Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Ex-Military Personnel

Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO), in the 11th version of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), recognised two distinct disorders related to post-traumatic stress: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (CPTSD). PTSD is a condition comprising three clusters of symptoms: reexperiencing of the traumatic memory, avoidance, and a sense of threat. CPTSD includes these PTSD symptom clusters and three additional clusters of symptoms: affective dysregulation, negative self concept, and disturbances in relationships (see 4.1 below for more detail on these symptoms and disorder definitions). The International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ) has been developed for the assessment of ICD11 PTSD and CPTSD but has never been validated in a military population before. To address this research gap, the present project utilised an existing cohort of 177 veterans who completed a number of self-rated measures on history of life events, traumatic stress and comorbidities. Experiences with service utilisation were also investigated in a group of eight veterans with CPTSD.