Using a Clinician-Administered Interview to Examine the Overlap in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Criteria D and E

Although the diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often criticized for including symptoms that overlap with one another, only one study has explored the impact of symptom reporting. Using a clinician-rated interview for PTSD (N = 558), the current study examined overlap between PTSD criteria D1, D2, and D3 ("target D symptoms") and criterion E symptoms of similar content (i.e., E1 and E3). Furthermore, their impact on meeting criterion and disorder cutoffs was examined. Results revealed that target symptoms were endorsed in conjunction more than half the time. Criteria D and E also were often coded together. Removal of target D symptoms resulted in 24.7% of participants no longer meeting criterion D, but no reduction in the diagnosis of PTSD. This article is one of the first to report the functioning of the new criterion D symptoms, and the results have diagnostic implications for research and clinical work.