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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can occur after a person experiences, witnesses, or simply perceives an event to be life-threatening such as natural disasters, war, serious accidents, or violent personal assaults like rape. Over 7 percent of Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives, with women twice as likely as men to develop symptoms. People with PTSD often relive the experience through nightmares and flashbacks, have difficulty sleeping, and feel detached. These symptoms can be severe enough and last long enough to significantly impair the person's daily life. PTSD is complicated by the fact that it frequently occurs in conjunction with other disorders such as depression, substance abuse, or social phobias. There is no cure, but some treatments appear to be quite promising, especially cognitive-behavioral therapy, group therapy, and exposure therapy. The most widely used drug treatments for PTSD are the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac and Zoloft.