PTSD Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Chat Support Group

How Common is PTSD?

An estimated 7.8 percent of Americans will experience PTSD or Post traumatic stress disorder at some point in their lives, with women (10.4%) twice as likely as men (5%) to have PTSD. About 3.6 percent of U.S. adults ages 18 to 54 (5.2 million people) have PTSD during the course of a given year. This represents a small proportion of those who have experienced a traumatic event at some point in their lives, for 60.7% of men and 51.2% of women reported at least one traumatic event. The traumatic events most often associated with PTSD are: for men: rape, combat exposure, childhood neglect, and childhood physical abuse. For women: rape, sexual molestation, physical attack, being threatened with a weapon, and childhood physical abuse.

About 30 percent of the men and women who have spent time in war zones experience PTSD. An additional 20 to 25 percent have had partial PTSD at some point in their lives. Thus more than half of all male Vietnam veterans and almost half of all female Vietnam veterans have experienced "clinically serious stress reaction symptoms." PTSD or Post traumatic stress disorder has also been detected among veterans of the Gulf War, with some estimates running as high as 8 percent.

In recent years a great deal of research has been aimed at development and testing of reliable assessment tools. It is generally thought that the best way to diagnose PTSD or Post traumatic stress disorder or any psychiatric disorder, for that matter is to combine findings from structured interviews and questionnaires with physiological assessments. A multi-method approach is especially helpful to address concerns that some patients might be either denying or exaggerating their symptoms.

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