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The PCL-5 is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses the 20 DSM-5 symptoms of PTSD (Weathers et al., 2013). The PCL-5 has a variety of purposes, including:
- Monitoring symptom change during and after treatment
- Screening individuals for PTSD
- Making a provisional PTSD diagnosis
SELF-HELP OPTIONS
Transcendental Meditation – plenty of positive referrals for this life-changing and mind refreshing practice. Can be done anywhere and anytime.
Emotional Freedom Techniques, aka Tapping, works for many with depression, anxiety and PTSD.
Download a free app to start from The Tapping Solution for Android or for Apple.
Find the basics here and get a step-by-step guide here.
NON-FDA-APPROVED OPTIONS
Psilocybin Microdosing – with independent clinics across the country, this process gets rave reviews from those who have gone through what is usually a 6-session process. Top-ups are generally recommended.
Medical Marijuana Information – legal in many states, with recreational use also legal in many states, there are few downsides.
Magic Mushrooms or MDMA – Growing in popularity and in the different stages of the FDA’s approval process, Magic mushrooms benefit from their all organic nature. MDMA is aka Ecstasy.
Study Comparing Three Doses of MDMA Along With Psychotherapy in Veterans With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder from The National Library of Medicine.
New Combined Treatments – two most effective PTSD treatments show similar benefits and none from combining them.
Psychedelic Nasal Sprays – Oregon-based start-up Silo Wellness has reportedly developed a magic mushroom nasal spray focused on delivering exact, controlled psychedelic microdoses via an easy inhaler.
FDA-APPROVED TREATMENTS
See the latest FDA-approved PTSD treatment time line here. The most recent option, Spravato, failed both tests, but just two months after Trump met with Johnson & Johnson executives at Mar-a-Lago, this highly-expensive and highly-ineffective solution was approved.
National Center for PTSD from the VA – a good source for consultants with current information, free lectures once a month and on demand webinars.
PTSD Symptoms
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that can develop after a person is exposed to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, or other threats on a person’s life.
- Sleeplessness
- Anger
- Anxiety
- Sense of isolation
All these symptoms can accompany PTSD and pose tremendous challenges for veterans and their families. There’s an enduring stigma around mental health care that still discourages many from seeking help.
Additional symptoms may include: disturbing thoughts, feelings, or dreams related to the events, mental or physical distress to trauma-related cues, attempts to avoid trauma-related cues, alterations in how a person thinks and feels, and an increase in the fight-or-flight response. These symptoms last for more than a month after the event. Young children are less likely to show distress but instead may express their memories through play.
Most people who have experienced a traumatic event will not develop PTSD. People who experience interpersonal trauma (for example rape or child abuse) are more likely to develop PTSD, as compared to people who experience non-assault based trauma such as accidents and natural disasters. About half of people develop PTSD following rape. Children are less likely than adults to develop PTSD after trauma, especially if they are under ten years of age. Diagnosis is based on the presence of specific symptoms following a traumatic event.
Prevention
Prevention may be possible when therapy is targeted at those with early symptoms but is not effective when carried out among all people following trauma. The main treatments for people with PTSD are counseling and medication. A number of different types of therapy may be useful. This may occur one-on-one or in a group. Antidepressants of the selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitor type are the first-line medications for PTSD and result in a benefit in about half of people.
These benefits are less than those seen with therapy. It is unclear if using medications and therapy together has greater benefit. Other medications do not have enough evidence to support their use and in the case of benzodiazepines may worsen outcomes.
PTSD Statistics
In the United States, about 3.5% of adults have PTSD in a given year, and 9% of people develop it at some point in their life. In much of the rest of the world, rates during a given year are between 0.5% and 1%. Higher rates may occur in regions of armed conflict. It is more common in women than men. Symptoms of trauma-related mental disorders have been documented since at least the time of the ancient Greeks.
PTSD History
During the World Wars study increased and it was known under various terms including “shell shock” and “combat neurosis”. The term “post-traumatic stress disorder” came into use in the 1970s in large part due to the diagnoses of U.S. military veterans of the Vietnam War. It was officially recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in 1980 in the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III).