Psychotic symptoms in post-traumatic stress disorder

Although many coexisting disorders have been reported with post-traumatic s tress disorder (PTSD), little reference has been made to the presence of ps ychotic symptoms. Psychotic symptoms are not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV or International Classification of Diseases 10 diagnoses of PTSD. The hallucinations and delusions describe d here in two cases of PTSD were accompanied by psychotic symptoms. These s ymptoms clearly differ from flashbacks but have a strong symbolic relations hip to the trauma, and they do not respond to antipsychotic drugs. The ques tion is whether there are two separate diagnoses or if psychotic symptoms a re an integral part of PTSD. More systematic studies are required to explor e the possibility of changing the current classifications of PTSD to includ e a diagnosis of PTSD with psychotic features.