PTSD for most people is a soldier just back from war, but there are other ways in which a person may suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD is a combination of anxiety disorder and depression that occurs when a person experiences or witnesses a traumatic event that is outside the range of normal human experiences. In the book The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, the main character, Charlie relives the death of the person closest to him, his aunt Helen. Charlie loses his aunt Helen on his seventh birthday, but what he doesn't know is that his aunt molested him when he was little. Charlie doesn't realize this until his freshman year of high school. Childhood trauma can have lasting consequences; if the person goes untreated, PTSD can manifest as anxiety and depression, just like Charlie in Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Not much is known about what happens with people who suffer from PTSD, but what we know is that this is the case. caused by a change in the nervous system, where large levels of stress hormones appear. The parts of the brain that undergo changes following the traumatic event are the amygdala and the hippocampus. Those parts of the brain link fear and memory together. Those parts that are unable to function normally are what create the flashbacks the individual has. PTSD is made up of depression and anxiety, which is why it's easy to think it's just anxiety and depression. The difference is that PTSD patients have flashbacks. Because anxiety and depression are part of PTSD, people who suffer from PTSD have difficulty making and/or keeping friends. “Teens usually keep up with at least a few friends… middle of paper… many teens feel like going to therapy. They might not even go because it costs too much. So people who don't follow the maximum therapy or don't talk to anyone could be self-medicating. Ms. Tyra, a counselor at LOHS, stated that “…self-medicating would be like giving parents medications, drugs, alcohol and weed” (English Project). People do it because it makes them feel better and even though it may not last forever, it feels good in the moment. Many teenagers think it's not good to go to therapy. There are many reasons not to go to therapy, but none are good enough because without it the individual will have very little chance of improving. They only get worse over time. The main reason people don't go to therapy is because they think they will be judged, but once they get over that, they will make a lot of progress.