• What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?

• Symptoms

• Vet Centers

• VA Medical Center Programs

• National PTSD Center

• How do I get Help or More Information?

    Stressors producing PTSD include:

• Natural Disasters (floods, earthquakes)
• Accidental man-made disasters (car accidents, airplane crashes, large fires) 
• Deliberate man-made disasters (bombing, torture, death camps). 

    Symptoms include:

• Recurrent thoughts of a traumatic event
• Reduced involvement in work or outside interests
• Hyperalertness
• Anxiety
• Irritability

This disorder is more severe and longer lasting when the stress is of human design.  According to statistics,  prior to March 1998, 101,978 veterans were receiving compensation for PTSD.

Services are designed to assist combat-affected and other veterans attain a well-adjusted post-war work and family life. 

• Readjustment counseling features a non-medical setting, a mix of social services, and community outreach activities.
  
• Psychological counseling for war-related experiences, and family counseling. 

Current law extends eligibility for the program to any veteran who has served in the military in combat operations during any period of armed hostility.  But, initially the Vet Centers were designed and implemented by the Veterans Administration  in 1979 for Vietnam veterans.  

The Veteran Administration currently operates 206 Vet Centers in the 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, the District of Columbia and Guam. 

While PTSD treatment is available through all of VA's 171 medical centers, a VA network of 124 facilities offers specialized inpatient and outpatient treatment.  

• PTSD clinical teams provide outpatient treatment and  work closely with other VA treatment programs, including Vet Centers, to coordinate services and provide information on PTSD throughout the medical center and the community. 
  
  
• VA operates  
        83 PTSD clinical teams
        22 Specialized inpatient units around the country
        13 Brief-treatment units
        11 Residential rehabilitation programs
          4 PTSD Day hospitals

       There are also Programs For Veterans with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.  

• Outpatient Women's  Stress Disorder
• Treatment Teams
• Eight outpatient-based PTSD Teams Substance Use Disorder demonstration projects.
• A special focus in the program expansions has included underserved and minority populations, such as African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans. 
• A specialized PTSD inpatient treatment unit serves women veterans at the Palo Alto, Calif., VA Medical Center's Menlo Park Division.