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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD )Often associated with war veterans,PTSD or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, can occur in anyone who has experienced a severe and unusual physical or mental trauma. People who have witnessed a big explosion or survived a life-threatening crime may develop this illness. The severity of the disorder increases if the trauma was unanticipated. For that reason, not all war veterans develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, despite prolonged and brutal combat. Soldiers expect a certain amount of violence. Rape victims for example however, are unsuspecting of the attack on their lives. People who suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder re-experience the event that traumatized them. They may also suffer from Nightmares, or night terrors. They may have flashbacks of the event.In rare cases, the person falls into a temporary dislocation from reality in which he or she relives the trauma. This can last for seconds or days. They may experience emotional "numbness".Victims have decreased interest in or involvement with people or activities they once enjoyed. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder can make a person excessively alert, and they often have a highly sharpened startle reaction. A car backfiring might cause people once subjected to gunfire to instinctively drop to the ground. A person suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder may try to center their lives around the subject of their trauma. A person who has been through a war for example, may tell and retell the story of their most traumatic experience during the war on a daily basis, or even several times during the day. They may keep memorabilia that reminds them of the event displayed predominantly in their living space and return to look at it obsessively. Many people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder may also suffer with : General anxiety symptoms depression inability to sleep poor memory, or a lapse in memory difficulty concentrating or completing tasks survivor's guilt.
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