Good description of PTSD from The Serial Killer Whisperer

This is a quote from the book on page 253. The killer, David Gore, had killed Melody's best friend in front of her, held a knife to her neck as she was tied up and they were hiding in the attic. Gore had to be retried and Melody had to take a leave from school in California to go to the trial.
"Gore was found guility a second time, and Melody returned to California, but she was an emotional wreck. Because of her long absence from college, she had missed classes and the school told her that she was three hours short of graduating with her peers. She'd also been replaced at the lucrative job that she enjoyed, because she'd been gone for so long. All of her college friends were moving on. She wasn't.
Depressed and short of money, Melody moved to Los Angeles, rented  tiny apartment, and began searching for work. She also began smoking pot. It didn't help, so she tried harder drugs. The second trial had stirre up long-buried emotions. She had nightmares. Gore was there in her dreams, sexually assaulting her, holding a knife to her throat. She dreamed that she saw him shoot Lynn. She would wake up in a sweat and swear that she could smell him. It was the same scent that she'd smelled when she was raping her. It was repugnant. She was afraid to go out at night alone. She avoided anywhere there were not crowds. She was afraid of men."

Today she is happily married with children of her own and has managed to work through the PTSD the overtook her life.

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