PTSD symptom check (PCL-5)
Below is a list of problems that people sometimes have in response to a very stressful experience. Keeping your worst event in mind, read each problem and choose how much you have been bothered by it in the past month.
This check uses the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) — the full 20-question measure developed by the VA National Center for PTSD. It asks how much PTSD symptoms have bothered you in the past month, and goes deeper than our 5-question PC-PTSD-5 quick screen.
Your answers stay on this device — nothing is sent or saved anywhere.
DocSana self-checks are for information only. They are screening tools, not diagnoses: only a licensed clinician can diagnose a mental health condition. Your answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to or stored by DocSana. We count visits to these pages with privacy-friendly analytics that use no cookies and never receive your answers or results. There is no advertising tracking on self-check pages. If you're in crisis, call or text 988, or call 911 if you're in immediate danger.
Common questions
What is the PCL-5?
The PCL-5 — the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 — is a 20-question PTSD test from the VA National Center for PTSD. It covers all four groups of PTSD symptoms over the past month and scores them from 0 to 80.
How is this different from the PC-PTSD-5 check?
The PC-PTSD-5 is a 5-question quick screen. The PCL-5 is the full measure: it rates the severity of every DSM-5 PTSD symptom, which is why clinicians also use it to track progress in treatment.
What does a score of 33 mean?
Research behind the PCL-5 uses a total of 31–33 as the provisional cutoff suggesting probable PTSD. We use 33. Above it, a full evaluation is recommended; below it, PTSD is less likely but symptoms can still be worth treating.
Is the PCL-5 a diagnosis?
No. It’s a screening and severity tool. Only a licensed clinician can diagnose PTSD, after a full evaluation.
What if I feel overwhelmed taking this?
Pause any time — there’s no timer. If you’re in crisis, call or text 988 right now.
The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) was developed by Weathers, Litz, Keane, Palmieri, Marx & Schnurr (2013) for the VA National Center for PTSD. It is in the public domain.
Clinical review pending This page was written by the DocSana team and is awaiting review by a licensed clinician.