Assessment of PTSD can be conducted using a range of available instruments, each possessing varying strengths and weaknesses.
| Instruments |
Strength |
Weakness |
| CAPS-5 and other structured/semi-structured PTSD interviews |
- Provide the opportunities to ask follow-up questions and clarify items and responses
- Can definitively establish whether an individual has a PTSD diagnosis
|
- Take longer than self-report measures
- Must be administered by a trained interviewer
|
| Self-report measures of PTSD |
- Briefer; time and resource efficient
- Can be used repeatedly in an efficient way to measure progress in treatment
|
- Fixed item content and rating scale formats
- Fewer opportunities to clarify items and responses
- Cannot definitively establish a PTSD diagnosis
|
| Psychophysiological data (e.g., measuring heart rate while a patient talks about a trauma(s)) |
- Objective indicator of distress or arousal related to trauma-related stimuli
|
- Requires extensive training and expensive equipment
- Cannot be used to reliably discriminate those with PTSD from those without PTSD, so it may not be informative at the individual level
|
The CAPS-5 is the field's gold standard for determining a PTSD diagnosis.