See also: BATTERED CHILD SYNDROME
BATTERED WOMAN SYNDROME.; RAPE TRAUMA SYNDROME

Post-traumatic stress disorder refers to certain characteristic behaviors and feelings following an extremely traumatic event involving actual or threatened death or serious injury to one’s self or another.  The symptoms include impairment of everyday functioning; persistent reexperience of the traumatic event (e.g., flashbacks, nightmares); avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and general numbness, such as repressed memories of the event and feelings of isolation; and increased arousal, such as sleep disturbances and outbursts of anger.{footnote} [3295]American Psychiatric Ass’n, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders § 309.81, at 424‑25 (4th ed. 1994).{/footnote}

Expert testimony describing post-traumatic stress disorder has been found admissible in a number of jurisdictions, particularly in sexual assault cases.  One court, while ruling evidence of post-traumatic event disorder admissible in a rape case to show how the victim’s conduct was consistent with rape.{footnote} [3296]State v. Alberico, 861 P.2d 192 (N.M. 1993).{/footnote}

Bibliography.
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