Screening for posttraumatic stress disorder in a general psychiatric outpatient setting.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may affect survivors of a number of accidents and illnesses, in addition to violence victims and combat veterans. Prior research suggests that PTSD may be underdiagnosed when trauma is not the presenting problem. Thus, a PTSD screening scale might have utility in routine clinical settings. The authors evaluated the screening performance of the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS) in a general psychiatric setting. Results indicated that the PDS performed as well in this setting as it did in the original trauma-focused validation studies, independent of PTSD status as a primary, versus secondary, reason for presenting. A simple cutoff score was adequate for case identification. There were no gender effects, and the scale performed equally well among patients with, versus without, a depressive diagnosis.
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown Medical School/The Rhode Island Hospital, Providence 02905, USA.
Thomas
T
Sheeran
Mark
M
Zimmerman
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008605:Mental Health Services; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology*