Trauma evaluation

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At Southwest Trauma, we believe that every patient is unique, and we take the time to understand your specific symptoms and concerns during our trauma evaluation.   Careful assessment is an important part of our evidence-based practice. Trauma evaluations help us to determine DSM-V diagnosis and treatment options for our patients.

The industry standard instruments  used  include both interview, self-report measures and cognitive assessments.

During the clinic interview process, the patient and specialist will discuss their trauma experience, identify current symptoms and the impact these symptoms have made on the patient's life.  This step also includes a review of active medical problems and  full social history.

 The PSS-I-5 is a scale to determine whether a PTSD  symptom is present and evaluate the current severity of that symptom.

The CAPS-5 is a PTSD diagnostic scale to determine the frequency and the severity of each symptom and if criteria are met for the PTSD categories - exposure to traumatic event, intrusion symptoms, avoidance, negative alterations to cognitions and mood, and alterations to arousal and reactivity,  

The PHQ-9 enquires about the degree to which an individual has experienced depressed mood and anhedonia.

The GAD-7 is an instrument that is used to measure and assess the severity of symptoms of anxiety.

The DES-II measures a wide variety of types of dissociation, including both problematic dissociative experiences, and normal dissociative experiences (e.g., day-dreaming). 

Evaluate patients for possible cognitive impairments in the following areas:

o Visuospatial Working Memory - Measures the ability to remember information about objects in space, and update memory based on changing circumstances

o Spatial Short Term Memory - Measures spatial short-term memory, involved in tasks where nonverbal information needs to be stored and recalled

o Episodic Memory - Measures the ability to remember specific events, paired with the context in which they occurred

o Working Memory - Measures the ability to temporarily hold information in mind and manipulate or update it based on changing circumstances or demands

o Deductive Reasoning - Measures the ability to effectively apply rules to information and arrive at logical conclusions.

o Planning - Measure the ability to act with forethought and prepare a sequence of steps to reach a goal

o Response Inhibition - Measures the ability to concentrate on relevant information in order to make a correct response despite interference

o Attention - Measures the ability to focus on relevant details or difference

o Verbal Reasoning - Measures verbal reasoning, which is the ability to quickly understand and make valid conclusions about concepts expressed in words

o Verbal Short-Term Memory - Measures verbal short-term memory capacity, which is needed to hold information in mind and verbally rehearse it until it is needed