Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that develops in relation to any events that create psychological trauma. The person directly experienced the trauma or witnessed it occurring. PTSD can result from learning of an actual or threatened death of a close family member or friend, or repeated first-hand exposure to the details of the event. A formal diagnosis of PTSD is made when the symptoms cause significant distress or impairment in social or occupational situations for a period of at least one month. With a PTSD diagnosis, the symptoms are not due to a medical condition, medication, drugs or alcohol.
The results of a national
study published in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease found that out of six different anxiety disorders, PTSD was significantly associated with thoughts of suicide or attempts at suicide.