By Jacqueline Redmond
Our previous blog — Part 1 — provided a basic introduction to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Part II will examine how health care providers diagnose PTSD. Clinicians who diagnose PTSD include licensed social workers, licensed professional counselors, psychiatrists, and psychologists. All use a specific reference called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). It is now on its fifth update (DSM-V) and is used to classify all the different criteria for mental illnesses. In the past, PTSD was listed under “Anxiety Disorders” with the assumption that stress was one of the underlying causes. This year, in the newly released DSM-V, it is found more appropriately under “Trauma and Stressor-related Disorders.”
