What is PTSD?
Post-traumatic stress disorder is a treatable mental health condition that can follow a frightening or life-threatening event. Here is what it is, why it happens, and why it is never a sign of weakness.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that some people develop after going through or witnessing a traumatic event. It can affect anyone at any age, and with the right care most people can feel better.
PTSD in plain language
When something terrifying happens, your brain and body switch into survival mode. Your heart races, your senses sharpen, and your memory records every detail so you can avoid danger in the future. This fight, flight, or freeze response is protective, and after most traumas it gradually settles down.
With PTSD, that alarm keeps going off long after the danger has passed. Small reminders, like a smell, a sound, a crowded room, or a date on the calendar, can make the body react as if the trauma is happening again. Over time many people start avoiding anything connected to the event, and their world gets smaller.
What kinds of events can lead to PTSD?
PTSD can follow any event that involves actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. It can develop after going through the event yourself, seeing it happen to someone else, learning that it happened to a close family member or friend, or being exposed to disturbing details again and again, as first responders often are.
Combat and military service
Deployment, combat, and military sexual trauma.
Assault and abuse
Physical or sexual assault, domestic violence, and childhood abuse.
Serious accidents
Car crashes, workplace injuries, and other sudden accidents.
Disasters and mass violence
Hurricanes, fires, floods, earthquakes, shootings, and terrorism.
Medical emergencies
Sudden, frightening events such as a heart attack, waking during surgery, or a traumatic birth.
Sudden loss
Learning that a close family member or friend died through violence or an accident.
Why do some people develop PTSD and others don't?
Most people who go through a trauma do not develop PTSD. About 6 in 100 people in the U.S. will have it at some point in their lives. Whether it develops depends on many things, and none of them mean a person is weak.
Things that raise the risk
- Trauma that is severe, long-lasting, or repeated
- Being injured, or seeing other people hurt or killed
- Feeling horror, helplessness, or extreme fear during the event
- Trauma in childhood or a history of other traumas
- Having little support from family and friends afterward
- Extra stress after the event, such as pain, injury, or losing a job, a home, or a loved one
- A personal history of mental health conditions or substance use
Things that help protect
- Reaching out to friends, family, or a support group
- Feeling good about how you acted in the face of danger
- Having a way of coping that helps you get through and learn from the event
- Being able to act and respond even while feeling afraid
Who gets PTSD?
Anyone can. PTSD affects people of every age, background, and walk of life, though some groups face higher risk:
- Women are about twice as likely as men to develop PTSD. About 8 in 100 women and 4 in 100 men will have it at some point.
- About 7 in 100 Veterans will have PTSD in their lifetime, and the rate is higher for those who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.
- Survivors of sexual assault are among the people most likely to develop it.
- First responders and health care workers see traumatic scenes again and again on the job.
- Children and teens can develop PTSD too, and it often looks different in them than in adults.
Normal stress reactions vs. PTSD
In the first days and weeks after a trauma it is common to feel shaken, sleep badly, replay what happened, or feel on edge. These are normal reactions to an abnormal event, and for most people they fade with time and support.
Doctors use the term acute stress disorder for intense symptoms between 3 days and 1 month after a trauma. Getting support early helps, and some people with acute stress disorder go on to develop PTSD.
When to get help
If symptoms last more than a month, keep getting worse, or make it hard to work, sleep, or connect with people, talk to a doctor or mental health professional. You do not need to wait until things feel unbearable.
What about complex PTSD?
Some people live through trauma that lasts months or years, often with no way to escape, such as ongoing childhood abuse, domestic violence, human trafficking, or captivity. The World Health Organization's ICD-11 recognizes complex PTSD (CPTSD) for these situations. It includes the core symptoms of PTSD plus long-lasting trouble managing emotions, a deeply negative view of oneself, and difficulty feeling close to others.
The U.S. diagnostic manual, the DSM-5-TR, does not list complex PTSD separately, but the same evidence-based treatments often help.
Myths and facts
Myth: Only Veterans get PTSD.
Fact: Anyone who goes through trauma can develop PTSD. Most people with PTSD in the U.S. are civilians.
Myth: PTSD means you are weak.
Fact: PTSD is a response to overwhelming events, not a character flaw. It happens to strong people every day.
Myth: You should be over it by now.
Fact: PTSD does not follow a timeline. Without treatment it can last for years, and it can also start long after the event.
Myth: Talking about it makes it worse.
Fact: Avoidance keeps PTSD going. Working through memories gradually, with a trained therapist, is one of the most effective treatments.
Myth: People with PTSD are dangerous.
Fact: The vast majority of people with PTSD are not violent. Stigma like this keeps people from asking for help.
Myth: Nothing really helps.
Fact: Effective treatments exist, and many people no longer have PTSD after completing them.
Where to go from here
Learn the symptoms and how PTSD is diagnosed, take the free self-check, or read about the treatments that work.
Sources
U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for PTSD. How Common Is PTSD in Adults? and How Common Is PTSD in Veterans?
National Institute of Mental Health. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
World Health Organization. ICD-11, 6B41 Complex post-traumatic stress disorder.
American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, Text Revision (DSM-5-TR), 2022.