If you’ve ever had an experience you just couldn’t shake, whose memory still haunts you and even changes the way you think or feel, you could be one of the more than 3 million people diagnosed each year in the US with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD for short. At least half of us will experience a significant traumatic event in our lifetime.
For most of us, the experience will fade over time into an unpleasant memory. But, for about 10 percent of women and 7 percent of men, there will be triggers that bring those memories back to life to be relived with intense emotional and physical reactions over and over again over a period of months or years. This is PTSD.