PTAN™ STANDARDS FOR PSYCHOMETRIC TRAUMA ASSESSMENT
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STANDARD 1:
Any single psychometric instrument is not sufficient to establish a clinical diagnosis with
an acceptable degree of clinical certainty.
STANDARD 2:
Formulation of a clinical diagnosis for trauma patients should be supported by a battery of
standardized psychometric instruments with a high degree of intra- and inter-correlational validity.
STANDARD 3:
Psychometric instruments used for the diagnostic assessment of trauma patients should be clinically recognized
and standardized psychometric instruments.
STANDARD 4:
Each component of a psychometric battery used in the assessment of a trauma patient, should be
supported by a sufficient amount of corroborative evidence in scientific literature that such instrument
was developed, validated, and standardized according to established scientific principles.
STANDARD 5:
Selected psychometric instruments should be supported by scientific research with an acceptable degree
of frequency.
STANDARD 6:
All psychometric instruments utilized should have their diagnostic validity established through the assessment
of a sufficiently large patient population with similar clinical, gender, age, cultural, ethnic, and other
pertinent characteristics.
STANDARD 7:
Selection of psychometric instruments should include those which provide for temporal contiguity of
assessment.
STANDARD 8:
Temporal focus of trauma assessment should include the evaluation of the degree of a patient's functionality
during both pre- and post-trauma periods.
STANDARD 9:
Psychometric instruments for assessment of PTSD should measure the degree of compliance with DSM-IV
diagnostic criteria B, C, D, and F.
STANDARD 10:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should not be limited to either/or diagnostic judgments.
STANDARD 11:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to a patient's
psychophysiological constitutional vulnerabilities to traumatization.
STANDARD 12:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to a patient's
psychophysiological constitutional vulnerabilities to retraumatization.
STANDARD 13:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to a patient's gender,
sociocultural, political and economic vulnerabilities to traumatization.
STANDARD 14:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to a patient's gender,
sociocultural, political and economic vulnerabilities to retraumatization.
STANDARD 15:
Comprehensive trauma assessment should take into consideration issues related to substance abuse such as:
- drug-specific morbidity;
- codependence;
- lack of rehabilitative certainty;
- need for multimodal therapeutic milieu;
- potential for and frequency of relapse;
- frequency of vulnerability to traumatization and retraumatization inherent in behavioral patterns of drug and alcohol addiction.
STANDARD 16:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to trauma disorders not
precipitated by specific stressors.
STANDARD 17:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to trauma disorders
precipitated by recurrent stressors.
STANDARD 18:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to trauma disorders
precipitated by concurrent stressors.
STANDARD 19:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be diagnostically sensitive to potential for relapse
without recurrent stressors.
STANDARD 20:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should include the assessment of psychiatric comorbidity.
STANDARD 21:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should include the assessment of physiologic comorbidity.
STANDARD 22:
Selection of psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should encompass complexities inherent in
the assessment and diagnosis of somatoform disorders.
STANDARD 23:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should include the assessment of any clinical impairments
such as:
- critical impairments,
- impairments related to substance use/abuse,
- social/interpersonal impairments, and
- impairments of a potential for future achievements;
STANDARD 24:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should include the assessment of any impairments of
rehabilitative potential.
STANDARD 25:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should include the assessment of relapse potential.
STANDARD 26:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should include the assessment of a patient's self-efficacy,
role, and responsibility in the rehabilitative process.
STANDARD 27:
Selection of psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be free of biases in favor of specific
diagnoses.
STANDARD 28:
Selection of psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be free of biases against specific
diagnoses.
STANDARD 29:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should evaluate symptom-event coincidence.
STANDARD 30:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be capable of identifying the potential for
malingering.
STANDARD 31:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be capable of distinguishing between malingering and
self-deception.
STANDARD 32:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be capable of identifying primary gains.
STANDARD 33:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be capable of identifying secondary gains.
STANDARD 34:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should be capable of identifying tertiary gains.
STANDARD 35:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should address the role and impact of litigation upon
the patient's rehabilitative process.
STANDARD 36:
Psychometric instruments for trauma assessment should address chronicity of symptoms after compensation
settlement.
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