This isn’t the classic definition of PTSD according to the medical experts, Judith Herman, MD (“Trauma and Recovery,” 1992) and Bessel van der Kolk, MD (“The Body Keeps the Score”). There is fight-or-flight response which doesn’t result in PTSD. You can fight or flee successfully and are safe; the brain returns to normal right after safety is attained, and there are no traces left in the body. But when the fight-or-flight becomes overwhelming and a person is trapped and then harmed in the attack, then the brain registers and stores that information forever. The PTSD response is the stuck place where the victim’s brain and body is injured. And then all the compensation starts up — the addictions, the rages, the hypervigilance, continuous arousal, anxiety, depression ensue. And stay until the right treatment is applied to the individual. This is the scientific definition you’ll find in those two books. The Body Keeps the Score is probably the better one to explore. I have two kinds of PTSD — one from sexual trauma and the other from medical illness and treatment over a long period of time. Symptoms and signs are the same, treatment is the same.