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First, people with depression have been found to be more likely to have traumatic experiences than people without depression, which, in turn, may increase the likelihood that PTSD develops.

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A second possibility is that the symptoms of PTSD can be so distressing and debilitating that they actually cause depression to develop.

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 Some people with PTSD may feel detached or disconnected from friends and family

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They may also find little pleasure in activities they once enjoyed

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Finally, they may even have difficulty experiencing positive emotions like joy and happiness. It is easy to see how experiencing these symptoms of PTSD may make someone feel very sad, lonely, and depressed.

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A final possibility is that there is some kind of genetic factor that underlies the development of both PTSD and depression.

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Depression is one of the most commonly occurring disorders in PTSD.

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In fact, it has been found that among people who have or have had a diagnosis of PTSD, approximately 48% also had current or past depression.

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People who have had PTSD at some point in their life are almost 7 times as likely as people without PTSD to also have depression

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Another study found that 44.5% of people with PTSD one month after experiencing a traumatic event also had a diagnosis of depression

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1. Depressed mood for almost every day and for the majority of the day.

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1. Loss of interest or pleasure in activities.

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Considerable weight loss or weight gain

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1. Difficulties falling asleep or sleeping too much.

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1. Feeling constantly on edge and restless or lethargic and "slowed down."

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1. Feeling worthless and/or guilty.

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Difficulties concentrating and/or making decisions

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Thoughts of ending one's own life

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According to the DSM-IV, to be diagnosed with a major depressive episode, a person must experience 5 of these symptoms all within the same 2-week (or longer) period

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Tull, Mathew. PTDS and suide” About.com 6 novemeber. 2008 web. 31 march 2011

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Suicide is the intentional ending of one's own life.

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In the United States, nearly 31,000 people commit suicide each year

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Although women attempt suicide more so than men,

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 men are more likely to succeed in killing themselves during a suicide attempt

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In addition, people who have experienced a traumatic event and/or have PTSD may be more likely to attempt suicide.

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Tull, Mathwe. “Trama and PTSD” about.com 6 novemeber. 2008 web. 31 march 2011

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In a survey of 5,877 people across the United States, it was found that people who had experienced physical or sexual assault at some point in their life also had a high likelihood of attempting to take their own life at some point:

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Nearly 22% of people who had been raped had also attempted suicide at some point in their life.

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These rates of suicide attempts increased considerably among people who had experienced multiple incidents of sexual (42.9%) or physical assault (73.5%).

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They also found that a history of sexual molestation, physical abuse as a child, and neglect as a child were associated with high rates of suicide attempts (17.4% to 23.9%)

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People with a diagnosis of PTSD are also at greater risk to attempt suicide.

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Among people who have had a diagnosis of PTSD at some point in their lifetime, approximately 27% have also attempted suicide.

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What Is Posttraumatic Stress Disorder?

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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the development of symptoms following exposure to a traumatic event

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Anything that involves some kind of extreme traumatic stress can lead to development of PTSD.

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 Typically, it involves direct personal experience that involves threatened or actual death or serious injury, witnessing a stressful event, or learning about an unexpected or violent death or injury to a family member or close friend.

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Traumatic events that can be experienced directly include assaults, serious car accident, a natural disaster like an earthquake, personal assaults and abuse, terrorist attacks, and military combat.

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You don't have to be hurt to experience PTSD

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Most people feel super-stressed after going through something traumatic

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 Strong emotions; feeling easily irritated; jitters; and trouble sleeping, eating, or concentrating all can be part of a typical and temporary reaction to an overwhelming event.

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 Also, frequent thoughts and images of what happened, nightmares, or fears can be a part of recovering from stress

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Getting good care and support after a traumatic experience can help these symptoms run their course and subside in a few days or weeks and allow a person to move on.

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But PTSD is different. When someone has PTSD, the symptoms of stress are intense and last for longer than a month. For some people, the symptoms of PTSD begin soon after the trauma, but others have a delayed response.

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“post tramatic stress disorder” national insitutes of health.com 12 april 2011 web. 31 march 2011

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Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened.

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Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that some people get after seeing or living through a dangerous event.

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When in danger, it’s natural to feel afraid. This fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to prepare to defend against the danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or-flight” response is a healthy reaction meant to protect a person from harm.

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But in PTSD, this reaction is changed or damaged. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened even when they’re no longer in danger.

