Symptoms may include persistent negative beliefs about oneself, others, or the world distorted blame of oneself or others for causing the traumatic event persistent negative emotions such as fear, anger, guilt, or shame diminished interest in activities once enjoyed feeling detached from others and an inability to experience positive emotions. Negative Alterations in Cognition and Mood (Criterion D): This subscale measures the negative impact on thoughts and feelings that began or worsened after the traumatic event.Avoidance serves as a coping mechanism to reduce distress but can interfere with the individual’s ability to process and heal from the trauma. Avoidance behaviours may include avoiding places, people, activities, or conversations that remind the individual of the trauma.
Avoidance (Criterion C): This subscale assesses efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or reminders associated with the traumatic event.Re-experiencing symptoms can be triggered by internal or external cues related to the traumatic event. Individuals may feel as if the traumatic event is recurring, leading to significant psychological distress. Re-experiencing (Criterion B): This subscale measures the persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event(s) through intrusive thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks, or distressing memories.Consistent with the DSM-5, the four symptom clusters are represented in the PCL-5 by the following subscales: