A new study shows that women are diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) more often than men. PTSD is an anxiety disorder caused by a traumatic event where the person has symptoms of re-experiencing the trauma, avoiding things related to the trauma, feelings of numbness, feeling agitated and easily startled, having nightmares about the trauma and, at times, depression. A new study just reported in the Psychological Bulletin (published by the American Psychological Association) reviewed 25 years of research on PTSD and found that though men experience trauma on average more often than women, women are still more likely to be diagnosed with PTSD.

The study reviewed data from 290 studies done between 1980 and 2005 found that women were more likely to experience a sexual assault and child sexual abuse but less likely to have experienced accidents, assault, disasters, combat or witness a death or injury. The authors of the study (Tolin and Foa) believe that sexual trauma causes more emotional suffering than other trauma. However, even when they took out the women who were victims of a sexual trauma, they still found women to have a higher rate of PTSD.

The study found that women were more likely to have an emotional response (anxiety or depression) to trauma and men were more likely to express their distress through behavior problems, angry outbursts and drug use. They also found that because of the high incidence of women who had been abused in childhood, it was more likely that a woman in a trauma (like a car accident) would have had a past trauma than a man. This was important because a person is more likely to develop PTSD if they have had a past trauma.

If you think you are having PTSD, you should be evaluated by a psychiatrist. There are many treatments available including psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, EMDR therapy and medications.