A soldier returned home from active duty in a combat zone and was diagnosed with PTSD. The soldier says, "If there's a loud noise at night, I get under my bed because I think we're getting bombed." What type of experience has the soldier described?

A) Illusion
B) Flashback
C) Nightmare
D) Auditory hallucination

Flashbacks are dissociative reactions in which an individual feels or acts as if the traumatic event were recurring. Illusions are misinterpretations of stimuli, and although the experience is similar, it is better termed a flashback because of the diagnosis of PTSD. Auditory hallucinations have no external stimuli. Nightmares commonly accompany PTSD, but this experience was stimulated by an actual environmental sound.