Symptoms

• After a person experiences a traumatic event that involves an actual or perceived threat of death or injury, they may develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is the most common mental health disability affecting troops who have served in combat.

• Symptoms of PTSD include:

· re-experiencing of the traumatic event, often through flashbacks or nightmares;

· avoidance of anything associated with the trauma and numbing of emotions; and

· difficulty sleeping and concentrating, and irritability.

· PTSD can develop at any time after exposure to a traumatic event. For veterans, it often emerges several months after return to civilian life.

Prevalence

• Because neither the Department of Defense nor the VA adequately diagnose or effectively track PTSD in veterans, precise statistics on the prevalence of PTSD in OEF/OIF veterans are not available. However, current studies estimate that the prevalence of PTSD among returning veterans ranges from 15% to 50%.

• Because PTSD can take months or years to manifest, and because many troops are subjected to multiple deployments and the worsening violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, rates of PTSD will continue to rise.

Consequences

• PTSD is a serious and specific diagnosis, but it can vary greatly in its severity. In severe cases, it can lead to addiction, anti-social behavior or suicide.

• Troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are killing themselves at higher percentages than in any other war where such figures have been tracked.

• Many factors can impact the extent of the reaction to a traumatic event. These include the amount of death and devastation witnessed, and the degree of responsibility felt for not preventing the event. Other factors include gender, age and race.

Treatment

• Types of treatment include: individual psychotherapy, behavioral or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), group therapy, and medication.

• Early treatment is more likely to be effective, and can help avoid a decline into alcoholism or other destructive behavior.