What is PTSD?

PTSD stands for post-traumatic stress disorder

"PTSD can profoundly impact how a person is able to live their life, how they feel about themselves, and their relationships." Dr Lee Robinson, Principle Clinical Psychologist, Combat Stress

PTSD is a mental health condition that can occur after being exposed to a potentially traumatising event.

What does traumatic mean?

Trauma means 'injury'. When mental health professionals talk about trauma, they mean something very specific, that is:

An event that was life-threatening or threatened the safety of yourself or others.

Trauma can be something that happened directly to you, something you witnessed happening to somebody else or something you heard about that happened to a close friend or family member.

Some examples might include:

• seeing a friend or colleague injured
• coming under enemy fire
• witnessing the loss of comrades
• seeing the aftermath of war
• helping injured civilians including children
• being bullied or assaulted by military colleagues

You may have experienced trauma that isn't on the list and for some people, difficulties arise due to repeated trauma over time.

In this short series of videos, Dr Lee Robinson explains PTSD and describes how our specialist treatment helps veterans tackle the past and take on the future.