A primer on post-surgical PTSD after Gary Woodland’s PGA win Gary Woodland’s PGA win came after he revealed that his 2023 brain surgery recovery involved a PTSD diagnosis. People often associate PTSD with surviving combat or sexual assault, but the condition sometimes follows medical trauma. Gary Woodland reacts after sinking his final putt on the 18th green to win the Texas Children's Houston Open golf tournament March 29, 2026, in Houston. Post-traumatic stress disorder is a mental health condition caused by witnessing or experiencing a traumatic event. PTSD is often associated with surviving military combat or sexual assault, but surviving life-threatening medical events, including illness and major surgery, has been linked to the condition. Broadly, PTSD symptoms include reliving the event, avoiding reminders, declining cognition and mood, and feeling on edge or experiencing increased reactivity.to the PGA Tour in January 2024, he found his recovery slowed by complications. About two weeks before his big win, WoodlandPTSD at first, he said in the March 9 segment, but he’d been learning how to manage symptoms such as hypervigilance. He said he hoped not hiding PTSD’s challenges would make it easier to continue playing professional golf.out of Canada described research on traumatic stress after surgery as"in its infancy," but said postoperative traumatic stress including PTSD occurs in about 20% of patients.. Physiologically, the body responds to trauma similarly, whether that trauma is something like open heart surgery, being chased and breaking your leg, or getting shot, Lipov said., a key part of the body’s fight-or-flight response, Lipov said. These biological signals tell the body it is experiencing something traumatic, which can trigger PTSD.reliving the event, avoiding reminders of it, negative changes in cognition and mood, and feeling on edge or experiencing increased reactivity. Specific symptoms can include nightmares, flashbacks, irritability, hypervigilance, ongoing fear, trouble concentrating, problems sleeping, feeling detached or uninterested, avoiding people or places, resisting talking about the event, and forgetting parts of it. When it comes to post-surgical PTSD, some people might have nightmares about the hospital or their surgery or procrastinate or avoid follow-up appointments, said Sharon Joag, a licensed psychotherapist at Oaks Integrated Care, a nonprofit mental health organization in New Jersey. To be diagnosed with PTSD, a person must experience symptoms in each category, but that looks different for each person, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’for longer than a month and cause significant distress or disruption to a person’s daily life and activity. Most people who experience trauma Lipov advises patients who undergo surgery to consult with their doctor if they experience significant changes in behavior, mood or sleep habits. Some symptoms associated with post-surgical PTSD such as low energy or depression could also be signs of infection or surgical complications, he said.on whether PTSD stemming from a traumatic health condition or surgery is notably different from PTSD that stems from combat or assault.A family history of PTSD indicates a genetic predisposition to the condition, Lipov said. The surgery’s severity and risks also play a role. A person is more likely to develop PTSD after a more invasive procedure such as open heart surgery or an event that requires a stay in the intensive care unit with intubation, Lipov said."If they say you have a fifty-fifty chance of dying before the surgery, your sympathetic system is revved up already, so your chance to develop PTSD is higher," Lipov said That means if someone previously had post-surgical PTSD, they could be at higher risk of developing it again because they already perceive negative associations between surgical procedures and hospital stays, he added. But the opposite could be true. If there’s a known fear of surgery or a history of post-surgical PTSD,"through therapy and support, subsequent or future surgeries can be handled very differently," Joag said.Interview with Dr. Eugene Lipov, an anesthesiologist and pain physician who researches PTSD treatments, March 30, 2026 “No están recibiendo el entrenamiento tradicional de cinco meses… .El entrenamiento para los agentes de ICE ahora es de 47 días”. There was not “a single, prominent conservative voice in the country that even remotely wanted or hoped or was pushing to get Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air.” The SAVE America Act “requires everyone to re-register to vote in person and your driver’s license, REAL ID, or military ID aren’t even good enough.”“In the modern era, no American president has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump.”