What are the causes and symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder?
Specific causes for the onset of PTSD following a trauma aren’t clearly defined, although experts suspect it may be influenced both by the severity of the event, by the person’s personality and genetic make-up, and by whether or not the trauma was expected. First response emergency personnel and individuals directly involved in the event or those children and families who have lost loved ones are more likely to experience PTSD. Natural disasters account for about a 5% rate of PTSD, while there is a 50% rate of PTSD among rape and Holocaust survivors. Media coverage plays a new role in both adult and pediatric onset of PTSD symptoms. The heightened level of news footage of actual traumatic events, such as the Oklahoma City bombing and the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, increases the exposure to the violence, injury, and death associated with the event and may reinforce PTSD symptoms in individuals, especially young children who cannot distinguish between th
