Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Toward DSM-IV

This report raises conceptual issues about the validity of the posttraumatic stress disorder diagnosis as described in DSM-III. The helpfulness of DSM-III is acknowledged, but gaps in that classification are noted. These are organized into three areas: the etiology of the disorder, its natural history, and diagnostic specificity. Suggestions are made for conceptualizing these issues and for research that needs to be undertaken to help resolve them. The authors urge more theoretical and empirical attention to these important issues in the upcoming years, so that later diagnostic descriptions and understandings will be more precise.