Does America Have PTSD? [HuffingtonPost.com]

[Photo by Thomas Hawk]

America is afraid. There is fear of daily new terror attacks here or abroad. There is growing fear of rampant domestic gun violence. Fear that this person or that is ruining the country. It is fear aimed outward: witness the pervasive discourse of threat at the recent Republican National Convention. It is fear aimed inward: witness our 2.2 million people behind bars, a highly disproportionate number of whom are people of color. If our country were a person, we would view that person as anxious, reactive and reeling from years of trauma: major symptoms of PTSD.

Suggesting the country itself has PTSD is hyperbolic to make a point: a shocking number of Americans do in fact suffer from PTSD. Current statistics suggest that between 6.8 and 10.1 percent of Americans will develop PTSD in their lifetimes making it the 5th most common psychiatric illness. For perspective, that’s somewhere between the population of Texas and California who will require treatment. By contrast, rates are much lower in other westernized countries like Germany (2.3%) or Spain (.56%).

The symptoms of PTSD (hyper-arousal, flash-backs, avoiding reminders of trauma) are debilitating. Making things worse is the common co-occurrence of depression and other anxiety disorders. These problems cause other physical illnesses that lead people with PTSD to visit the hospital much more often than other citizensmaking it an enormous burden on the U.S. health care system.