News Reclassification Of Ptsd Diagnosis Potentially Excludes Soldiers Diagnosed Under Previous...

[MyPTSD]

A new head-to-head comparison of screening questionnaires for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) shows a worrying discordance between the previous version of the PTSD definition in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders—fourth edition (DSM-IV) and DSM-5, released in 2013. The study is the first to directly compare the original DSM-IV and DSM-5 checklists in a large group of infantry soldiers.

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[anthony]

Ummm... gee whizz, that was exactly the idea. The old diagnosis was flawed and open to a lot more interpretation. They fixed those holes so those people weren't diagnosed didn't really meet the criteria, but instead slipped through the cracks under the DSM IV...

found that just under a third (30%) of soldiers who screened positive for PTSD under the old DSM-IV criteria were excluded when DSM-5 criteria were used, and just under a quarter (20%) of those who met criteria under DSM-5 would not have been identified using the older DSM-IV criteria.

This was exactly the idea of tightening the criteria and closing the loopholes that were exposed.

I'm really not sure why these doctors have the belief that all soldiers who return from combat with symptoms of PTSD, have PTSD. That isn't factual. New data now more accurately decreases diagnosis to what was always statistically viewed, with around 20% or less of soldiers returning from combat meeting PTSD diagnosis.

You have to give soldiers a good six months or so to stabilise at home first, before trying to have them diagnosed with PTSD on return from operations.