After witnessing or experiencing a traumatic or life-threatening event such as war, a natural disaster, car accident, or sexual assault, people commonly have reactions such as upsetting memories of the event, intrusive thoughts, or trouble sleeping.
VA defines MST as “psychological trauma resulting from a physical assault of a sexual nature, a battery of a sexual nature, or sexual harassment which occurred while the Veteran was serving on active duty, active duty for training, or inactive duty training.” And VA defines sexual harassment as “repeated, unsolicited verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature which is threatening in character.”