Robert L. McNeil, Jr. Professor of Translational Research and Professor of Psychiatry and of Neuroscience
Chair, Department of Psychiatry,
Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Yale-New Haven Hospital
Director, Clinical Neuroscience Division, VA National Center for PTSD
Director: NIAAA Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism
Yale University School of Medicine
The length of time a person can experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) varies.
According to our diagnostic manual, one must have symptoms for at least one month following an event to receive a PTSD diagnosis. In some cases, particularly where it is not treated, PTSD can last a very long time, perhaps the remainder of one’s life. Most people with longstanding PTSD find that the symptoms are not steady in their severity. For some people, PTSD symptoms gradually fade over time. Other people find that symptoms may increase when they encounter reminders of their traumatic events. Anniversaries of the event, for example, are commonly difficult times.
