Fear, helplessness, and horror in posttraumatic stress disorder: Investigating DSM-IV Criterion A2 in victims of violent crime

A DSM‐IV diagnosis posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) required for the first time that individuals must report experiencing intense fear, helplessness, or horror at the time of the trauma. In a longitudinal study of 138 victims of violent crime, we investigated whether reports of intense trauma‐related emotions characterized individuals who, after 6 months, met criteria for PTSD according to the DSM‐III‐R. We found that intense levels of all 3 emotions strongly predicted later PTSD. However, a small number of those who later met DSM‐III‐R or ICD criteria for PTSD did not report intense emotions at the time of the trauma. They did, however, report high levels of either anger with others or shame.