Association of Self-Report Measures with PTSD and Depression in Veterans

Purpose of review Self-report measures are common in clinical and research practice. These questionnaires permit fast evaluation of symptom severity and change over time and are sometimes used to identify the presence of possible psychiatric disorders. However, these measures may be less syndrome-specific than previously believed. In Iraq and Afghanistan-era veterans, the PTSD Checklist (PCL) and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) are commonly used both clinically and in research due to high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Clarity regarding the presumed specificity of such measures becomes important to interpretation of research results and application of psychiatric interventions. The current review intends to further this conversation.

Recent findings A recent paper found that the PCL-Military version and BDI-II were equally correlated to a diagnosis of PTSD per the gold standard clinician-administered PTSD scale. Using a research sample of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, we found similar moderate to large correlations between both self-report measures and both diagnoses. A diagnosis of a depressive disorder was equally correlated with both the BDI-II and PCL.

Summary Results suggest that a third, underlying factor of general distress may be the target of each presumed syndrome-specific measure. Clinicians and researchers are encouraged to use such measures to assess distress or improvement following interventions rather than for diagnostic purposes.