Free PCL-5 PTSD Screen — Online Self-Check

Your PCL-5 score in context

The PCL-5 is a snapshot of how the past month has been across 20 specific PTSD symptoms, keyed to one event you held in mind during the screen. It is not a fixed measurement of your trauma response, your recovery trajectory, or the meaning the event holds in your life. Post-traumatic stress is dynamic — symptoms can rise and fall in response to circumstance, anniversaries, fresh reminders, additional trauma exposure, life transitions, and (when treatment is offered) the work of trauma-focused therapy. A score on a single administration tells you about this past month; a pattern across serial administrations tells you about a trajectory. The PCL-5 was designed for repeated administration; every 4–6 weeks is the standard cadence both for self-tracking and for clinician-administered tracking during treatment.

One distinction worth pinning down: the PCL-5 asks about the past month with one event as the reference point. People who have experienced multiple traumas often find that holding only one event in mind produces a different score than the same items would produce if they held all their traumas together. Most clinicians ask about the worst event specifically for that reason; the result is a focused signal rather than a composite one. If you have a complex trauma history — multiple events, particularly developmental or interpersonal trauma sustained over time — the PCL-5 by design captures only a slice of what trauma can leave behind. Conditions like complex PTSD (recognized in ICD-11 as a distinct diagnosis from PTSD), developmental trauma disorder, and dissociative disorders include features beyond the DSM-5 PTSD criteria (emotion-regulation difficulties, self-concept disturbance, relational disturbance) that the PCL-5 does not capture. A clinical conversation with a trauma-focused clinician is the appropriate place to clarify which trauma framework best fits your history.

On the cutoffs: a total of 33 or higher is the Bovin 2016 provisional positive screen; the VA National Center for PTSD currently recommends a 31–33 cutoff window adjusted to setting. The cluster algorithm (B≥1, C≥1, D≥2, E≥2 with items rated ≥2 "Moderately" or higher) adds diagnostic granularity by tracking whether the symptom pattern matches the DSM-5 PTSD construct, not just whether the overall intensity is high. Some research literature treats the cluster algorithm as the more diagnostically informative endpoint and the simple cutoff as the more screening-friendly one; both are presented here so you have access to both lenses. Whether the cluster algorithm fires also has clinical implications — for instance, scores that meet the cutoff but not the cluster algorithm sometimes reflect post-traumatic stress that is expressed more in intrusion, negative cognitions, and hyperarousal than in active avoidance, a presentation that warrants trauma-focused evaluation regardless of the cluster algorithm's verdict.

On change over time: no formally established minimum clinically important difference (MCID) has been set by the FDA for the PCL-5, but VA reliable-change benchmarks are widely used. A reduction of 10 points or more from baseline is considered a clinically meaningful response to treatment, and a follow-up total below 28 is the VA threshold for falling below clinically significant PTSD symptoms. These benchmarks are research-based rather than formally established as an MCID. Progress is best described in terms of band-shift (provisional-PTSD → probable → below-cutoff), reliable change (≥10-point reduction), or a sustained total below 28 across serial measurements rather than any single comparison. PCL-5 trajectory during evidence-based trauma-focused therapy typically shows the most rapid reduction in the first 4–8 weeks, with continued reduction across the full treatment course; non-linear trajectories (including brief increases as avoided material is approached therapeutically) are common and not necessarily signs that treatment is not working.

How to bring this to a clinician

The PCL-5 is the most widely used self-report PTSD screen worldwide. Most primary-care physicians, mental-health therapists, psychiatrists, and trauma-focused clinicians will recognize the instrument by name or by format. You do not need to explain the PCL-5 in detail; bringing the score gives the conversation a concrete starting point that descriptions of post-traumatic stress otherwise lack. Trauma-related symptoms are often hard to articulate to anyone, including a clinician you trust — partly because the language of post-traumatic stress is not part of how most people grow up describing inner experience, partly because the symptoms themselves include avoidance, partly because shame, self-blame, and the negative beliefs the PCL-5 captures (item 9) make trauma material harder to bring up out loud. A numeric anchor on the 0–80 scale, with the cluster pattern, shortens the path to specifics.

