Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an extreme anxiety response to a life-threatening situation, which often manifests as a tendency to avoid places or events that could remind patients of the traumatic experience, and which may impair patients’ quality of life for years, as well as their ability to function normally in daily life.
Today, most cases of PTSD in the general population developed as a result of exposure to traffic accidents or work accidents. The incidence of PTSD is higher among war veterans. For example, 30% of Vietnam war veterans suffer from PTSD, and an additional 25% experienced a sub-clinical variant thereof.