Primary Care Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Screen from DSM-5 (PC-PTSD-5) can be used to screen a patient in primary care for PTSD.
Items:
(1) ever experienced an especially frightening, horrible or traumatic event
(2) in the past month: had nightmares about the event(s) or thought about the event(s) even if did not want to
(3) in the past month: tried hard not to think about the event(s) or avoided situations that brought back memories of the event(s)
(4) in the past month: been on guard, watchful or easily startled
(5) in the past month: felt numb or detached from people, activities or surroundings
(6) in the past month: felt guilty or blamed self/others for the event(s) or any problems the event(s) may have caused
where:
• Triggering events include: serious accident, major fire, physical assault, earthquake, flood, war, death of a loved one, seeing someone killed or injured.
|
Response
|
Points
|
|
no
|
0
|
|
yes
|
1
|
total score =
= SUM(points for items 2 through 6)
Interpretation:
• If the first item is negative, then the screen is negative.
• If the score is >=3, then the screen is positive.
• If the score is <= 2, then the screen is negative, but the patient is at risk.
