Understanding Psychology (10th Ed)

 posttraumatic stress disorder,  or  PTSD,  in which a person has experienced a sig-
nifi cantly stressful event that has long-lasting effects that may include re-experienc-
ing the event in vivid fl ashbacks or dreams. An episode of PTSD may be triggered 
by an otherwise innocent stimulus, such as the sound of a honking horn, that leads 
a person to re-experience a past event that produced considerable stress. 
Symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder also include emotional numbing, sleep 
diffi culties, interpersonal problems, alcohol and drug abuse, and in some cases suicide. 
For instance, the suicide rate for military veterans, many of whom participated in the 
Iraq and Afghanistan wars, is twice as high as for nonveterans (Pole, 2007; Kaplan et 
al., 2007; Magruder & Yeager, 2009). 
FIGURE 1 
The closer people lived to the site of the World Trade 
Center terrorist attack, the greater the rate of posttraumatic stress 
disorder. 
(Source: Susser, Herman, & Aaron, 2002.)
World Trade Center Site 
(Ground Zero) 
Canal Street 
110th Street 
QUEENS 
THE 
BRONX 
NEW JERSEY 
BROOKLYN 
Posttraumatic stress 
disorder (PTSD) in 20 
percent of residents south 
of Canal Street, close to 
World Trade Center. 
PTSD in 7.5 percent of 
residents north of Canal 
Street and south of 110th 
Street, the northernmost 
point surveyed 
N 
E 
S 
W 
H
ud
so
n
 R
ive
r
 
 
Ea
st
 
R
ive
r 
cataclysmic events 
Strong stressors that 
occur suddenly and typically affect many 
people at once (e.g., natural disasters).