PTSD Symptom Scale - Self-Report (PSS-SR) Test
How the Scales are Structured
Who Usually Takes This Test?
See How You Compare
Below is a preview of how scores are typically distributed across each scale.
Example Questions From the Test
- Not at all
- Once a week or less / rarely / once
- 2 to 4 times a week / sometimes / half the time
- 3 to 5 times a week / very often / almost always
- Not at all
- Once a week or less / rarely / once
- 2 to 4 times a week / sometimes / half the time
- 3 to 5 times a week / very often / almost always
- Not at all
- Once a week or less / rarely / once
- 2 to 4 times per week / sometimes / half the time
- 3 to 5 times per week / very often / almost always
PTSD Symptom Scale - Self-Report (PSS-SR) Test - Description and methodology of the test
For people trying to make sense of trauma-related reactions, the PTSD Symptom Scale - Self-Report (PSS-SR) Test offers a structured way to review common posttraumatic stress symptoms. It can suit people who want a focused PTSD symptom checklist organized around intrusive experiences, avoidance, emotional changes, and heightened arousal. The result shows each domain’s score and result band, together with the overall screening band.
What This Assessment Explores
The questions examine how a traumatic event may affect memory, emotion, behavior, and alertness. As a test of post-traumatic stress symptoms, it covers unwanted memories, nightmares, distress when reminded, avoidance, emotional numbing, withdrawal, sleep disruption, anger, concentration, and startle reactions.
The result presents three symptom dimensions and an overall summary score:
- Hyperarousal (0-15) reflects irritability, sleep difficulty, vigilance, and concentration problems; the bands are Low 0-5, Moderate 6-10, and High 11-15.
- Avoidance Scale (0-21) measures efforts to avoid trauma-linked thoughts, feelings, situations, or people; the bands are Low avoidance 0-7, Moderate avoidance 8-14, and High avoidance 15-21.
- Re-Experiencing (0-15) captures intrusive memories, distressing dreams, and flashbacks; the bands are Low 0-4, Moderate 5-9, and High 10-15.
- Total Score (0-51) is the combined indicator of overall PTSD symptom severity; Low is 0-13, while Clinically significant is 14-51 and may indicate PTSD.
Methodology and Scientific Basis
The format is a self-report symptom inventory. Each item offers four ordered frequency choices, from not at all to very often or almost always. The wording targets recognizable reactions, allowing respondents to rate symptoms consistently without writing a trauma narrative.
Responses are grouped into three symptom domains and combined into an overall severity result. Higher values indicate more pronounced reported symptoms. This makes it a PTSD screening questionnaire and a profile of which pattern may merit closer attention.
The questionnaire uses the published PTSD Symptom Scale Self-Report (PSS-SR) structure; the reported reliability and validity findings belong to the original instrument, not to independent validation of this online format. The original study reported satisfactory internal consistency, high test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity. Sin, Abdin, and Lee (2012) later examined its screening use in people with first-episode psychosis; that finding comes from that specific clinical sample.
Because online self-report depends on memory, current distress, and willingness to disclose, the displayed bands should be read as screening bands for interpreting this questionnaire, not as a diagnosis; persistent or disruptive symptoms call for fuller assessment.
- Foa, E. B., Riggs, D. S., Dancu, C. V., & Rothbaum, B. O. (1993). Reliability and validity of a brief instrument for assessing post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6(4), 459-473. 10.1002/jts.2490060405
- Sin, G.-L., Abdin, E., & Lee, J. (2012). The PSS-SR as a screening tool for PTSD in first-episode psychosis patients. Early Intervention in Psychiatry, 6(2), 191-194. 10.1111/j.1751-7893.2011.00327.x
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