PTSD test (PC-PTSD-5)
This is a screening check-in, not a diagnosis. A clinician's full assessment is what tells you whether it's PTSD.
6 yes-or-no questions, about 1 minute. You won't be asked what happened. Your answers stay in your browser.
- Questions
- Result
Question 1 of 6
Sometimes things happen to people that are unusually or especially frightening, horrible, or traumatic. For example:
- a serious accident or fire
- a physical or sexual assault or abuse
- an earthquake or flood
- a war
- seeing someone be killed or seriously injured
- having a loved one die through homicide or suicide.
Counting your yes answers
The first question asks whether you've ever lived through a frightening, horrible or traumatic event, and gives examples. Answer no, and the form scores the screen as 0 and ends there.1 Answer yes, and five yes-or-no questions follow about the past month. Your score is the number of yeses, from 0 to 5.1
The VA uses two different cut points. This page uses the lower one:
| Yes answers | What the VA says |
|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Below the cut point of its public self-screen |
| 3 to 5 | At or above that cut point. Share the screen with your doctor, who can do a full assessment or refer you to someone who can |
Why the line sits at 3 and not 4
The rule of 3 comes from the VA's public "Do I Have PTSD?" self-screen.2 Its primary care researchers found something slightly different: for the whole group, and for men, 4 gave the best balance between missed cases and false alarms.3 For women, though, a line at 4 missed a third of the cases, and 3 fit better.3
We went with 3.
A lower line misses fewer people, and on a self-check the price of a false alarm is small: one conversation with a doctor who can look closer.
Three or more yeses don't always mean PTSD. Some of its symptoms overlap with other problems, such as depression, and those problems are treated differently.2 Two or fewer doesn't clear you either.
If you answered yes to the first question, your result opens with the questions you answered no to.
After a positive screen
Print the summary at the end of the check-in, or take a screenshot, and bring it to a doctor. A clinician can follow up with a fuller check, such as a structured interview or a longer questionnaire called the PCL-5.1
If you served in the military, the Veterans Crisis Line is 988, then press 1.1 If you feel unsafe, call or text 988 at any time.
If answering these questions stirred up hard memories, it's fine to stop. Come back to it another day, or talk it through with someone you trust first.
Where the screen came from
Staff at the VA's National Center for PTSD developed the Primary Care PTSD Screen for DSM-5, a 5-item screen meant to find people with probable PTSD who then need a fuller assessment.1 It replaced an older 4-question version, adding a fifth question about guilt and blame.1
Its first study, with 398 veterans in VA primary care, set the screen against a psychiatric interview for PTSD, and found it highly accurate and acceptable to patients.4 A larger 2021 study checked it against a structured clinical interview with 396 veterans in two VA medical centers.3 Both studies were of veterans, most of them men in their 60s, so the cut points may work differently for everyone else.4 3
This version follows the VA's 2022 form exactly, from the opening question with its examples to the stop rule and the five questions, and we went through it against that form on October 29, 2026. The only visible difference is that the form prints YES and NO in capitals, and the buttons here say Yes and No.
The VA puts the screen in the public domain: "This measure was developed by staff at VA's National Center for PTSD and is in the public domain and not copyrighted."1 The same page notes that, under the American Psychological Association's ethical guidelines, the screen is meant for use by qualified health professionals and researchers. The VA itself offers it to the public on its "Do I Have PTSD?" page,2 and this page follows that page's cut point and advice.
You won't be asked what happened, and the yes and no answers you do give are counted in your browser and then forgotten. None of them is stored or sent to us or anyone else, no ad tag loads here, and the site's Vercel Web Analytics, which counts page visits, has no view of them.
Leave out what happened. Write about the last week instead: when did you feel most on guard, and when did you feel even a little safer?
Answer this with JoyQuestions people ask
How do you test for PTSD?
A screen like this one is the first step. If it's positive, a clinician follows up, ideally with a structured interview such as the CAPS-5. When that isn't possible, the VA suggests a validated questionnaire, the PCL-5.1
What if what happened to me isn't on the list?
The list gives examples, and it can't name every possibility. The VA wrote it to point to events that are traumatic in the clinical sense, rather than stressful ones such as a divorce.1 Stressful events can still hurt a great deal and are worth talking about with a doctor, even if this screen isn't the right fit.
What do the five questions cover?
They ask about the event coming back in nightmares or unwanted thoughts, avoiding reminders, being on guard, feeling numb or cut off, and guilt or blame. These follow the PTSD symptoms described in DSM-5.1
Is this the same screen the VA uses?
Yes. It's the VA's own PC-PTSD-5, word for word, scored with the line from the VA's public self-screen.
Related
- Anxiety test (GAD-7): it also flags PTSD moderately well, and covers worry more broadly.
- Depression test (PHQ-9): some PTSD symptoms overlap with depression.