posttraumatic stress disorder

/ pōst′trô-măt′ĭk,-trou- /

1. A psychological disorder affecting individuals who have experienced or witnessed profoundly traumatic events, such as torture, murder, rape, or wartime combat, characterized by recurrent flashbacks of the traumatic event, nightmares, irritability, anxiety, fatigue, forgetfulness, and social withdrawal.

posttraumatic stress disorder

1. A psychological disorder in which a person continues to respond with distress to a traumatic event long after that event has occurred. The affected person may reexperience the event in their thoughts or dreams and exhibit a heightened state of arousal characteristic of extreme stress . Combat and rape are two of the most common causes of this disorder.

Notes

PTSD was formalized as a disorder after the Vietnam War , when returning soldiers would often continue to show the signs of stress long after they had left the military.