Post-traumatic stress disorder: An overview

This introductory paper for the Special Series on Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) provides an overview of the psychological literature on chronic PTSD. We describe the symptoms of PTSD, the common associated features of the disorder, and common themes in the clinical presentation of traumatized individuals. Epidemiological studies are reviewed that reveal the widespread occurrence of potentially traumatizing events and the prevalence of PTSD among traumatized populations. We next provide an overview of psychological assessment procedures. This is followed by a description of three psychological theories of PTSD that have received a good deal of attention along with their implications for treatment. Two of the most widely applied treatments of PTSD are next reviewed in some detail: direct therapeutic exposure therapy and stress management approaches. Finally, we introduce the six papers that follow in the series in the context of a brief discussion of directions for future research in the field of chronic PTSD.