The Relationship between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist (PCL) Symptom Endorsement and Self-Reported Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression

Post traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) has been a controversial diagnosis with arguments that the disorder could be better classified as a dissociative disorder, grief reaction, or a stress reaction rather than an anxiety disorder. This study identified individuals who self reported feeling anxious, and also met criterion for PTSD using data from activeduty military personnel who completed the 2008 Health Related Behaviors Questionnaire. Participants included those who 1) self-reported feelings of anxiety, 2) completed screens of PTSD, generalized anxiety and depression. Only a little more than 50% of those who met criterion for probable PTSD based on the posttraumatic stress disorder checklist-civilian (PCL-C) stated they were feeling anxious or were in treatment for anxiety. The overlap of symptoms of PTSD with screens for symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and depression was remarkably non-existent. PCL-C scores suggest 5.3% of those with probable PTSD also reported feeling anxious and 4.3% of individuals with probable PTSD reported seeking help for anxiety. The most frequent symptoms found in those individuals who reported feeling anxious were more often endorsing symptoms of avoidance, while those who did not self report feelings of anxiety showed significantly lowered scores on symptoms of hyperarousal and re experiencing, and higher scores on symptoms of numbing. Implications for future classification schema and possible impact on the role of symptom structure in how and why symptom clusters occur in such variation are discussed, and how this might impact treatment and diagnostic considerations.