post-traumatic stress disorder

plural post-traumatic stress disorders · alternative post traumatic stress disorder · alternative posttraumatic stress disorder · alternative post-traumatic-stress disorder · alternative posttraumatic-stress disorder

1. uncountableusuallyhuman sciencesA psychological condition that develops following some stressful situation or event, with symptoms such as sleep disturbance, recurrent dreams, flashbacks, hypervigilance, depression, dissociation, withdrawal or a lack of concentration.

   3 more examples

   That 200,000 public school students have been identified with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder since Sept. 11 should serve as a wake-up call for school-based mental health services for all students. We must not allow Sept. 11 to eclipse the post-traumatic stress disorders suffered by students from epidemics of H.I.V.-AIDS and community and domestic violence.

   2002 May 15, Christine Schmidt, “Post-Sept. 11 Trauma”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, published 20 May 2002, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015

   The evidence says that enormous numbers of children who live in households in high-crime neighborhoods are experiencing the psychological equivalent of battlefield conditions.[...]Studies show that many children who live under these conditions, 30 percent or more, are developing post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, similar to what we used to call “shell shock” in soldiers returning from war.

   2009, Kamala Harris, “Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again”, in Smart on Crime, San Francisco: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 107

   An example of the contract, read out in the committee said: “I understand that exposure to this content may give me post traumatic stress disorder. I will engage in a mandatory wellness coaching session but I understand that those are not conditions and may not be sufficient to prevent my contracting PTSD.”

   2021 May 12, Cristina Criddle, “Facebook moderator: ‘Every day was a nightmare’”, in BBC News

   Synonyms: post-traumatic stress syndrome, PTSD