Posttraumatic stress disorder: Assessment and treatment

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a stress-related disorder that presents as a complex and debilitating collection of behavioral, affective, and physiological sequelae. Avoidance symptoms include avoidance of internal and external stimuli that invoke the trauma, inability to recall aspects of the trauma, anhedonia, feeling detached from others, restricted affect, and sense of foreshortened future. PTSD is typically assessed using a combination of trauma exposure and PTSD symptom measures. The most commonly used measures are self-report measures and diagnostic interviews. Psychopharmacological research has examined the utility of multiple agents for the treatment of PTSD, including antidepressants, anticonvulsants, and antipsychotics. The development of evidence-based, patient-centered care requires identifying the types of treatment approaches, types of interventions, and duration of treatment that are effective for patients with different types of symptom profiles and comorbidities.