Trauma and Stress: Diagnosis and Treatment.

Recognition has recently increased that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a condition that not only affects combat veterans but is ubiquitous in the general population as well, began Mark H. Pollack, M.D. PTSD can occur following a wide variety of incidents; clinicians may encounter PTSD in a range of patients from different walks of life. The literature on PTSD contains studies of the disorder occurring after violent crime, sexual abuse, earthquake, war, medical illness such as cancer or heart attack, automobile accidents, and other traumas. PTSD is found in children and adolescents, older adults, and all ages in between, for both sexes.