PTSD Symptoms in Women
Medically reviewed by Kathleen Daly, MD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental illness that some people develop following a traumatic experience. Not everyone develops PTSD, but it can be highly distressing for those who do. Though anyone can be susceptible to PTSD, women are twice as likely than men to develop it. Regardless of gender, PTSD symptoms can vary from person to person.
This article discusses PTSD symptoms in women and explains its causes, prevalence, and treatment.
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A Note on Gender and Sex Terminology
Verywell Health acknowledges that sex and gender are related concepts. However, they are not the same. To reflect our sources accurately, this article uses terms like “female,” “male,” “woman,” and “man” as our sources do.
PTSD Symptoms in Women
PTSD symptoms occur when you associate a traumatic experience with a trigger in your current life. You experience a natural fear response to the trigger, even if there is no present threat.
For a healthcare provider to diagnose you with PTSD, you must experience several symptoms for at least one month. PTSD symptoms include:
Reexperiencing the traumatic incident either through flashbacks, recurring dreams or memories, distressing thoughts, or physical stress symptoms.
Avoiding places, things, or reminders of the event and avoiding thoughts and feelings related to the event.
Having reactive responses, such as startling easily, feeling tense or on edge, having difficulty concentrating, experiencing sleep disturbances, feeling irritable or angry, and engaging in dangerous or destructive behaviors.
Experiencing cognition or mood-related symptoms, such as difficulty remembering the incident, feeling negative about yourself or the world, having uncontrollable guilt or shame, losing interest in activities, experiencing isolation, or no longer experiencing joy or happiness.
Women in particular may experience PTSD symptoms uniquely, including being more likely to:
Startle more easily than men
Express fear differently from men and exhibit fight-and-flight responses more often
Feel more distractible and experience emotional distress and numbness
Avoid reminders of traumatic incidents
Experience depression and anxiety
LGBTQ+ People Have the Highest PTSD Risk
Those who identify as LGBTQ+ are also at an increased risk of developing PTSD, as are cisgender women. At the highest risk are those who are transgender and/or bisexual.
Causes of PTSD in Women
A person is at risk of developing PTSD after exposure to a traumatic event. Some traumatic experiences that specifically put women at risk of developing PTSD include:
Sexual assault
Stalking
Physical violence and intimate partner violence
Military experience, including both combat and sexual assault
Childhood abuse or neglect
The severity and length of time that a woman experiences trauma symptoms is likely due to a combination of genetics, hormones, and life experiences. Additionally, women are more likely to experience trauma at a younger age.
Prevalence of PTSD in Women
Though PTSD is more common in women than men, the reason for this is unknown. Research on female-specific PTSD has been limited. However, research that has asked women about harmful or traumatic childhood experiences called adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) shows that they are twice as likely as men to have experienced six or more adverse childhood experiences between the ages of 1 and 17.
PTSD Is More Common in Women
PTSD has a prevalence of 10% to 12% in women as compared to 5% to 6% in men, and about 1 in 10 women will develop PTSD in their lifetime.
How PTSD Is Diagnosed in Women
Only a licensed mental health or healthcare provider can diagnose PTSD. A woman might be diagnosed with PTSD if she has been experiencing several symptoms of the illness for at least one month.
To provide a diagnosis, the provider will ask several questions about the impact of your symptoms and how much time has passed since you started experiencing them. After the provider diagnoses you, they will develop a treatment plan to reduce symptoms and increase healthy coping skills.
Related: How PTSD Is Diagnosed
Treating PTSD in Women
Women who are coping with PTSD tend to use a more emotional, defensive, and palliative style compared to men, who tend to take more of a problem-solving approach. It is also common for women to need strong social connections and support to recover from traumatic experiences. Psychotherapy is also an effective tool for healing from trauma and reducing PTSD in women.
During psychotherapy, there are several practical treatment approaches, including the following:
The goal of these treatment methods is to reduce trauma symptoms, adopt coping mechanisms, and reprocess how the trauma is stored in the brain to decrease the impact of trauma.
Related: How PTSD Is Treated
Summary
PTSD is a common mental illness that can significantly impact your mental, emotional, and physical well-being following a traumatic event. For women, PTSD can have a worse or longer-term impact than for men. Women develop PTSD twice as often as men and experience PTSD differently. A mental health or medical provider can diagnose PTSD and recommend treatment options for reducing symptoms.
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