Use of broadband assessments of personality and psychopathology in the assessment of psychological trauma

In the assessment of the sequelae of psychological trauma, there has long been an overwhelming focus on the diagnostic symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This has led to a proliferation of scales designed to measure PTSD and, to a lesser extent, scales for measuring the primary traumatic experience linked to PTSD symptoms (as is required by the diagnostic criteria for PTSD). This approach to assessment rests on two assumptions – (a) that the clinical assessor is aware of trauma, and (b) that PTSD is the only (or at least most distressing) problem associated with this trauma – that may in many cases not be accurate. The potential inaccuracy of these assumptions raises the question of what other possible methods of assessment might be useful in the context of trauma. One answer to this question is broadband psychological assessments, which provide both holistic pictures of psychological functioning and potential clues to the experience of trauma in cases in which the patient may not have disclosed it. In this paper we review two sets of broadband assessments (omnibus inventories of personality and psychopathology, and dimensional assessments of psychopathology), highlighting their utility in the assessment of trauma survivors and how they might be used in trauma-focused (and/or trauma-informed) interventions. We also contrast use of these instruments with others more or less commonly used in the assessment of psychological trauma. Our general conclusion is that broadband assessments of psychological functioning are a useful complement to traditional trauma-focused assessment.