Common PTSD Sufferers

Post-traumatic stress disorder is an anxiety disorder that can occur after a person experiences or witnesses a violent or frightening event. Not everyone who experiences trauma, however, goes on to develop PTSD.

 

Common PTSD sufferers include disaster and abuse survivors. Soldiers who see combat are also common PTSD sufferers. Post traumatic stress disorder in children often occurs when a child experiences a parental death, child abuse or lives through a disaster.

Experiencing a traumatic event is the primary PTSD risk factor, but other factors influence post-traumatic stress onset. It is thought, for instance, that a vulnerability to PTSD may exist in some families. Other factors that increase the risk of post-traumatic stress disorder include:

Low education levels and poor income are also associated with higher levels of PTSD. Slightly higher rates of post-traumatic stress disorder are seen in Hispanics, African Americans and Native Americans than in other groups, possibly due to ethnic differences in how pain and anxiety are expressed.

PTSD and violence often go hand in hand. Soldiers suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder so often that there have been military names for PTSD since the U.S. Civil War, when the anxiety disorder was called "soldier's heart." By World War I, PTSD was called combat fatigue, and by the Vietnam era the anxiety disorder was called "shell shock." In spite of this, PTSD was only formally diagnosed as an anxiety disorder in 1980.

The connection between PTSD and violence is made clearer when rates of PTSD are compared. Between 7 percent and 8 percent of the general population suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder at some point in their lives.

In contrast, 10 percent to 30 percent of combat veterans and rape victims develop PTSD, indicating a strong link between PTSD and violence. Not every survivor of violence develops post-traumatic stress disorder, however, so while violence survivors are common PTSD sufferers, violence alone does not cause PTSD.

Women are perhaps the most common PTSD sufferers: Women are twice as likely to develop PTSD as men.

The gap between men and women with PTSD begins early in life. It's estimated that 15 percent of young girls suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. In comparison, only 6 percent of young boys will develop PTSD.

Post-traumatic stress disorder in children is not uncommon. Up to 40 percent of children who survive a disaster develop PTSD.

Childhood rates of PTSD skyrocket when violence is a factor. PTSD and abuse and PTSD and sexual abuse almost always cause post-traumatic stress disorder in children. Almost 100 percent of children who witness the death of a parent eventually develop PTSD.

Anxiety disorders in teens are quite common: Estimated rates of PTSD in high school students range from 3 percent to 6 percent.

Teens are as likely as younger children to suffer PTSD after a disaster. The connection between PTSD and violence is seen in teens as well as adults: One-third of teens exposed to violence in their communities develop PTSD.

The connection between PTSD and violence or sexual abuse notwithstanding, there remains the question of why some individuals can experience traumatic events without developing PTSD.

Firefighters, police, paramedics and medical professionals experience traumatic events on a regular basis. PTSD rates in these groups after a disaster are, however, lower than in the general population.

It is possible that these high-stress careers attract people who are naturally more resistant to PTSD than others. These careers, however, also include disaster-preparedness training. Such training may provide some protection against post-traumatic stress disorder.