Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating mental illness that can develop following a traumatic experience, such as combat, sexual assault, or natural disaster1. It occurs in ~10% of those experiencing severe trauma, with a lifetime incidence rate of 6.8−8% in the US general public2,3 and up to 15% among Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) veterans4,5. The current approach to diagnosis in general clinical practice relies on clinician interviews and patient self-reports. Variation in patients’ willingness to self-disclose, as well as highly heterogeneous symptom presentations and severity levels of PTSD6, make accurate and timely diagnosis challenging. Underdiagnoses, in particular, may result in serious, and at times fatal, outcomes that could have potentially been avoidable7–10.
