Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: The Missed Diagnosis

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is frequently under-diagnosed in maltreated samples. Protective services information is critical for obtaining complete trauma histories and determining whether to survey PTSD symptoms in maltreated children. In the current study, without protective services information to supplement parent and child report, the diagnosis of PTSD was missed in a significant proportion of the cases. Collaboration between mental health professionals and protective service workers is critical in determining psychiatric diagnoses and treatment needs of children involved with the child welfare system.