Childhood Stress Disorder Behaviors in Veterans Who Do and Do Not Develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract
The purpose of this study was to test a variation of the stress-evaporation theory, which maintains that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are simply exacerbations of behaviors present before the trauma. Retrospective childhood self-ratings were made by 63 PTSD patients, 53 psychiatric controls, and 28 normals on 13 PTSD-like symptoms. The results did not support the hypothesis, and they give more support to the residual-stress model than to the stress-evaporation theory.