What are some of the effects of traumatic events?
It is very common to have problems following exposure to war or other trauma. But traumatic stress reactions often become less frequent or distressing as time passes, even without treatment. Problems that result from trauma are not a sign of personal weakness. Many mentally and physically healthy people experience stress reactions that are distressing and interfere with their daily lives at times. If traumatic stress reactions continue to cause problems for more than a few weeks or months, treatment can help reduce them. Traumatic war experiences often cause many of the following kinds of (often temporary) reactions in veterans: • Unwanted remembering or re-experiencing Almost all traumatic stress survivors experience difficulty controlling distressing memories of war. Although these memories are upsetting, on the positive side, the memories provide an opportunity for the person to make sense of what happened and gain mastery over the event. The experience of these memories can include