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Signs & Symptoms

People with PTSD have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal and feel emotionally numb, especially with people they were once close to. They may experience sleep problems, feel detached or numb, or be easily startled. 

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PTSD can cause many symptoms. These symptoms can be grouped into three categories:

1. Re-experiencing symptoms:

• Flashbacks—reliving the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating

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Frightening thoughts

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Re-experiencing symptoms may cause problems in a person’s everyday routine. They can start from the person’s own thoughts and feelings. Words, objects, or situations that are reminders of the event can also trigger re-experiencing.

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2. Avoidance symptoms:

• Staying away from places, events, or objects that are reminders of the experience

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2. Avoidance symptoms:

• Feeling emotionally numb

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2. Avoidance symptoms:

• Feeling strong guilt, depression, or worry

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2. Avoidance symptoms:

• Losing interest in activities that were enjoyable in the past

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2. Avoidance symptoms:

• Having trouble remembering the dangerous event.

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Things that remind a person of the traumatic event can trigger avoidance symptoms. These symptoms may cause a person to change his or her personal routine. For example, after a bad car accident, a person who usually drives may avoid driving or riding in a car.

3. Hyperarousal symptoms:

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3. Hyperarousal symptoms:

• Being easily startled
• Feeling tense or “on edge”
• Having difficulty sleeping, and/or having angry outbursts.

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Hyperarousal symptoms are usually constant, instead of being triggered by things that remind one of the traumatic event. They can make the person feel stressed and angry. These symptoms may make it hard to do daily tasks, such as sleeping, eating, or concentrating.

It’s natural to have some of these symptoms after a dangerous event. Sometimes people have very serious symptoms that go away after a few weeks. This is called acute stress disorder, or ASD. When the symptoms last more than a few weeks and become an ongoing problem, they might be PTSD. Some people with PTSD don’t show any symptoms for weeks or months.

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If someone with PTSD is going through an ongoing trauma, such as being in an abusive relationship, both of the problems need to be treated. Other ongoing problems can include panic disorder, depression, substance abuse, and feeling suicidal.

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The main treatments for people with PTSD are psychotherapy (“talk” therapy), medications, or both. Everyone is different, so a treatment that works for one person may not work for another. It is important for anyone with PTSD to be treated by a mental health care provider who is experienced with PTSD. Some people with PTSD need to try different treatments to find what works for their symptoms

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Goode, Erica. “after combat” Newyorktimes.com 2 august 2009. Web. 31 march 2011

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. I lost two good friends on the 14th. I’m having a hard time dealing with it.”

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Their luck evaporated less than two weeks before they were to return home, in the spring of 2007. A scout truck driving at the front of a convoy late at night hit a homemade bomb buried in the asphalt. Two soldiers, Sgt. Brandon Wallace and Sgt. Joshua Schmit, were killed.

The deaths stunned the unit, part of the North Carolina National Guard. The two men were popular and respected — “big personalities,”

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On Dec. 9, 2007, Sergeant Blaylock, heavily intoxicated, lifted a 9-millimeter handgun to his head during an argument with his girlfriend and pulled the trigger. He was 26.

“I have failed myself,” he wrote in a note found later in his car. “I have let those around me down.”

Over the next year, three more soldiers from the 1451st — Sgt. Jeffrey Wilson, First Sgt. Roger Parker and Specialist Skip Brinkley — would take their own lives. The four suicides, in a unit of roughly 175 soldiers, make the company an extreme example of what experts see as an alarming trend in the years since the invasion of Iraq.

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Cohen, Harold. “two stories of ptsd” psychcentral.com N.P 31 march 2011

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Joe saw a good deal of active combat during his time in the military. Some incidents in particular had never left his mind – like the horrifying sight of Gary, a close comrade and friend, being blown-up by a land-mine.

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 Even when he returned to civilian life, these images haunted him. Scenes from battle would run repeatedly through his mind and disrupt his focus on work. Filing up at the gas station, for example, the smell of diesel immediately rekindled certain horrific memories.

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At other times, he had difficulty remembering the past — as if some events were too painful to allow back in his mind. He found himself avoiding socializing with old military buddies, as this would inevitably trigger a new round of memories.

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His girlfriend complained that he was always pent-up and irritable – as if he were on guard, and Joe noticed that at night he had difficulty relaxing and falling asleep. When he heard loud noises, such as a truck back-firing he literally jumped, as if he were readying himself for combat. He began to drink heavily.