Understanding Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Its Symptoms

It's normal to have upsetting memories, feel on edge, or have trouble sleeping after a traumatic event (also called "trauma"). At first, it may be hard to do daily activities you are used to doing, like go to work, go to school, or spend time with people you care about. But most people start to feel better after a few weeks or months. For some people, post-traumatic stress (PTSD) symptoms may start later, or they may come and go over time.

If it's been longer than a few months and thoughts and feelings from the trauma are upsetting you or causing problems in your life, you may have PTSD.

Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a serious potentially debilitating condition that can occur in people who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic event, such as a natural disaster, serious accident, terrorist incident, sudden death of a loved one, war, violent personal assault such as rape, or other life-threatening events. There are currently about 12 million people in the United States living with PTSD and that is only a small portion of those who have gone through a traumatic event.

It’s not unusual for people who have experienced traumatic events to have flashbacks, nightmares, or intrusive memories when something terrible happens — like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and those in cities around the world, school shootings, the COVID-19 pandemic, or active military combat. 

Be tolerant of your nervous system: it’s having a normal reaction. Try not to get hooked on news reports, which may seem particularly compelling. Spend time with loved ones, in favorite activities or outside in nature, and avoid alcohol.

But if these symptoms persist over months or years or cause you to drop into deep depression or anxiety, it is possible you have developed PTSD. You can take a self-screening test to help you find out if your feelings and behaviors may be related to PTSD, but keep in mind that only a trained provider can diagnose PTSD. 

There are treatments available that can help. Learn more below about statistics, treatments, and resources for PTSD below.

Statistics

Many people experience a traumatic event at some point in their lives, the National Center for PTSD found that about 6 of every 10 men (or 60%) and 5 of every 10 women (or 50%) experience at least one trauma in their lives¹. It's typical for those people to recover from that event over time, but people who develop PTSD continue to be severely depressed and anxious for months or even years following the event. And PTSD often occurs with depression, substance abuse, or other anxiety disorders. (The following statistics are based on the U.S. population):

Adults:

• About 6 out of every 100 people (or 6% of the population) will have PTSD at some point in their lives
• About 12 million adults in the U.S. have PTSD during a given year. This is only a small portion of those who have gone through a trauma
• About 8 of every 100 women (or 8%) develop PTSD sometime in their lives compared with about 4 of every 100 men (or 4%).
• Women are 2x more likely to develop PTSD than men, and children can also develop PTSD

Children and Teens:

• 15% to 43% of girls and 14% to 43% of boys go through at least one trauma
• Of those children and teens who have had a trauma, 3% to 15% of girls and 1% to 6% of boys develop PTSD

Veterans:

PTSD does not solely affect deployed, active duty military officers. PTSD can affect any unit of special forces such as first responders, the National Guard, or police forces. These statistics are specifically of PTSD in Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans. 10.9% of non-deployed officers and 15.7% of deployed officers develop PTSD.

PTSD Symptoms

PTSD is diagnosed after a person experiences symptoms for at least one month following a traumatic event. However symptoms may not appear until several months or even years later. The disorder is characterized by three main types of symptoms:

• Re-experiencing the trauma through intrusive distressing recollections of the event, flashbacks, and nightmares.
• Emotional numbness and avoidance of places, people, and activities that are reminders of the trauma.
• Increased arousal such as difficulty sleeping and concentrating, feeling jumpy, and being easily irritated and angered

Diagnosis criteria that apply to adults, adolescents, and children older than six include those below. 

Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violation:

• directly experiencing the traumatic events 
• witnessing, in person, the traumatic events
• learning that the traumatic events occurred to a close family member or close friend; cases of actual or threatened death must have been violent or accidental
• experiencing repeated or extreme exposure to aversive details of the traumatic events (Examples are first responders collecting human remains; police officers repeatedly exposed to details of child abuse). Note: This does not apply to exposure through electronic media, television, movies, or pictures, unless exposure is work-related.

The presence of one or more of the following:

• spontaneous or cued recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive distressing memories of the traumatic events (Note: In children repetitive play may occur in which themes or aspects of the traumatic events are expressed.)
• recurrent distressing dreams in which the content or affect (i.e. feeling) of the dream is related to the events (Note: In children there may be frightening dreams without recognizable content.)
• flashbacks or other dissociative reactions in which the individual feels or acts as if the traumatic events are recurring (Note: In children trauma-specific reenactment may occur in play.)
• intense or prolonged psychological distress at exposure to internal or external cues that symbolize or resemble an aspect of the traumatic events
• physiological reactions to reminders of the traumatic events

Persistent avoidance of distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings about or closely associated with the traumatic events or of external reminders (i.e., people, places, conversations, activities, objects, situations)

Two or more of the following:

• inability to remember an important aspect of the traumatic events (not due to head injury, alcohol, or drugs)
• persistent and exaggerated negative beliefs or expectations about oneself, others, or the world (e.g., “I am bad,” “No one can be trusted,” "The world is completely dangerous"). 
• persistent, distorted blame of self or others about the cause or consequences of the traumatic events
• persistent fear, horror, anger, guilt, or shame
• markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities
• feelings of detachment or estrangement from others
• persistent inability to experience positive emotions

Two or more of the following marked changes in arousal and reactivity:

• irritable or aggressive behavior
• reckless or self-destructive behavior
• hypervigilance
• exaggerated startle response
• problems with concentration
• difficulty falling or staying asleep or restless sleep

Also, clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning not attributed to the direct physiological effects of medication, drugs, or alcohol or another medical condition, such as traumatic brain injury.