This assessment is designed to help evaluate your response to a particularly traumatic event. Following a major personal trauma, people typically brood and ask why. Most of us eventually put the past aside and get on with our lives. But some people who survive a traumatic event are affected so strongly by the experience that they are unable to live a normal life.

When one's response to a traumatic experience interferes with normal activities, a person may be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or PTSD. This condition usually follows an unusually upsetting experience such as rape, war, natural disaster, fire, sexual abuse, car or plane crash, traumatic death or captivity. For some people, witnessing a violent or tragic event is sufficient to cause PTSD.

PTSD can affect anybody at any age. Symptoms range from constantly reliving the trauma to emotional numbness. In most cases, people with PTSD recover without treatment after several months. For others, PTSD can last for several months or years and does not resolve unless treated by a professional.

The Post-Traumatic Stress Assessment is designed to evaluate whether a major trauma in your life has affected you in a significant way. Many people, despite experiencing a highly traumatic event, cope very well and suffer few, if any, aftereffects. Others may suffer recurrent symptoms after the event, but these symptoms are not severe enough to qualify as PTSD. Some people, unfortunately, develop true PTSD and suffer severe distress.

The Post-Traumatic Stress Assessment will help differentiate among these three possible outcomes, and give you specific advice on how to deal with your distress. This may include a recommendation to see a qualified healthcare professional to make the diagnosis of PTSD and initiate appropriate treatment. No matter how badly you are feeling now, it is always possible to feel considerably better.