As a mental health advocate, author and speaker, I attend many events surrounding posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). All too often, I experience a conversation that goes like this: “What do you do, exactly?” someone will ask. “I help trauma survivors learn to cope with, manage and overcome symptoms of PTSD,” I reply. “Ohhhhh,” their eyes light up. “You work with veterans!” People often don't realize that the causes of PTSD result from many types of trauma.

Any serious PTSD blog (and that is definitely what I want this to be!) has to start with the lowdown on the details of posttraumatic stress disorder itself. If you've heard about PTSD in the media or if you have a friend or family member - or even think you, yourself, might have a touch of this completely normal reaction to an abnormal circumstance - then right off the bat, it's good to know how to recognize PTSD (symptoms of PTSD) so that you can begin to wrangle the beast.