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PTSD Test
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a mental health condition that may develop after a person is exposed to a severely traumatic event such as traffic collisions, sexual assault, warfare, or other life-threatening situations. About 25% of individuals exposed to severe trauma will develop PTSD. Significant symptoms include disturbing thoughts and feelings, as well as vivid nightmares related to the traumatic event.
Do you have PTSD? Keeping your worst traumatic event in mind, indicate your level of agreement with each of the statements below.
Question 1 of 20
In the past month, I have...
Felt jumpy or been too easily startled.
| Disagree | Agree |
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The PCL-5 is based on the American Psychological Association’s diagnostic criteria, and the DSM-5 new version (2013).
The PCL for DSM-IV was revised in accordance with DSM-5 (PCL-5). Numerous important revisions were instated with the PCL-5, including changes to symptom criteria and the addition of new clusters and symptoms of PTSD (so-called subscales). The self-report rating scale for PCL-5 was also improved and recalibrated to reflect improved scientific understanding of PTSD. The improvements to the scale, combined with the increase in psychometric items, means that PCL-5 scores are not compatible with previous PCL measurements such as, for example, for the DSM-IV criteria. In other words, they cannot be used interchangeably.
This Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) test was developed by professionals certified in the delivery and interpretation of numerous psychological measures, and who have worked in various fields of psychology, notably personality testing. Free online tests such as this Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) test are intended to be informative and educational first considerations of the construct being measured; they should not, therefore, be understood to be a concrete answer regarding components of one’s personality or psychological state. This test is to be used exclusively for educational purposes. A mental health diagnosis can and should be made only by a psychiatrist or other mental health professional.
Though developed and statistically validated, free online tests such as this one cannot provide professional assessments, results, or recommendations of any kind. As the publishers of this free online Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) test, which allows you to screen yourself for the signs of this mental health condition that may otherwise remain unrecognized, we have strived to make the test as reliable, valid, and complete as possible. Like our other free online tests, the current PTSD test is based on scientific inventories in order to keep the results precise and accurate.
The present test is based on the inventory developed by the staff at the Veterans Affairs national center for PTSD. As a clinical instrument, this inventory is intended for use by qualified health professionals and researchers, and the present test is provided for educational purposes only. The results of our free online PTSD test are provided "as-is” and should not be interpreted as the equivalent of professional assessment or recommendations. For additional information, please consult our Terms of Service.
Why Use This Test?
1. Free. This online PTSD Test is available to you at no charge and will allow you to obtain your scores on the PCL-5 psychological instrument, as informed by the American Psychological Association’s criteria.
2. Validity and reliability. The PCL-5 is a valid and reliable measure of PTSD symptoms, even among non-clinical samples, and is superior to several alternative measures of PTSD. The evidence has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and the PCL-5 has been shown to have good reliability and validity.
3. Relevant to popular psychology. Scientific understanding of PTSD is continuing to increase year after year, as is the scientific literature on the subject. The PCL-5 is at the forefront of PTSD testing tools.
4. Statistical controls. User results for the present test are logged into an anonymized database, and statistical analyses are performed to ensure results are as valid and reliable as possible.
5. Created by professionals. This test has been created by research professionals experienced in psychological testing.