22nd February 2024

Diagnosis

PTSD consists of 4 types of symptoms: intrusive symptoms, avoidant behaviours, negative thinking patterns and mood, and changes in arousal and reactivity. The symptoms should be present for over a month and need to have an impact on the functioning of the sufferer for a diagnosis of PTSD to be made. On diagnosis, there is often a comorbidity of anxiety disorders, mood disorders such as depression or substance misuse disorders. 

Diagnostic factors 

The event triggering PTSD could be a threat to life, serious injury or a violent event. It could have involved the sufferer directly, they may have been a witness to the event or found out about the trauma occurring to a close friend or family. Trauma can also include repeated exposure to details of a traumatic event as part of their occupation, e.g. law enforcement.  

Exposure to trauma followed by each of the four symptoms (below) for over 1 month, which affects day to day functioning. 

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons (2018). NG116, Licensed under a creative commons licence. Available for free at: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng116/informationforpublic (Accessed: 7 May 2023).