Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric stress and anxiety condition caused by witnessing or participating in a traumatic incident. According to the American Psychiatric Association (APA), a traumatic event creates a sense of “fear, helplessness, or horror.” However, PTSD is not necessarily an inevitable consequence of a traumatic occurrence, and research is yet to determine why some people acquire PTSD and others do not. The definition and recognition of PTSD primarily arose through the observation and recording of veterans’ postwar experiences. Often culturally associated with the Vietnam War, combat-related PTSD has been known by other names in the past, such as “soldier’s heart,” “shell-shock,” “war neurosis,” “battle fatigue,” and “combat trauma.” Throughout the 20th century, the nature and therapy of traumatic syndromes resembling PTSD ...