Usually, PTSD is perceived as a disorder triggered by a single powerful event, however, it may be caused by long exposure to traumatic experiences such as family abuse, living in severe poverty, witnessing crimes and abuse on a daily basis. Receiving a trauma and suffering from the symptoms of PTSD is highly subjective- it is impossible to forecast what exactly will cause cognitive, psychological, and physical overwhelming of the person (PTSD Description, 2001).

People of different age and sex may become victims of this disorder. Men usually suffer from emotional traumas received after combat experience while women most often experience PTSD after sexual violence. The appearance of symptoms cannot be predicted – patients may suffer from disorder manifestations not long after a traumatic experience or the manifestations can be delayed in time (Black & Grant, 2014). In stressful periods PTSD symptoms may also become more serious and acute. Among the significant symptoms and reasons of PTSD APA distinguishes exposure to the serious traumatic event, such as death, serious injury or sexual violence or witnessing death, injury of a close person as a leading criterion. Nevertheless, if someone finds out that the close person died from natural reasons or becomes a witness of such a death it cannot be considered as a symptom.

In order to distinguish PTSD from other mental disorders, it is important to take into account the following symptoms. Involuntary recalling of the traumatic scenes, experiencing flashbacks or having recurrent dreams about the destructive events is one of the most common manifestations of PTSD. Patients are to tend to start responding to their memories and losing touch with reality. In serious cases, it may cause hallucinations (PTSD Description, 2001). These recollections and dreams are intrusive and uncontrollable, and their intensity often depends on the&nbsp.seriousness of the disorder.