What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder?

From the American Psychiatric Associaton:

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), once called shell shock, affects hundreds of thousands of people who have survived earthquakes, airplane crashes, terrorist bombings, inner-city violence, domestic abuse, rape, war, genocide, and other disasters, both natural and human made. [...] Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been called shell shock or battle fatigue syndrome. It has often been misunderstood or misdiagnosed, even though the disorder has very specific symptoms. Read more about PTSD from the APA...

From the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for PTSD:

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, is a psychiatric disorder that can occur following the experience or witnessing of life-threatening events such as military combat, natural disasters, terrorist incidents, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. People who suffer from PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached or estranged, and these symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person's daily life.

PTSD is marked by clear biological changes as well as psychological symptoms. PTSD is complicated by the fact that it frequently occurs in conjunction with related disorders such as depression, substance abuse, problems of memory and cognition, and other problems of physical and mental health. The disorder is also associated with impairment of the person's ability to function in social or family life, including occupational instability, marital problems and divorces, family discord, and difficulties in parenting. Read more about PTSD from the VA, NCPTSD...

From the National Institutes of Mental Health:

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat. Read more about PTSD at NIMH...

From the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies:

Traumatic events are shocking and emotionally overwhelming situations. It is natural for people who experience or witness them to have many reactions. Some of these are intense fear, horror, numbness, or helplessness. [...] Most often trauma is accompanied by many losses. Unfortunately, traumatic events are quite common. Read more about Traumatic Stress at ISTSS...

Further Reading

Guidebooks for Veterans

Federal Benefits for Veterans and Dependents
Updated annually, this is the official guide for all benefits available to veterans and their dependents from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Comprehensive in scope, it is the starting point for anyone wishing to find out how to claim benefits from the VA.

Veterans for Common Sense Resource Guide
Often called “The Guide”, the VCS Resource Guide was put together by veterans for veterans, gathering in one place a variety of resources on various issues for returning veterans. Although it is specifically written with returning veterans of America's current conflicts in mind, the specific information on PTSD, employment, and other areas of concern makes it a valuable resource for all veterans.

Military Veterans PTSD Manual
A comprehensive resource of information for veterans with PTSD. Major topics include definition and history, diagnosis, treatment options, and working with the VA for help.

Vietnam Veterans of America Guide on PTSD
The VVA guidebook's information frequently overlaps the information available in the PTSD Manual, but also contains much new information, and since it is specifically written for veterans of the Vietnam War, will have many resources of particular interest to veterans of that era.

Related Titles

An Operator's Manual for Combat PTSD by Ashley B. Hart II
An Operators Manual for Combat PTSD has been written to give the combat veteran a sense of hope and to develop an inner voice to assist in coping with everyday life.

Vietnam Wives by Aphrodite Matsakis
A guide to facing the challenges of life with veterans suffering post-traumatic stress.

Achilles in Vietnam: Combat Trauma and the Undoing of Character by Jonathan Shay
This book uses the story of Achilles in Homer's Iliad to talk about the kinds of experiences which can damage soldiers during combat.

Odysseus in America
The ambitious follow-up to Achilles in Vietnam looks at the results of PTSD and paths to recovery.

Farewell Darkness by Ron Zaczek
A detailed account of one veteran's triumph over combat-related PTSD.

The PTSD Workbook by Mary Beth Williams and Soili Poijula
Simple, Effective Techniques for Overcoming Traumatic Stress Symptoms

Soldier's Heart by Gary Paulsen
Subtitled, "Being the Story of the Enlistment and Due Service of the Boy Charley Goddard in the First Minnesota Volunteers", Soldier's Heart is a "young readers" novel intended to help teens and pre-teens understand Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.