TPC-Journal-V4-Issue3

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 3 261 Subthreshold Diagnoses Several of the aforementioned considerations denote concern around subthreshold or subsyndromal survivors, namely individuals whose trauma did not match the A1 or A2 events or whose symptoms did not fulfill the restrictive criterion C. These survivors, potentially facing grossly impaired functioning, did not fulfill PTSD criteria and thus may have been prohibited from receiving any services, appropriate services or related validation of their experiences (Cukor, Wyka, Jayasinghe, & Difede, 2010; Sch tzwohl & Maercker, 1999). Problems with subthreshold diagnoses and misdiagnoses under the DSM-IV guidelines were particularly notable among children (Pynoos et al., 2009; Scheeringa, Zeanah, & Cohen, 2011). Using DSM-IV criteria, over 30% of children with pervasive symptoms and severe functional impairment did not meet criteria (Scheeringa, Myers, Putnam, & Zeanah, 2012). Although notes regarding symptom presentation in children were presented, the DSM-IV did not identify a separate diagnosis for preschool post-traumatic reactions. Researchers argued that the DSM-IV criteria were not attentive to developmental considerations, owing largely to the linguistic and introspective differences of young children, and provided unrepresentative criteria for this population (Pynoos et al., 2009; Scheeringa et al., 2011). Consequently, researchers highlighted the need for child-specific PTSD criteria. Underdiagnosis in children and adults is particularly troubling given that these populations of survivors have long been misdiagnosed and stigmatized by the DSM (Fish, 2004; Rojas & Lee, 2004). Drawing on both behavioral and neurological research, these challenges to the DSM-IV PTSD diagnosis touched at the core of trauma theory and resulted in many shifting perspectives in the fifth edition. Given the historical complications in trauma theory and recent reformulations of trauma, it is important that counselors receive guidance on trauma-informed practice using the DSM-5 (APA, 2013a). Shifting Perspectives and New DSM-5 Diagnostic Criteria In the DSM-5 , PTSD now serves as the cornerstone of a new category of diagnoses, TSRD. Within the new category, the definition of trauma is more explicit, and the symptomatic profile was expanded from a three- to four-factor structure. Subjective responses following a traumatic event are no longer required, and a separate preschool diagnosis for children 6 years old and younger is now available. The modifications to the PTSD diagnosis in the DSM-5 are delineated in Table 1. Exemption from Anxiety Disorders The foremost change in the DSM-5 diagnosis of PTSD is its assignment to an innovative diagnostic category, TSRDs. Throughout the review period, members of the Trauma and Stressor-Related and Dissociative Disorders (TSRDD) Sub-Work Group of the DSM-5 (Friedman, 2013) determined that PTSD did not “fit neatly into the anxiety disorder niche to which it had been assigned since DSM-III ” (p. 549). This redefining of PTSD marks a significant shift from its former conceptualization and highlights the central importance of the predisposing stressor. Exposure to a traumatic or aversive event is now recognized as a vital cause of an entire class of conditions affecting mental well-being. Before the DSM-5 , trauma exposure was an accepted catalyst of Acute Stress Disorder and PTSD, yet the explicit influence of such aversive events on numerous other disorders went largely unacknowledged. Restructuring the Stressor Criterion Emphasis on the precipitating traumatic event called for reconsideration of the definition of trauma. Despite the argument by Brewin et al. (2009) that what is or is not considered a traumatic event should be defined by the individual rather than a committee, the DSM-5 retained criterion A1, with modifications to the breadth of the definition. Trauma is now defined as exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury or sexual violence in one or more of four ways: (a) directly experiencing the event; (b) witnessing, in person, the event occurring to others; (c) learning that such an event happened to a close family member or friend; and (d) experiencing