I’ve heard about Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. What exactly is it?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (or PTSD) is a psychological condition, characterized by anxiety, withdrawal, and a proneness to physical illness that may follow a traumatic experience. Although this is different for different people, the most common traumatic events include rape, kidnapping, military operations, catastrophes, torture, mugging, child abuse and other events that make the person feel extremely helpless and terrified. Many PTSD patients are not able to get rid of thoughts, nightmares and flashbacks that make their symptoms even worse. Some of these symptoms include: feeling of being estranged, trouble falling asleep, trembling, sweating, racing heart and shortness of breath. If these symptoms continue for longer than a month, you need to talk to your doctor as the probability of having PTSD is quite high. Just like with other mood disorders, it’s not enough to wait till everything goes away on its own. It has been estimated that PTSD has been found in as many as 5.2 millio
