Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that can develop after experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening or traumatic event.
It’s normal to have stressful reactions in the days or weeks following such events, and most people gradually feel better over time. However, if these symptoms persist for more than a month and begin to interfere with your daily life, it may indicate PTSD.
Understanding the symptoms and available treatments can help you or a loved one on the path to recovery.
Self-Test for PTSD
The self-test for PTSD is called the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5). It’s a screening tool designed to identify individuals with PTSD.
PTSD Triggers
Sometimes things happen to people that are unusually or especially frightening, horrible, or traumatic.
For example:
- a serious accident or fire
- a physical or sexual assault or abuse
- an earthquake or flood
- a war
- seeing someone be killed or seriously injured
- having a loved one die through homicide or suicide
Methodics of PC-PTS-5 Screen
PC-PTSD-5 should be considered “positive” if the respondent answers “yes” to any of the 3 items in the questions listed below.
Those screening positive should have further assessment with a structured interview for PTSD, performed by a mental health professional who has experience in diagnosing PTSD.
If a respondent indicates a trauma history—experiencing a traumatic event over the course of their life—the respondent is instructed to answer five additional yes/no questions about how that trauma has affected them over the past month.
Respondents can score 0-5, which is a count of “yes” responses to the 5 questions below.
If you have ever experienced this type of event, please answer the following:
Have you ever experienced this kind of event?
YES NO
If “No,” screen total = 0. Please stop here.
If “Yes,” please answer the questions below:
1. I’m having nightmares about the event(s) or reciprocal thoughts about the event(s) (?)
- YES
- NO
2. I’m trying hard not to think about the event(s) and/or avoiding situations that reminded me of the event(s) (?)
- YES
- NO
3. I been constantly on guard, watchful, or easily startled (?)
- YES
- NO
4. I feel numb or detached from people, activities, and the surroundings (?)
- YES
- NO
5. I feel guilty, and I’m unable to stop blaming myself for the event(s) and problems I caused (?)
- YES
- NO
Interpretation
The measure begins with an item designed to assess whether the respondent has had any exposure to traumatic events.
If a respondent denies exposure, the PC-PTSD-5 is complete with a score of 0.
If someone answers “yes” to three or more questions on the PC-PTSD-5, it’s considered a positive result.
This means the person may be experiencing significant symptoms of PTSD and could benefit from further evaluation.
