ArticleEuropean journal of psychotraumatology2020
Evidence for the coherence and integrity of the complex PTSD (CPTSD) diagnosis: response to Achterhof et al., (2019) and Ford (2020).
Article in European journal of psychotraumatology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Evaluating the ICD-11 PTSD and Complex PTSD Constructs: A Meta-Analytic Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the International Trauma Questionnaire.Assessment · 2026Pooled it
- Response of young patients with probable ICD-11 complex PTSD to treatment with developmentally adapted cognitive processing therapy.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2021Trial
- Latent profiles of PTSD and CPTSD: the importance of emotional hypoactivation.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Article
- Biomarkers for complex post-traumatic stress disorder: translational and evolutionary perspectives.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- The impact of trauma and how to intervene: a narrative review of psychotraumatology over the past 15 years.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2025Article
- PTSD and Complex PTSD in Residential Treatment for Eating Disorders: Moderating Effects on Symptom Severity and Outcome Trajectory.The International journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD in a sample of prison staff: A latent profile approach.Journal of traumatic stress · 2025Article
- Adverse childhood experiences and ICD-11 complex posttraumatic stress disorder in Poland: a population-based study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2024Article
- Not one thing at a time: When concomitant multiple stressors produce a transdiagnostic clinical picture.World journal of psychiatry · 2023Review
- New research on validity and clinical utility of ICD-11 vs. ICD-10 and DSM-5 diagnostic categories.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2023Article
- Prevalence and predictors of ICD-11 posttraumatic stress disorder and complex PTSD in young people.Acta psychiatrica Scandinavica · 2022Article
- Emerging experience with selected new categories in the ICD-11: complex PTSD, prolonged grief disorder, gaming disorder, and compulsive sexual behaviour disorder.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2022Article
- Exploring complex-PTSD comorbidity in trauma-exposed Northern Ireland veterans.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2022Article
- The Role and Clinical Correlates of Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in People With Psychosis.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Validation of ICD-11 PTSD and DSO using the International Trauma Questionnaire in five clinical samples recruited in Denmark.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2021Article
- PTSD and complex PTSD in adolescence: discriminating factors in a population-based cross-sectional study.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2021Article
- Complex PTSD: what is the clinical utility of the diagnosis?European journal of psychotraumatology · 2021Review
- Latent classes of childhood maltreatment in children and adolescents in foster care: associations with ICD-11 PTSD and complex PTSD.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2020Article
- Symptom structure of ICD-11 Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) in trauma-exposed foster children: examining the International Trauma Questionnaire - Child and Adolescent Version (ITQ-CA).European journal of psychotraumatology · 2020Article
- Trauma-focused treatment outcome for complex PTSD patients: results of an intensive treatment programme.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2020Article
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Abstract
This letter to the editor responds to a recent EJPT editorial and following commentary which express concerns about the validity of the ICD-11 complex PTSD (CPTSD) diagnosis. Achterhof and colleagues caution that latent profile analyses and latent class analyses, which have been frequently used to demonstrate the discriminative validity of the ICD-11 PTSD and CPTSD constructs, have limitations and cannot be relied on to definitively determine the validity of the diagnosis. Ford takes a broader perspective and introduces the concept of 'cPTSD' which describes a wide ranging set of symptoms identified from studies related to DSM-IV, DSM-V and ICD-11 and proposes that the validity of the ICD-11 CPTSD is in question as it does not address the multiple symptoms identified from previous trauma-related disorders. We argue that ICD-11 CPTSD is a theory-driven, empirically supported construct that has internal consistency and conceptual coherence and that it need not explain nor resolve the inconsistencies of past formulations to demonstrate its validity. We do agree with Ford and with Achterhof and colleagues that no one single statistical process can definitively answer the question of whether CPTSD is a valid construct. We reference several studies utilizing many different statistical approaches implemented across several countries, the overwhelming majority of which have supported the validity of ICD-11 as a unique construct. We conclude with our own cautions about ICD-11 CPTSD research to date and identify important next steps.
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