post-traumatic stress disorder

English

Alternative forms

Noun

post-traumatic stress disorder (usually uncountable, plural post-traumatic stress disorders)

  1. (psychology) A psychological condition that develops following some stressful situation or event, with symptoms such as sleep disturbance, recurrent dreams, flashbacks, hypervigilance, depression, dissociation, withdrawal or lack of concentration.
    Synonym: post-traumatic stress syndrome
    • 2002 May 15, Christine Schmidt, “Post-Sept. 11 Trauma”, in The New York Times[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, published 20 May 2002, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015:
      That 200,000 public school students have been identified with symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder since Sept. 11 should serve as a wake-up call for school-based mental health services for all students. We must not allow Sept. 11 to eclipse the post-traumatic stress disorders suffered by students from epidemics of H.I.V.-AIDS and community and domestic violence.
    • 2009, Kamala Harris, “Putting Humpty Dumpty Back Together Again”, in Smart on Crime[2], San Francisco: Chronicle Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 107:
      The evidence says that enormous numbers of children who live in households in high-crime neighborhoods are experiencing the psychological equivalent of battlefield conditions.[...]Studies show that many children who live under these conditions, 30 percent or more, are developing post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, similar to what we used to call “shell shock” in soldiers returning from war.
    • 2021 May 12, Cristina Criddle, “Facebook moderator: ‘Every day was a nightmare’”, in BBC News[3]:
      An example of the contract, read out in the committee said: “I understand that exposure to this content may give me post traumatic stress disorder. I will engage in a mandatory wellness coaching session but I understand that those are not conditions and may not be sufficient to prevent my contracting PTSD.”

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