What to bring:

• The total score on the 0–80 PCL-5 scale (the number shown on your result above)
• Which cluster(s) felt heaviest — intrusion (items 1–5), avoidance (items 6–7), negative cognitions and mood (items 8–14), or hyperarousal (items 15–20); the cluster pattern often guides which evidence-based therapy a clinician will suggest as a starting point
• Whether the cluster algorithm fully fired (the provisional-PTSD band) or only some clusters did (the probable-PTSD band) — this is part of the clinical picture
• How long the symptoms at this level have been present (best guess in weeks or months) — the one-month duration threshold matters diagnostically (less than one month after trauma is acute stress disorder per DSM-5, not PTSD)
• Whether the event you held in mind during the screen is the only relevant trauma or whether your trauma history is more layered — complex PTSD (ICD-11), developmental trauma, and multiple-trauma presentations call for different conversations than single-event PTSD
• Whether you are willing to describe the event in detail at the first visit or would prefer to wait — most trauma-focused clinicians will respect either choice and many recommend waiting until trust is established
• Any safety concerns — thoughts of self-harm or suicide, substance use that has escalated, risk-taking or self-destructive behavior, ongoing trauma exposure (intimate-partner violence, sexual violence, child abuse, or any situation still happening)
• Whether mood, anxiety, sleep, or substance-use symptoms are part of the picture — PTSD frequently co-occurs with depression, anxiety disorders, insomnia, and substance use disorders, and the combination warrants integrated treatment planning. Bringing a PHQ-9, GAD-7, AIS, or substance-use screen result to the same conversation may help
• Personal and family history of trauma, psychiatric conditions, or substance use — both for diagnostic clarity and for treatment selection
• Any current medications, including psychiatric medications — do not stop or change without a clinical conversation

A two-line opening you can use as-is:

I took the PCL-5 at home and scored [X] on the 0–80 scale, which is [above / below] the validated positive-screen cutoff of 33. The clusters that felt heaviest were [cluster names or item descriptions]. I'd like to talk about what to do next.

A trauma-focused clinician will commonly follow up by taking a structured trauma history — verifying Criterion A (the qualifying nature of the event under DSM-5), assessing symptom presence, intensity, and duration across the four DSM-5 clusters, evaluating impact on work, relationships, and self-care, and screening for conditions that commonly co-occur with PTSD or share symptoms with it. They will also typically assess suicide risk explicitly. Treatment options will be discussed and individualized; first-line evidence-based trauma-focused therapies include Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT, particularly for adolescents). Medication (especially sertraline, paroxetine, venlafaxine; prazosin for nightmares) can be a useful adjunct or alternative first-line. You can print this page or save it as PDF using your browser's print menu — the result, score, cluster pattern, and items all carry through.

If you're reading this with someone who took the test

If you are a partner, parent, sibling, close friend, or other support person reading this result alongside the person who took the test, this section is addressed to you. Post-traumatic stress is often quietly carried — by the time someone takes a PCL-5, they may have been managing the picture for months or years without making it fully visible to the people around them. The combination of avoidance (PCL-5 Cluster C), shame, and the negative beliefs the instrument captures often makes trauma material specifically hard to bring up out loud, even with people who would receive it well. The score gives you a concrete starting point for a conversation that can otherwise be hard to begin. Ask them directly what they want from you before drawing your own conclusions from the number — different people in different shapes of post-traumatic stress want different kinds of support, and a score does not tell you which they need.

Three things that consistently help: showing up steady and present, without trying to fix the trauma picture or explain it away. Post-traumatic stress does not respond to "that was a long time ago," "other people have it worse," "you have to move on," or "have you tried just thinking about something else" even when those statements are well-intentioned; they tend to land as dismissive of the actual lived experience and to imply that the person has failed to manage their own recovery. Practical help with the parts of life that the post-traumatic picture has made harder — handling logistics during particularly difficult stretches, watching the kids for an evening, picking up groceries, driving them to a clinician appointment, sitting with them in a waiting room, being available by text during a hard night — often meets the moment in a way words cannot, because trauma symptoms directly compress the daily capacity that ordinary life demands. And asking calmly what kind of support feels most useful right now: a quiet presence on a hard day, help thinking through a specific decision (which therapist to call first, whether to start a medication, what to ask the primary-care physician), or just knowing you are available.

