Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is caused by the inability to integrate a traumatic experience normally. Experiences are encoded in the person’s memory. With PTSD, experts believe that the trauma remains emotionally charged due to the intensity of the traumatic experience.

Though PTSD is commonly associated with trauma experienced during combat, any trauma that the person perceives as life-threatening or causes severe emotional distress can cause PTSD. In some cases, witnessing a horrific event is enough to cause PTSD.

In addition to combat situations, common causes of PTSD include severe car crashes, rape, sexual assault, childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, domestic violence, and other types of interpersonal violence. The similarities among the PTSD causes are typically seen as threatening to the person’s sense of safety.

Other possible causes of PTSD include receiving a diagnosis of a terminal illness, experiencing natural disasters, and witnessing violent attacks on others. Witnessing violence such as a child witnessing domestic violence or witnessing terrorist attacks can be just as psychologically devastating as experiencing the trauma directly.

Some people are more prone to developing PTSD. Experts have identified certain risk factors that make someone susceptible to PTSD. PTSD is a complex problem. What one person experiences as a trauma without developing PTSD could trigger PTSD in someone else. Risk factors for PTSD include the having a learning disability or psychiatric illnesses prior to the trauma, the severity and duration of the trauma, and repeated traumatic events.

For people who do not have PTSD, this disorder can be difficult to understand. PTSD causes the person to relive the traumatic event in flashbacks or nightmares. Someone with PTSD often has a heightened vigilance and anxiety. Since many people with PTSD tend to avoid talking about the trauma, friends and family may have limited knowledge of the actual event that triggered the PTSD.

There are effective treatments for PTSD. The road to recovery can be slow progress which can be extremely frustrating. The person may feel that they are finally getting symptoms under control and then experience a flashback or nightmare that robs them of their sense of progress. The person should try to remember that the occurrence of a symptom does not erase the progress that has been made.