Encephale
-
The update of the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM5) emphasizes the definition of psychological traumatism as an objective and external event. Nevertheless, the scientific debate about the criteriology of PTSD, its clinical pertinence for application and the role of subjective dimension appears still open. Although the relation between psychotrauma and psychosis has been well examined, in the way of trauma as a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia, the potential traumatism represented by the psychotic experience seems to be less known. ⋯ A psychotic experience could be traumatic for patients and lead to complete PTSD. Although it appears as a non-consensual clinical entity, from a likely epistemological slip of the definition of "psychotrauma", the consideration of potential PTSD-PP presents an undoubted clinical relevance. Indeed, it could help practioners to precise the semiological analysis of patients recovering from an acute psychotic episode; to impact the prognosis of psychosis, thinking about impairment on the quality of life and the affective and suicidal comorbidities; and to modify the therapeutic approach in the recovery of schizophrenia. In addition, the literature about psychotic recovery seems particularly related to the concept of "post-traumatic growth" (PTG). The inscription of a psychotic episode in a traumatic frame requires a clinical approach as close as possible to the subjectivity of the patient experience, beyond the evaluation of psychotic symptoms and its remission. The question of trauma-focused therapies applied to PTSD-PP opens the field for future research.