Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following some experience or witnessing of life-threatening events. Some of those events are military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. The fact is that not all the eyewitnesses develop this disorder- in fact- most survivors of trauma return to normal given a little time. But, some people will have stress reactions that do not go away on their own, or may even get worse over time.

History of PTSD
Although many consider this disorder as something new and “fancy”- it isn't like that at all. Although careful research and documentation of PTSD began in earnest after the Vietnam War- PTSD is not a new disorder and there are written accounts of similar symptoms that go back to ancient times. There are also good descriptions of posttraumatic stress symptoms in the medical literature on combat veterans of World War II and on Holocaust survivors.
Incidence of the condition

A national study of American civilians conducted in 1995 estimated that the lifetime prevalence of PTSD was 5% in men and 10% in women. A revision of this study done in 2005, reports that PTSD occurs in about 8% of all Americans. At least 3.6% of U.S. adults have PTSD during the course of a year. About 30 percent of the men and women who have spent time in war zones experience PTSD. One million war veterans developed PTSD after serving in Vietnam. PTSD has also been detected among veterans of the Persian Gulf War. PTSD can develop at any age, including in childhood and in 60s. Symptoms typically begin within 3 months of a traumatic event, although occasionally they do not begin until years later.

• Signs and symptoms of PTSD
• Most affected population
• Pathophysiology of the PTSD
• Co-occurring psychiatric disorders
• Cancer as PTSD-trauma
• Diagnosis of PSTD
• Treatment of PSTD
• Possible complications if left untreated