Posttraumatic Stress Disorder & Trauma
Posttraumatic stress disorder is characterized by an exaggerated stress response after exposure to an extremely traumatic event. Symptoms must persist for at least one month and include avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma, emotional numbing, re-experiencing the trauma through recollections of the event in dreams or nightmares, and signs of heightened arousal such as difficulty sleeping, hypervigilance, irritability, and impaired concentration. PTSD often exists concurrently with depression and anxiety. Please visit the National Center for PTSD for further information.