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PTSD: An Evolutionary Process
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, is a mental disorder that becomes prevalent when
one encounters a traumatic experience, such as abuse or war. One can be diagnosed with PTSD when
meeting all four of the criteria of it; the symptoms of being diagnosed with it are having flashbacks to
the traumatic event, avoiding situations that reminds you of the event, negative changes in feelings or
beliefs, and feeling anxious. Veterans returning from war frequently encounter this disorder and find
it extremely difficult to adjust to civilian life after being in war. Veterans from the Civil War until the
recent Iraq war have suffered from PTSD, and despite the time difference between the wars they’ve
suffered the same way. Because of the severity of the illness, numerous programs have been
implemented to help veterans that suffer from PTSD adjust back to civilian life.
Despite how serious of a matter it is, it wasn’t recognized as a mental disorder until recent
times, despite it being prevalent even in the Civil War in which cases of PTSD were recorded. Tony
Horwitz of The Smithsonian details the story of John Hildt, a corporal in WWI who lost his arm in his
