\Trauma is what occurs. PTSD is what happens when our coping capacity just burns out b/c of the severity of the trauma, or the fact the trauma *never stops*...

See Pete Walker on complex PTSD. We can have PTSD, be traumatized (again), get PTSD for the second trauma, etc.

as it was explained to me at the veteran's administration, post traumatic stress is a normal human reaction. when you are startled by an unexpected presence in the hallway on your sleepy way to the bathroom, the resulting jitters and shortness of breath are normal pts. ditto for the period of time of feeling shaken after a car accident or something more serious.

normal pts graduates to the disorder when it gets stuck in your head and affects your daily life years after the fact. once it graduates to the disorder, new trauma is very likely to trigger ptsd symptoms where the patient has extreme difficulty separating the new trauma from the old.

i hope i remembered the va explanation well enough to do it justice here. i certainly wouldn't argue the point with mister walker.