Three things that tend not to help: pressing them to talk about the event in detail before they are ready — trauma-focused therapy includes structured exposure to the trauma narrative, but well-intentioned curiosity from a loved one is not the same thing and often re-traumatizes; offering have-you-tried suggestions for breathing apps, supplements, alternative therapies, or specific therapy approaches that the person has likely already encountered; and treating the trauma as the defining feature of who they are now — most people with PTSD are also still themselves, with the rest of their personality intact, and being treated as a trauma case rather than a person tends to land as compressive. Most people in the probable- or provisional-PTSD PCL-5 band have spent considerable mental energy on their own trauma picture; the help that lands tends to be smaller, more concrete, more present, and less prescriptive than the help that tries to fix the whole picture.

Things you may have noticed that the person cannot self-observe: changes in sleep, irritability or rage that surprises them in retrospect, withdrawal from contact, dissociative moments (zoning out, losing time, seeming far away), specific avoidance patterns (refusing to go to certain places or attend certain events without being able to explain why), substance use shifts, hypervigilance behaviors (sitting facing the door, scanning environments). Sharing these observations — calmly, factually, not as a diagnosis — with the person and, if they choose to involve you in their clinical care, with their clinician shortens the path to a useful conversation. Be aware that confronting a person with the same observation you made gently last week may not work the next time; trauma-related avoidance affects how feedback is received, and timing matters as much as content.

One situation calls for specific care: if they mention thoughts of suicide or self-harm — even passively (not wanting to be here, wishing they could just stop, feeling that others would be better off without them) — that is information to take seriously rather than redirect away from. PTSD is associated with elevated suicide risk in research populations, particularly when paired with depression, hopelessness, escalating substance use, or recent additional trauma. The most useful response is to stay calm, ask gently whether they have any specific plans or means available, and help them connect with support today. Suggesting they call or text 988 (US Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, free and confidential) while you sit with them is a concrete next step. If they feel unsafe or you feel they may not stay safe, an emergency department visit is appropriate. For veterans or service members specifically, the Veterans Crisis Line (988 then press 1, also text 838255) connects to VA crisis responders. Asking about suicidal thoughts does not put the idea in someone's head; it makes it possible for them to talk about something they may have been carrying alone.

If they are currently in ongoing trauma — intimate-partner violence, sexual violence, child abuse, or any situation that is still happening — your role may include helping with safety planning rather than just treatment access. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (1-800-799-7233, also text START to 88788) and RAINN (1-800-656-HOPE) operate around the clock and can help both of you plan. Trauma-focused therapy is most effective once safe escape and stabilization are in place; pressing for treatment access in the middle of ongoing trauma can be counterproductive.

If the post-traumatic picture has reached a point where it is meaningfully compressing daily life — work suffering, basic self-care slipping, important relationships strained, drowsy-driving moments from sleep loss, substance use escalating — helping them schedule and keep the first clinical appointment is one of the most concrete, high-leverage things you can do. Getting to the room (or to the telehealth visit) is often the hardest single step in PTSD, because the avoidance that defines part of the condition specifically resists the move toward trauma-focused conversation, and shame about reaching out is one of the strongest barriers in research literature.

Other screens you might also take

The PCL-5 is a focused 20-item screen for DSM-5 PTSD, keyed to one event over the past month. Several conditions commonly co-occur with PTSD or share symptoms with it, and a more targeted second screen often clarifies the larger picture. Combinations are particularly common at probable- and provisional-PTSD bands and often call for integrated treatment rather than treating PTSD alone. The screens below are working tools that pair naturally with the PCL-5.