PTSD: Who gets it and why - By sex and age, there are distinct and contrasting differences
By: Tom Cloyd
(Published: 2025-06-27; reviewed: 2025-06-27:0902 Pacific Time (USA))
Photo by Sinitta Leunen on Unsplash
Don’t look away. It’s not a pretty picture, but avoidance and denial only enables the problem to continue. The problem is widespread and real, and most people don’t see it at all clearly.
Successful intervention with any problem requires a careful, accurate study of the problem. Knowledge is power, and research gives us that knowledge. So, let’s look at what we currently know about the causes of posttraumatic stress disorder, relative to sex and age.
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Who gets it?
Risk - exposure to traumatic events
Globally: 70% of the world’s population is exposed.1
U.S.A.: 89% of the population is exposed.[^1]
Detailed risk exposure data is indirectly indicated by highly variable prevalence rates.
Prevalence
Defined as the number of individuals having a condition during a given period of time, PTSD prevalence is highly variable across regions, sexes, and ages.
Global population[^1]1:
- trauma-exposed individuals: 5.6% develop PTSD.
- general population (exposed + others): 3.9% develop PTSD.
Why does it happen?
## References ^
Boden, M. T., Hoggatt, K. J., Brancu, M., Dallery, J., Burg, M., Greenberg, B., … & Jones, P. (2022). The economic burden of posttraumatic stress disorder in the United States from a societal perspective. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 83(4), 21m14116.
Koenen, K. C., Ratanatharathorn, A., Ng, L., McLaughlin, K. A., Bromet, E. J., Stein, D. J., … & Kessler, R. C. (2017). Posttraumatic stress disorder in the World Mental Health Surveys. Psychological Medicine, 47(13), 2260-2274.
## Notes ^
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