title: Inconsistency in reporting potentially traumatic events.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Research on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) relies mainly on self-reports of exposure to trauma and its consequences.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To analyse the consistency of the reporting of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) over time.
  
  
  METHODS
  A community-based cohort, representative of the canton of Zurich, Switzerland, was interviewed at the ages of 34-35 years (in 1993) and 40-41 years (in 1999). A semi-structured diagnostic interview, including a section on PTSD, was administered.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 342 participants who attended both interviews, 169 reported some PTE (1993, n=110; 1999, n=120). In 1999, 56 participants (33.1%) reported for the first time PTEs that actually occurred before 1993, but which had not been reported in the 1993 interview. In total, 68 participants (40.2%) who had reported a PTE in 1993 did not report it in 1999. The overall frequency of inconsistent reporting was 63.9%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The high level of inconsistency in the reporting of PTEs has implications for therapy as well as for research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Zurich, Culmannstrasse 8, CH-8091 Zurich, Switzerland. urshepp@bluewin.ch
authors.forename: Urs
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hepp
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gamma
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Milos
authors.forename: Dominique
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eich
authors.forename: Vladeta
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ajdacic-Gross
authors.forename: Wulf
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Rössler
authors.forename: Jules
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Angst
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schnyder
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D011594:Psychometrics; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D014342:Truth Disclosure