Ptsd

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A mental health condition triggered by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event
2. Characterized by persistent and distressing symptoms such as flashbacks, nightmares, and severe anxiety
3. Often involves avoidance of reminders of the trauma and alterations in mood and cognition

Etymology: PTSD is an initialism, so its story begins with the people who first named the condition rather than with any ancient root. The term "post-traumatic stress disorder" was formalised in the United States in 1980, when it was added to the third edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-III). Its immediate ancestors were older labels for war-related psychological breakdown, such as "shell shock" from the First World War and "combat fatigue" from the Second, and the push to adopt a new name came largely from veterans of the Vietnam War and the clinicians who worked with them. The components are plain English. "Post-" means "after," "traumatic" comes via Greek "trauma" meaning "wound," and "stress" and "disorder" are ordinary words used in their everyday senses. The phrase was then shortened to the abbreviation, which is now the standard form in medical writing and everyday speech alike.

Synonyms: post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma disorder