CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 1,727Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ResearchAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive ProcessesTraumatic Brain Injury Research

The Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI): development and validation

Foa, Edna B., Ehlers, Anke, Clark, David M., Tolin, David F., Orsillo, Susan M.·1999·Psychological Assessment
DOI 10.1037/1040-3590.11.3.303
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This article describes the development and validation of a new measure of trauma-related thoughts and beliefs, the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory (PTCI), whose items were derived from clinical observations and current theories of post-trauma psychopathology. The PTCI was administered to 601 volunteers, 392 of whom had experienced a traumatic event and 170 of whom had moderate to severe posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Principal-components analysis yielded 3 factors: Negative Cognitions About Self. Negative Cognitions About the World, and Self-Blame. The 3 factors showed excellent internal consistency and good test-retest reliability; correlated moderately to strongly with measures of PTSD severity, depression, and general anxiety: and discriminated well between traumatized individuals with and without PTSD. The PTCI compared favorably with other measures of trauma-related cognitions, especially in its superior ability to discriminate between traumatized individuals with and without PTSD.

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/1040-3590.11.3.303

Cites

32 of 32 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • One of the hallmark symptoms of PTSD involves alterations in cognition and mood, where individuals with PTSD frequently experience persistent negative trauma-related emotions and associated changes in perception of the self and the world.

    “As described above, one of the hallmark symptoms of PTSD involves alterations in cognition and mood, where individuals with PTSD frequently experience persistent negative trauma-related emotions and associated changes in perception of the self and the world (Foa et al., 1999; Cox et al., 2014; Frewen et al., 2017).”

    From How Processing of Sensory Information From the Internal and External Worlds Shape the Perception and Engagement With the World in the Aftermath of Trauma: Implications for PTSD (2021) · cites this paper as Foa et al., 1999

  • Negative self-related thoughts were assessed with the Negative thoughts about the self subscale of the PTCI, with Cronbach's α = 0.93 in the present sample.

    “Internal consistency of the 21-items negative self subscale in the present sample was high, Cronbach's α = 0.93.”

    From Early Linguistic Markers of Trauma-Specific Processing Predict Post-trauma Adjustment (2018) · cites this paper as [42]

  • Excessively negative appraisals tend to exaggerate the individual's sense of threat, thereby maintaining PTSD.

    “It is postulated that excessively negative appraisals tend to exaggerate the individual's sense of threat, thereby maintaining PTSD 104,105 .”

    From Post‐traumatic stress disorder: a state‐of‐the‐art review of evidence and challenges (2019) · cites this paper as [104]

  • Disturbed temporal binding of sensory information engenders perceptual chaos and lack of coherence, which may lead to bodily disconnect and states of hypervigilance.

    “Disturbed temporal binding of sensory information engenders perceptual chaos and lack of coherence, which may lead to bodily disconnect (“I feel dead inside”) as well as states of hypervigilance (“I have to be on guard all of the time”) ( Foa et al., 1999 ).”

    From The brain-body disconnect: A somatic sensory basis for trauma-related disorders (2022) · cites this paper as Foa et al., 1999

  • An ineffable disconnection from a sense of self is extensively reported in PTSD.

    “An ineffable disconnection from a sense of self is extensively reported in PTSD, such as “I am not myself,” and “I feel like an object, not a person” ( Foa et al., 1999 ; Bluhm et al., 2009 ; Lanius et al., 2011 , 2020 ).”

    From The brain-body disconnect: A somatic sensory basis for trauma-related disorders (2022) · cites this paper as Foa et al., 1999

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Foa, E. B., Ehlers, A., Clark, D. M., Tolin, D. F., & Orsillo, S. M.
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (US)
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Assessment
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1999-09
Volume
11
Issue
3
Pages
303-314
ISSN
  • 1040-3590 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-134X
DOI
10.1037/1040-3590.11.3.303
OpenAlex
W1990030246
Cited by
1,727
References
32
Citations by year
2026: 52 · 2025: 85 · 2024: 70 · 2023: 106 · 2022: 93 · 2021: 80 · 2020: 119 · 2019: 110 · 2018: 113 · 2017: 94 · 2016: 72 · 2015: 111 · 2014: 72 · 2013: 69 · 2012: 66
FWCI
10.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Psychological Assessment (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
Keywords
post-traumatic stress disorder, trauma-related cognitions, self-blame, negative self-cognitions, psychometric validation, PTSD symptom severity, depression, anxiety

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review