Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Post-Traumatic Stress Injury: What's in a name?

Background: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a trauma-induced condition that is associated with high healthcare usage and costs, as well as long-term disability. Enabling those affected to seek diagnosis and treatment and removing barriers to care is, therefore, a significant priority. Results: In the last few years, an argument has been made that changing the name of the condition to Post-Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI), and hence removing the word 'disorder', may remove some barriers to seeking diagnosis and treatment. This paper describes the historical, scientific and medical basis for the use of the existing term, and argues that there is a lack of evidence that altering the name would have an appreciable benefit for affected individuals. Conclusion: Serving and ex-serving ADF members and their families affected by PTSD would be better served by holistic approaches to improve education and awareness, encouraging help seeking as early as possible and further high-quality research to improve evidence-based treatment and rehabilitation services that are recovery focused.