Is Helplessness Still Helpful in Diagnosing Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
UMass Chan Affiliations
Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research CenterDivision of Law and Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry
Document Type
Journal ArticlePublication Date
2016-01-01Keywords
PTSDDSM-5
diagnostic utility
trauma
diagnostic accuracy
Diagnosis
Mental and Social Health
Mental Disorders
Pediatrics
Psychiatry
Psychiatry and Psychology
Trauma
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Criteria A2, experience of helplessness, fear, or horror at the time of the traumatic event, was removed from the posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition. We argue that there is empirical support for retention of A2, a criterion that has clinical value and may improve diagnostic accuracy. Specifically, we demonstrate that A2 has high negative predictive power, aids in the prediction of symptom severity, and can be indispensible to detecting the disorder in children. We examine how augmenting A2 with other peritramautic emotions could improve clinical and diagnostic utility. In our opinion, rather than being eliminated, A2 needs to be reconstructed and included as one criterion of PTSD.Source
J Nerv Ment Dis. 2016 Jan;204(1):3-8. doi: 10.1097/NMD.0000000000000416. Link to article on publisher's site
DOI
10.1097/NMD.0000000000000416Permanent Link to this Item
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/28956PubMed ID
26704461Related Resources
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1097/NMD.0000000000000416