NP and hopefully all the rest who read here that also suffer with PTSD will realize it is a disorder.

What most people consider as "learned" is not what is meant when referring to this phenomena (learned response) itself. It doesn't help healing to be stuck on that term.

When trauma occurs, and PTSD results, it's because the brain has misfiled the event. Because of this trauma, brain chemicals change and change how they file future events too.

The good news is you can retrain the brain to properly "file" the event(s.) The sooner someone receives expert help with any trauma, the better they might heal, and the sooner and easier it will be to heal. (Thus why so many organizations that work with disasters have immediate debriefings.) The longer one takes to begin working on PTSD, the harder it will be partially because each subsequent event, even if not necessarily traumatic, is misfiled and considered trauma or is added to the event.

Think of it like this: before trauma, your brain has all it's files neatly filed away in each proper filing cabinet. Trauma hits and shakes the brain all up and the file cabinets and all the folders and contents become strewn all over the floor of your memory area. Some files are easier to find, pick up, dust off and refile. Others seem to refuse to go where they belong.

Yeah, it's a bear of a disorder.

(Above analogies given for helping others try to picture what types of things occur with PTSD and are not necessarily technically accurate. )