A specialist in post-traumatic stress disorder, Dr. Mary Jane Niebauer at the Butler Veteran's Affairs Medical Center, said there are several systems that help both professionals and a patient's friends or family to identify post-traumatic stress disorder.

While some symptoms may begin shortly after a veteran's return home, others may emerge at later times or resurface at particularly stressful moments.

Symptoms include:

For some veterans, nightmares, flashbacks and persistent memories may cause stress.For others, traumatic memories are triggered by certain sights or sounds. For example, the sound of a car backfiring may bring back memories of gunfire.

Veterans suffering from PTSD may seek to avoid situations, people or discussions that trigger memories of a traumatic event.This may include avoiding discussion of military information, distancing him- or herself from family and friends and avoiding media coverage of war or war-related movies.

In combat, soldiers must always be aware of impending danger. This tendency may continue after a veteran returns home.Arousal symptoms may emerge as nervousness, a short temper and difficulty sleeping.<B><I>More information is available at www.ncptsd.va.gov.</I></B>