If the words "posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)" bring to mind battle-scarred men returning from war, you're not alone. "Until the last 15 to 20 years, we thought of PTSD as battle fatigue," said Jerilyn Ross, LICSW, president and CEO of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (ADAA). Today, she said, "We know you don't have to go to war to develop this."
In fact, most PTSD in women results from sexual trauma, while the most common cause in men is combat. As with other anxiety disorders, women are more likely than men to develop PTSD when exposed to traumatic events, a difference that may be related, in part, to differences in the way men and women's brains work to ...