Development of a scale to assess posttraumatic stress disorder

This study presents a newly developed self-report Posttraumatic Stress Scal e (PTSS) based on the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994). The scale assesses the trauma experienced by people via the specific criteria o f reexperiencing, numbing and avoidance, hyperarousal, and functioning. The instrument was validated on 52 Vietnam veteran subjects diagnosed with pos ttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), 64 subjects who were attending professio nal counseling for trauma-related incidents, and 176 subjects who had never been diagnosed with PTSD or had professional counseling. The test survey c omprised the PTSS, Beck's Anxiety Inventory, Beck's Depression Inventory, I mpact of Events Scale, the 12-item General Health Questionnaire, Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology, and Symptoms Checklist-90R, The test-retest r eliability of the scale was assessed over a four- to six-week period. The s cale had a high test-retest reliability and showed high convergent and conc urrent validity. Construct validity as assessed through the comparison betw een the three groups was high; however factor analysis revealed only Two fa ctors instead of the three factors assumed in the DSM-IV Overall, the scale may be used by clinicians or clients.