As America observed our nation’s military veterans on Nov. 11, new research is drawing attention to a battle some veterans continue to fight long after their military service ends: post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The United States is home to roughly 16 million veterans, according to recent census data. More than 2 million are Black or African American civilian veterans, according to 2024 U.S. Census Bureau data.
For veterans of every background, including Black and African American, returning to civilian life can bring major changes, from building a new career and reconnecting with family to establishing a new identity, routine and sense of purpose. For those living with PTSD, that transition can be complicated by nightmares, intrusive memories, anxiety, difficulty sleeping, avoidance, emotional numbness or feeling constantly on guard.
“Military service can end, but the effects of trauma don’t necessarily end with it,” said Leslie Fuentes-Nguyen, a licensed marriage and family therapist with Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles. “PTSD can follow someone home and affect the most fundamental parts of life, including sleep, relationships, work and the ability to feel safe. But PTSD is treatable. Veterans deserve to know that asking for help is an act of strength, and recovery is possible.”
New research finds PTSD has risen among U.S. veterans
A major national study published in 2026 suggests PTSD may be affecting substantially more veterans than earlier surveys indicated.
The nationally representative 2025-2026 National Health and Resilience in Veterans Study surveyed 2,636 U.S. veterans. Researchers estimated that 14.4 percent had experienced PTSD during their lifetime and 7.3 percent had PTSD in the previous month. Those rates were significantly higher than estimates from previous waves of the same national study.
The increase is striking. Lifetime PTSD prevalence rose from 9.4 percent in 2019-2020 to 14.4 percent in 2025-2026, while past-month PTSD increased from 5.0 percent to 7.3 percent. Based on Census population benchmarks used by the researchers, the latest estimates correspond to approximately 2.5 million U.S. veterans with a lifetime history of PTSD and about 1.2 million experiencing PTSD in the past month.
The research also revealed a pronounced generational difference.
Among veterans ages 18 to 44, an estimated 35.3 percent had experienced PTSD during their lifetime and 16.1 percent had past-month PTSD. Among veterans 60 and older, the corresponding estimates were 5.7 percent and 2.8 percent.
Combat exposure also mattered. Lifetime PTSD prevalence was 19.9 percent among combat-exposed veterans compared with 11.0 percent among veterans without combat exposure. Past-month PTSD affected an estimated 12.4 percent of combat-exposed veterans compared with 4.3 percent of those without combat exposure.
“This research should get our attention because PTSD is not simply about remembering something painful,” Fuentes-Nguyen said. “Trauma can change the brain and body’s response to perceived danger. A sound, smell, place or situation can suddenly make someone feel as though the traumatic event is happening again, even when they are physically safe. That response can be overwhelming, but with the right treatment people can learn to understand those reactions and regain control.”
PTSD can affect far more than mental health
PTSD can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event. Symptoms can include intrusive memories or dreams, avoiding people or situations associated with the trauma, heightened alertness or startle responses, and changes in mood and thinking.
And combat isn’t the only possible source of trauma.
In the latest national veteran study, sudden loss, life-threatening illness or injury, and witnessing violence were among the most commonly identified traumatic experiences. Forced sexual experiences carried particularly high risks of PTSD. Researchers found a 65.5 percent conditional lifetime prevalence of PTSD following forced sex during childhood and 48.9 percent following forced sex during adulthood. Military-related traumatic experiences were associated with a 33 percent conditional lifetime prevalence.
PTSD can also significantly interfere with everyday functioning. In the 2025-2026 study, veterans with past-month PTSD had substantially higher functional disability scores than veterans without it, even after researchers accounted for other health and demographic factors.
“When trauma starts deciding where you can go, how well you can sleep, whether you can keep a job or how close you can be to the people you love, it is taking up too much space in your life,” Fuentes-Nguyen said. “No veteran should feel they have to simply tough it out. Reaching for support isn’t surrendering control. It’s a way of taking control back.”
PTSD is treatable
One of the most important messages for veterans and their families is that effective PTSD treatments exist.
The Veterans Administration/Department of Defense Clinical Practice Guideline for the Management of PTSD recommends several trauma-focused psychotherapies as the most effective treatments for PTSD: Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). The guideline recommends individual trauma-focused psychotherapy over medication when appropriate and available.
These treatments work differently. CPT helps patients identify and reassess troubling beliefs related to trauma. PE gradually helps people safely confront trauma-related memories and situations they have been avoiding. EMDR helps patients process traumatic memories while paying attention to controlled back-and-forth movements or sounds. Veterans Affairs says many trauma-focused treatment programs last approximately eight to 16 sessions, although treatment is individualized.
“The goal of treatment isn’t to erase someone’s past or ask them to forget what they experienced,” Fuentes-Nguyen said. “It’s to help take away trauma’s power over the present. Recovery can mean sleeping better, reconnecting with family, returning to activities you once enjoyed and being able to imagine a future that isn’t defined by what happened to you.”
