PTSD symptoms screener
The PCL-5, free and scored instantly
20 questions, about 5 minutes. Your answers stay in your browser. We only see them if you ask us to.
Take the PCL-5
The 20-question PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The five-question PC-PTSD-5 on this site is the short screen; this is the fuller measure a clinician uses to gauge how heavy the symptoms are. It asks about the past month, in relation to the worst event you have been through. Answer only if you feel able to, and stop at any point.
Below is a list of problems that people sometimes have in response to a very stressful experience. Keeping your worst event in mind, please read each problem carefully and then select one of the numbers to the right to indicate how much you have been bothered by that problem in the past month. In the past month, how much were you bothered by:
If you are thinking about harming yourself
You answered that you have had thoughts of being better off dead, or of hurting yourself. Please talk to someone now. It is free, confidential, and available 24 hours a day.
If you are in immediate danger, call 911. This website is not monitored for emergencies.
Your result
0 / 80
This is a screening tool, not a diagnosis. It cannot tell you what you have. Only a conversation with a clinician can do that, and a low score does not mean your experience is not real or not worth help.
Would you like us to look at this with you?
We can send your answers to our clinical team and call you back, usually within one business day. Entirely optional; your result is yours either way.
Or go straight to the practical part:
PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Weathers, Litz, Keane, Palmieri, Marx & Schnurr (2013). The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), standard version dated 29 August 2023, US Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for PTSD. Developed by staff at the VA National Center for PTSD; in the public domain and not copyrighted. The VA adds that "in accordance with the American Psychological Association's ethical guidelines, this instrument is intended for use by qualified health professionals and researchers", which is why your result here is offered as something to bring to a clinician, not as an answer in itself.
If you need help right now, you do not have to finish this first. The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline is free, confidential and open 24 hours. Call or text988. In immediate danger, call 911.
What the PCL-5 measures
The 20-question PTSD Checklist for DSM-5, from the US Department of Veterans Affairs. The five-question PC-PTSD-5 on this site is the short screen; this is the fuller measure a clinician uses to gauge how heavy the symptoms are. It asks about the past month, in relation to the worst event you have been through. Answer only if you feel able to, and stop at any point.
It is scored out of 80 by adding the 20 answers. There are no published mild, moderate or severe bands. The National Center for PTSD reports that a total between 31 and 33 indicates probable PTSD, a range that comes from a sample of veterans, and says the right cut-off depends on who is being screened and why. The two bands below use the lower end of that range.
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–30 | Below the cut-off range | Your answers fall below the range (31 to 33) where clinicians usually assess further. That does not mean the event does not still weigh on you; a screener only counts answers, and a hard month with a low total is still worth a conversation. |
| 31–80 | At or above the cut-off range | Your answers are at or above the range (31 to 33) that the National Center for PTSD describes as indicating probable PTSD. It is a prompt for a proper assessment with a clinician, not a diagnosis, and post-traumatic stress is treatable. |
What it cannot do
A screener cannot diagnose you. It asks a fixed set of questions and scores the answers by a fixed rule; it knows nothing about your history, your circumstances, or anything you were not asked. Two people with the same score can need very different things, and someone with a low score can still be struggling in a way that deserves help. If your result worries you, or if it does not match how you actually feel, that mismatch is worth a conversation on its own.
Where this instrument comes from
PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). Weathers, Litz, Keane, Palmieri, Marx & Schnurr (2013). The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5), standard version dated 29 August 2023, US Department of Veterans Affairs, National Center for PTSD.
We publish it here under its authors' own terms. Developed by staff at the VA National Center for PTSD; in the public domain and not copyrighted. The VA adds that "in accordance with the American Psychological Association's ethical guidelines, this instrument is intended for use by qualified health professionals and researchers", which is why your result here is offered as something to bring to a clinician, not as an answer in itself. We have not reworded any item. A screener is validated as a specific set of words with a specific response scale, and changing them would make the scores above meaningless.
Wondering what your result actually means?
A clinician can tell you in one conversation what a score never will. Request an appointment online at any time, or call during office hours.
Prefer to write? Send a secure message