IMPORTANT FACTS ABOUT POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER1:
Post-traumatic stress disorder affects people who have experienced a traumatic
event such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious
accidents, or personal assaults such as rape.
Symptoms include nightmares and flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, and feelings of
detachment/estrangement. Symptoms can be persistent and severe enough to
significantly impair a patient's daily life.
PTSD often occurs in conjunction with related disorders such as depression,
substance abuse, and problems with memory and cognition. It may also affect a
person's ability to function at work, in a marriage, or as a parent.
Those more likely to experience PTSD include:
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Those who experience greater stressor magnitude and intensity,
unpredictability, uncontrollability, sexual (as opposed to nonsexual)
victimization, real or perceived responsibility, and betrayal.
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Those with prior vulnerability factors such as genetics, early age of onset and
longer-lasting childhood trauma, lack of functional social support, and
concurrent stressful life events.
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Those who report greater perceived threat or danger, suffering, upset, terror,
and horror or fear.
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Those with a social environment that produces shame, guilt, stigmatization or
self-hatred.
1. National Center for PTSD Fact Sheet.
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