ABSTRACT
Psychopathology can be broadly defined as “impairment in the individual’s established, or expected, roles at a given developmental period . . . typically accompanied by reports of emotional distress” (Ingram & Price, 2001, p. 6). A specific disorder may be reached through a variety of different conditions and processes (epifinality); the same vulnerability processes may lead to no or different types of disorders for different individuals (multifinality). PTSD captures only limited aspects of posttraumatic psychopathology (van der Kolk & Courtois, 2005). Youths may respond to their traumatic experiences with disorders, symptoms, and/or patterns of thought and behavior other than those described in the DSM diagnostic criteria of PTSD (Nader, 2001b). Accurate diagnosis is important to successful interventions. Research suggests that treatments for simple PTSD may not be applicable to PTSD with comorbid disorders (Ford, Courtois, Steele, van der Hart, & Nijenhuis, 2005; van der Kolk, Roth, Pelcovitz, Sunday, & Spinazzola, 2005). Some of the instruments designed for youths that measure behaviors, symptoms, disorders, and attitudes associated with traumatic response are described in this chapter. The scales and interviews are listed by category: comorbidity, attitudes toward life, and child behaviors.
