Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI)

Briere, 1996

Description

The TSI is a global measure of trauma sequelae; items are not keyed to a specific traumatic event. It is a 100-item self-report measure of posttraumatic stress and other psychological sequelae of traumatic events. Respondents are asked to rate how often each symptom has happened to them in the past 6 months. Items are rated on a 4-point frequency scale ranging from 0 ("never") to 3 ("often").

The TSI has 10 clinical scales that assess a variety of symptom domains related to trauma: Anxious Arousal, Depression, Anger/Irritability, Intrusive Experiences, Defensive Avoidance, Dissociation, Sexual Concerns, Dysfunctional Sexual Behavior, Impaired Self-reference, and Tension Reduction Behavior. The TSI also includes 3 validity scales that may be useful in identifying response tendencies that would invalidate the test results. These scales assess Atypical Responses, Response Level (very low reporting), and InconsistentResponses.

The TSI contains items that correspond to DSM-IV symptom criteria (B, C, and D) for PTSD, but does not specifically assess these criteria. Raw scale scores are converted to T scores for the 10 clinical scales and the 3 validity scales based on a normative sample (with separate norms based on gender and age). A computer scoring program is available from the test publisher. The TSI is recommended for measuring a variety of trauma-related symptoms in clinical or research settings.

Sample Item

"Pushing painful memories out of your mind." (Respondent are asked to rate the frequency of the item in the last 6 months).

References

Briere, J. (1995). Trauma Symptom Inventory Professional Manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Briere, J. (1996). Psychometric review of Trauma Symptom Inventory (TSI). In B. H. Stamm (Ed.), Measurement of stress, trauma, and adaptation (pp. 381-383). Lutherville, MD: Sidran Press.

Additional Reviews

Orsillo (2001) (PDF) p. 294.

Orsillo, Susan M. (2001). Measures for acute stress disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. In M.M. Antony & S.M. Orsillo (Eds.), Practitioner's guide to empirically based measures of anxiety (pp. 255-307). New York: KluwerAcademic/Plenum. PILOTS ID 24368

Norris and Hamblen (2004) (PDF) p. 86.

Norris, Fran H. & Hamblen, Jessica L. (2004). Standardized self-report measures of civilian trauma and PTSD. In J.P. Wilson, T.M. Keane & T. Martin (Eds.), Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD (pp. 63-102). New York: Guilford Press. PILOTS ID 18638

To Obtain Scale

Psychological Assessment Resources
Box 998
Odessa, FL 33556
Phone: (800) 331-8378

Available for purchase at http://www3.parinc.com*

Measure availability: Information on measures is available to everyone. However, the assessment tools themselves can only be distributed to qualified mental health professionals and researchers. We maintain measures developed by affiliated staff of the National Center for PTSD.