ABSTRACT
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was initially introduced to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 3rd edition (DSM-III; American Psychiatric Association, 1980) to describe the range of syndromal reactions to traumatic stressors. This range of reactions was built upon the categorical model of psychiatric disorders. In the quarter of a century since the publication of DSM-III, numerous studies have shown that the current diagnostic threshold established by the categorical model is valid across traumatized populations such as combat and peacekeeping veterans; victims of crime and sexual assault; victims of man-made and natural disasters; victims of motor vehicle accidents; and victims of political oppression. Moreover, PTSD does not appear to be a rare phenomenon. In PILOTS database alone, there are hundreds of empirical investigations reporting that rates of PTSD in non-clinical samples and the general population are much higher than reported before 2001. The resultant effect of these findings, coupled with the global war on terrorism, has been increased professional and public understanding of the pervasiveness of PTSD. Given the current awareness and attention to PTSD, forthcoming questions about early intervention for the disorder raised questions about the PTSD diagnosis and the clinical relevance of subthreshold variants.
