An extreme traumatic event is an event that a person may experience, see, or learn about and that causes intense fear, helplessness, and horror.

The event involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or threats of harm to oneself or to others.

For example, a person may be:

Physically attacked, as in cases of domestic violence or rape.

Injured in a serious car, plane, or train accident.

Hurt or traumatized by a natural disaster, such as a hurricane, flood, or tornado.

Told about the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one.

In some people, an extreme traumatic event may lead to a condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD.

The acute stress of a traumatic event causes chemical reactions in the brain as well as physical symptoms. Some people who experience these symptoms may develop PTSD. Some examples of situations that may be associated with PTSD include:

A woman who survived a terrible car accident three years ago, hears an ambulance siren in the distance. She shakes uncontrollably, her heart starts pounding rapidly, and her palms sweat, because it reminds her of the sounds she heard during her terrifying experience.

A man who was mugged and severely beaten on a darkened street is "extremely jumpy" and avoids leaving his home, especially at night, for fear he will be mugged or assaulted again.

Two years have passed since a woman lost her home and everything in it during a flash flood. But she still has nightmares about floods, and she has severe problems falling asleep and staying asleep whenever overnight rain is in the weather forecast.

In the past, many people believed that only soldiers or other people who had been in a war could get PTSD. Because of that, years ago, PTSD was commonly called "combat fatigue" or "shell shock." But, based on new research, doctors and other health care professionals are learning that all kinds of people from different backgrounds can have traumatic experiences that can — and sometimes do — lead to PTSD.

Although most people who experience an extreme traumatic event will not develop PTSD, as many as 1 out of 13 Americans will get PTSD at some point during their lives. Slightly more than 1 out of 10 women in the U.S. will get PTSD. The good news is that, in many cases, PTSD can be treated successfully.

Women May Get PTSD More Often Than Men

Most of the available studies provide evidence that women get PTSD more often than men after being exposed to a traumatic event. In these studies, women appear to be about twice as likely as men to eventually get PTSD. One possible explanation for this difference is that women and men usually experience very different types of traumatic events.

For example, one study showed that women may be more likely to be:

Raped, sexually molested, neglected by parents during childhood, and physically abused during childhood.

In short, some doctors believe that women may have a higher prevalence of PTSD because the types of traumatic events that they experience are more likely to be associated with personal violence (such as rape and sexual molestation) than the events that men usually report.

Also, the types of traumatic events that women experience often tend to happen repeatedly, especially in childhood.

Help is available for PTSD, and should be sought. It is something which can be controlled, by learned experiences and practices. Even though it takes a lot of work to be able to handle PTSD, you will feel like a newborn person ready to once again face the world.