What are the key components of PTSD criteria in adults, including duration?

• A. Exposure to trauma plus intrusion symptoms, avoidance, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and alterations in arousal/reactivity, lasting more than one month.
• B. Hallucinations and disorganized speech.
• C. Mood episodes with psychotic features.
• D. Only avoidance without intrusion.

Answer: (A)

PTSD in adults is diagnosed when there is exposure to a traumatic event plus a specific pattern of symptoms that lasts beyond one month. The essential symptom clusters are intrusion (re-experiencing the trauma), avoidance of reminders, negative alterations in cognitions and mood, and alterations in arousal or reactivity. A formal diagnosis also requires that these symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in functioning.

This option is the best because it includes all the necessary clusters and the duration criterion—symptoms must persist for more than one month after the traumatic exposure. The other choices describe features that don’t fit PTSD: hallucinations and disorganized speech point to a primary psychotic disorder; mood episodes with psychotic features involve mood disorders with psychosis; and showing only avoidance omits most of the required symptom clusters and the persistence criterion.