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To be diagnosed as PTSD, symptoms must have lasted for at least one month. The diagnosis can only be made by a doctor. However, if you think you may be suffering from PTSD, self-report scales are available, such as the PCL-5. However, a self-assessment test is not diagnostic, and is never 100% reliable. If the test result is negative, but you are still experiencing difficulties, it's time to seek help and make an appointment with your GP.

If you're a healthcare professional, there are scales that can help you make the diagnosis. For example, you can use your patient's PCL-5 results, or a semi-structured interview guide, such as the CAPS-5. The CAPS-5, on the other hand, takes around 45 minutes to complete and may require some training. If you are interested in training, please contact your nearest CRP to discuss the matter.

Numerous tools have been developed to help screen for PTSD. PTSD screening tools are essentially self-administered scales, i.e. questionnaires completed by the patient themselves.

They have the advantage of being quick and easy to use, and do not require the presence of a clinician. On the other hand, they do not measure non-verbal manifestations, and pose the problem of understanding instructions and scoring. Once a self-administered questionnaire has been completed, the diagnosis of PTSD cannot be made; it must be confirmed by a clinician.

Hetero-administered scales are of two types: on the one hand, short screening tests that do not lead to a diagnosis of PTSD, but only to the rapid identification of at-risk patients who should benefit from a more in-depth diagnostic approach; on the other hand, scales that correspond to longer structured interviews that enable the presence or absence of PTSD diagnostic criteria to be ascertained, and thus the diagnosis of PTSD to be made.