If it bleeds, it leads.
A common stereotype of major news coverage is that violent events often headline newspapers and broadcasts on a day-to-day basis, but for those involved in such happenings, life may never be the same.
Most are able to cope with harrowing experiences, but for some, life can become a slippery slope of declining mental health.
The American Medical Association defines post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as "a response to an event that involves actual or threatened death, serious injury or other threat to one's physical integrity which must involve intense fear, helplessness or horror."
These events include, but are not limited to, military combat, personal assault, sexual assault or terrorist attack.
"(Adult) symptoms most likely include dreams, unwanted thinking and fear of certain things in public or in private," said Dr. Robert Portnoy, director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) at the University Health Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
For children who have been exposed to such an event, additional symptoms include disorganized or agitated behavior.
Portnoy said PTSD can also stem from public acts of violence, such as school shootings or the killing of 9 people at Westroads Mall in Omaha on Dec. 5, 2007.
Earlier this year, UNL dealt with a gun scare when senior art major Ryan Labenz waved a toy gun around a classroom in Richards Hall.
The event caused many students to panic, some of who climbed through open windows to escape the faux gunman.
The Health Center's CAPS immediately responded to the event by sending representatives to speak with different classes, and also held group sessions during which students could discuss the event and rationalize their fears, Portnoy said.
"We made sure the students knew we were here to help," he said. "But we also wanted to let them know that there are ways to help themselves and their fellow students.
"Sometimes the best thing is having somebody to talk to."
In 1992, a more serious event threatened UNL's campus.
A student brought a loaded rifle into a classroom of about 35 students and attempted to open fire.
Fortunately, the weapon misfired, and the gunman was apprehended before he had a chance to fire any rounds.
While actions such as these aren't commonplace, CAPS is aware of PTSD's constant threat to the mental health of students.
The health center offers a free online screening for PTSD and other mental health disorders through its Web site, health.unl.edu/students/caps. The screening is general, inquiring about thinking and sleeping habits.
PTSD can be triggered at any time by anything, Portnoy said.
According to the AMA, there are three categories of PTSD, based on the time duration between the traumatic event and symptoms.
First, there's acute PTSD, when symptoms begin in fewer than three months; secondly, chronic PTSD, which occurs when the symptom last three months or longer; and thirdly, PTSD with delayed onset, which occurs after six months have passed between the event and the onset of symptoms.
"There are cases that occur immediately, and others who don't experience (symptoms) until many years later," Portnoy said.
War veterans, the group most often linked to PTSD, or "shell shock," as it was initially termed during World War II, have been the recipient of more attention from the government.
Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, a ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, helped pull veterans' mental health issues to the forefront in Washington, D.C.
Nelson said it took too long for people to notice the mental health problems veterans were facing when they returned from battle and too long for people to organize health systems for those veterans.
"The families didn't want to deal with it, and the military didn't want to deal with it," Nelson said. "You see these macho, physically fit soldiers coming back with challenges, and it changed people's focus.
"Thank goodness for the Wounded Warriors Act."
Signed into law in 2007, the Wounded Warriors Act requires the Department of Defense to educate soldiers of the dangers of PTSD. Before soldiers depart for service, the department must warn them about possible post-war experiences.
There is no way to predict who may be affected by the disorder, but all PTSD patients have been a part of or witness to chilling events.
Ashley Vaughn, a junior architecture major at UNL and former sergeant in the United States Marine Corps, has witnessed such events as an Iraq War Veteran.
Vaughn spent roughly seven months in Iraq, from August 2004 to late-March 2005, and spent most of her time unloading supplies, soldiers and ammunition from various aircraft coming into the country.
She said she joined the military somewhat haphazardly, at first going along with her roommate for moral support when she decided to sign up. After learning more about the opportunities the military offers, she joked she was talked into signing on the dotted line.
"There was no specific reason (for joining)," Vaughn said. "I didn't know what I was going to do at the time, and it seemed like an interesting thing to do."
She has no regrets about the decision. A book rehabilitation program, as opposed to the GI Bill, allows her to use the money she receives for tuition, books and other related expenses. An architecture student, she said this is especially helpful.
"I needed to spend thousands for materials, software, a computer and other things. If it weren't for (the military), I wouldn't be able to do this."
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