General public definition
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is listed as a diagnosis in both the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11.
- PTSD is the collection of feelings, behaviours, and experiences that can occur after a person is exposed to a potentially psychologically traumatic event (e.g. actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence). The exposure can occur in many ways. For details of exposures that may be associated with a PTSD diagnosis, see the “Potentially psychologically traumatic event (PPTE)” section.
- PTSD reactions can include:
- immediate feelings of terror, panic, anxiety, rage, or sickness when exposed to a sound, sight, or smell that is a reminder of the event
- vivid and intrusive memories of the event, which can sometimes feel as if the event is happening again (“flashbacks”)
- nightmares and disturbed sleep
- not remembering the event (amnesia), or feeling emotionally numb
- avoiding places, people, or circumstances that are reminders of the event
- being hyperalert to threat or danger, and
- feeling that things are unreal or that you are living in a dream (depersonalization or derealization).
- PTSD symptoms can also include having negative thoughts and difficulty feeling emotionally connected to family, friends, or other people who are important to the person.
- A person may be diagnosed with PTSD if the experiences and symptoms last for more than one month and cause significant distress or affect how they function in social, occupational, or other important areas of life.
- PTSD is diagnosed if the person’s condition is not better explained by another physical or mental disorder.
Academic definition
- Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is listed as a diagnosis in both the DSM-5-TR and ICD-11.
- PTSD is a mental disorder that can occur after exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence or to multiple concomitant exposures. Details of exposures that may be associated with a diagnosis for PTSD are provided in the “Potentially psychologically traumatic event (PPTE)” section.
- Symptoms may include (but are not limited to):
- Recurrent involuntary memories on exposure to reminders of the event
- An altered sense of reality, as if the event is recurring or the patient or client is living in a dream (i.e. “flashbacks”)
- Amnesia for important aspects of the event
- Exaggerated startle response and other forms of hyperarousal on exposure to reminders of the event
- Intense or prolonged psychological distress in response to cues that resemble an aspect of the event
- Irritability and angry outbursts
- Hypervigilance
- Sleep disturbance and nightmares
- Problems concentrating
- Inability to have positive emotions, or persistent feelings of numbness or detachment, and
- Avoidance of any reminders of the psychologically traumatic event (including memories, thoughts, feelings, or people, places, activities that are reminders of the event).
- PTSD may be diagnosed if the signs and symptoms have lasted for more than one month and cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning.
- PTSD may be diagnosed if the symptoms and signs are not better explained by another mental or physical health condition or the effects of a substance.
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