The physical scars of the victims of Chicago’s gun violence are all too visible. The mental ones can be harder to detect.

With about 2,000 shootings and more than 300 murders in the city each year, the strain on those who survive — victims and perpetrators — can be great, but not all seek help in a city with dwindling resources for mental health services.

“Most people who experience trauma are not going to identify themselves as mental health patients and seek treatment,” said Dr. Stevan Weine, a psychiatrist and professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who specializes in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“You have to find them where they’re at and try to work with them to build their coping strategies,” he added.

A study of trauma patients at Chicago’s Cook County Hospital in 2011 found that more than 40 percent screened positive for symptoms of PTSD, which can include persistent feelings of anxiety, depression, nightmares and expressions of anger. For gunshot victims the percentage was even higher. Many who suffer don’t know they have an ailment at all or that it can be treated.

But attempts to expand PTSD screenings at local public hospitals have hit roadblocks. At Cook County Hospital, which treats a steady stream of victims of gun violence, a limited budget has prevented the taxpayer-funded hospital from expanding its PTSD screening program.

Although administrators supported the idea, they told one trauma surgeon who wanted $200,000 for a screening program to seek funding from outside the hospital. PTSD resources are stretched thin, with fewer than 10 staffers responsible for as many as 5,000 patients, according to a ProPublica report.

The lack of available funding at Cook County is a problem across the city that has not been helped by shrinking state funds. Since 2009, Illinois has slashed its mental health funding by more than $240 million, according to a National Alliance for Mental Health study.

Amid those budget cuts, Chicago closed six of its 12 mental health clinics in 2012, many of which were in high-crime areas, leading to overcrowding and long travel times for patients.

Despite offers of treatment at other clinics, patients received less attention and had to travel farther to receive care. At a city council hearing this summer, advocates for reopening the centers said cuts forced more than 2,000 patients out of about 5,000 to end their treatment, according to The Chicago Tribune.