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The dangers of inflation: memories of trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Neil Greenberg  and
Simon Wessely
Neil Greenberg
Affiliation:
King's College London, and Academic Centre for Defence Mental Health, King's College London
Simon Wessely
Affiliation:
Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK
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Abstract

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Summary

People who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are likely to find that their quality of life is substantially impaired. However, unlike other diagnoses, in order for clinicians to make a diagnosis of PTSD people have to be able to accurately recall the details of a traumatic incident. Yet recent evidence suggests that recall of such incidents is often unreliable. Clinicians should therefore exercise caution to avoid making inaccurate diagnoses.

Type
Editorial
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 194 , Issue 6 , June 2009 , pp. 479 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 2009 

Footnotes

†

See pp. 510–514, this issue.

S.W. is partially funded by the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust/Institute of Psychiatry National Institute of Health Research Biomedical Research Centre.

Declaration of interest

N.G. is a full-time active member of the Royal Navy.

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