Screening for Traumatic Stress: A Scale for Use in the General Population¹

A short screening instrument for detecting the occurrence and impact of traumatic events is presented. It is proposed that a relevant event population for assessing exposure to traumatic events comprises “violent encounters with nature, technology, or humankind” and that loss, scope, threat, blame, familiarity, and post‐traumatic stress are the dimensions of the experience that are most critical to assess. It is estimated that 8% of the U.S. adult population will experience one or more of the selected events within a year's time. Potential uses and contributions of the instrument are discussed.