Forensic Case Conference

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD):  A Treacherous Diagnosis and Source of Disability

Carol S. North, MD, MPE, DFAPA

Medical Director, The Altshuler Center for Education & Research, Metrocare Services

The Nancy and Ray L. Hunt Chair in Crisis Psychiatry

Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Dallas, Texas

Overview of presentation:

This presentation will review the diagnosis, epidemiology, nosology, course, and effects on functioning in the existing research literature on PTSD.  Dr. North is an internationally recognized expert in PTSD and especially disaster mental health.  This presentation will draw from her research on thousands of survivors of many disasters and will present her pioneering work on the nosological foundations of trauma mental health, with particular emphasis on forensic aspects of PTSD’s course and functional disability.