and they are also known to suffer from illnesses such as anxiety attacks, phobias and are more prone to develop drug and alcohol dependencies.

PTSD is a very real problem in our country and must be taken serious. Everyone deals with things in different manners and you never know what is going to put you over the edge. It could be a culmination of events or one major happening that just takes psyche and just destroys it.