Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that develops in a proportion of people who experience or witness a traumatic event that has caused or threatened serious harm or death. dead. This can range from a natural disaster to the death of a family member, an accident, sexual assault or war. Between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, thirty percent of returning soldiers are diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. The Vietnam War was the first time PTSD was recognized as a psychological and brain disorder. Post-traumatic stress disorder was previously known as "shell shock" and even before that as "combat fatigue." Every human being has a survival instinct known as the “fight or flight response.” The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for this and prepares the body for action by dilating the pupils and increasing the heart rate. In cases of veterans suffering from PTSD, the sympathetic nervous system is damaged, due to the frequent use of the "flight or fight response." The three main components of the brain damaged by PTSD are the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and left hippocampus. Located in the limbic system, the amygdala centralizes emotions, emotional behavior, motivation and memories that charge us emotionally. The amygdala is smaller in subjects with post-traumatic stress disorder, but it is not known whether or not weather recedes following a traumatic event or whether a person is born with a smaller amygdala, which which would make her more susceptible to traumatic events. The prefrontal cortex is involved in motivation and regulation of emotional behavior and mood. Some adverse effects of PTSD on the prefrontal cortex are decreased gray and white matter density, as well as decreased reactivity to emotions...... middle of paper ...... the victim, Successful treatment of PTSD will likely reduce these adverse effects. The Washington Academy of Sciences estimates that the cost of PTSD is more than $44 billion per year, including $23 billion in direct medical costs. The understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder has advanced sufficiently to provide effective treatments. If diagnosed early, the sufferer can stop any complications from this disease. There is currently no single treatment for this disorder, but some treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, show great promise. “CBT includes a number of diverse but related techniques, such as cognitive restructuring, exposure therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR)” (Howard and Crandall). The way to behave with a person suffering from PTSD is the same for any disability: recognize, accept and adapt.