In the United States, 60% of men and half of all women experience at least one traumatic event in their lives, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Center for PTSD. Roughly 8 million adults live with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Trauma exposure itself doesn’t mean everyone will experience PTSD. “We know that a number of variables put people at risk: prior trauma history, lack of social support, suffering an injury as a result of the trauma, and preexisting mental health issues,” said Holly O’Reilly, a clinical psychologist. The effects of trauma also accrue over time, she added, “So repeated trauma exposure will increase the likelihood of developing post-traumatic symptoms.”
PTSD is a mental health condition that some people develop following exposure to a traumatic event, said O’Reilly, who works at the Psychological Health Center of Excellence, a division of the Defense Health Agency Research and Development Directorate. Although anxiety and depression can overlap with PTSD symptoms, the conditions are different. Anxiety is a pattern of worrying or being fearful of something that could happen while depression refers to a depressed mood for two weeks or more, explained O’Reilly. “Individuals with symptoms of PTSD continue to be anxious as a result of a prior trauma experience or exposure,” she said.
An official diagnosis of PTSD requires exposure to a traumatic event and symptoms from four different categories. They include reliving trauma through intrusive memories; avoidance of any reminders of trauma; persistent negative thoughts and emotions associated with the trauma; and hyperarousal, which is consistently feeling “on edge,” particularly in response to reminders of the trauma. People may be easily startled, feel irritable, or have difficulty falling asleep.
Source: Invisible wounds: understanding PTSD, June 26, 2020. Health.mil.
