@article{ref1,
title="A nosological exploration of PTSD and trauma in disaster mental health and implications for the COVID-19 pandemic",
journal="Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)",
year="2021",
author="North, Carol S. and Pollio, David E. and Surís, Alina M.",
volume="11",
number="1",
pages="e7-e7",
abstract="The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic rapidly spread around the world, resulting in massive medical morbidity and mortality and substantial mental health  consequences. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an important psychiatric  disorder associated with disasters, and many published scientific articles have  reported post-traumatic stress syndromes in populations studied for COVID-19 mental  health outcomes. American diagnostic criteria for PTSD have evolved across editions  of the manual, and the current definition excludes naturally occurring medical  illness (such as viral illness) as a qualifying trauma, ruling out this viral  pandemic as the basis for a diagnosis of PTSD. This article provides an in-depth  nosological consideration of the diagnosis of PTSD and critically examines three  essential elements (trauma, exposure, and symptomatic response) of this diagnosis,  specifically applying these concepts to the mental health outcomes of the COVID-19  pandemic. The current criteria for PTSD are unsatisfying for guiding the response to  mental health consequences associated with this pandemic, and suggestions are made  for addressing the conceptual diagnostic problems and designing research to resolve  diagnostic uncertainties empirically. Options might be to revise the diagnostic  criteria or consider categorization of COVID-19-related psychiatric syndromes as  non-traumatic stressor-related syndromes or other psychiatric disorders.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="2076-328X",
doi="10.3390/bs11010007",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs11010007"
}