The Facts
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a new name for a very old condition. In the eary 1900s, it was known as "shell shock" or "battle fatigue." Before then, it had no name. In PTSD, a witness or victim of a terrible event or tragedy is so haunted by memories of the event that personal health and personality are affected.
Research suggests that as many as 10% of the population will be affected at one time in their life with PTSD. Women are twice as likely to be affected as men. The specific type of trauma is important in the gender distribution. For example, women exposed to a physical attack or threatened with a weapon are more likely than men to develop PTSD if exposed to the same trauma. However, women who are sexually assaulted are less likely to develop PTSD than men who are sexually assaulted.
While approximately 50% of the population is exposed to severe trauma at some time during their life, fewer than 20% of these individuals will develop PTSD.