Important Disclaimer
This screening tool is for educational purposes only and does not diagnose PTSD or any trauma-related disorder. If you are in crisis, please contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or texting 988, or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.
What This Assessment Measures
- Intrusion: Unwanted thoughts, nightmares, flashbacks, emotional reactivity to reminders
- Avoidance: Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, situations, and emotional numbing
- Hyperarousal: Irritability, difficulty concentrating, hypervigilance, exaggerated startle response, sleep disturbances
22
Questions
5–8
Minutes
100%
Confidential
The 22 Questions
Every question is answered on the same scale: Not at all, A little bit, Moderately, Quite a bit, Extremely.
- Any reminder brought back feelings about it
- I had trouble staying asleep
- Other things kept making me think about it
- I felt irritable and angry
- I avoided letting myself get upset when I thought about it or was reminded of it
- I thought about it when I didn't mean to
- I felt as if it hadn't happened or wasn't real
- I stayed away from reminders about it
- Pictures about it popped into my mind
- I was jumpy and easily startled
- I tried not to think about it
- I was aware that I still had a lot of feelings about it, but I didn't deal with them
- My feelings about it were kind of numb
- I found myself acting or feeling like I was back at that time
- I had trouble falling asleep
- I had waves of strong feelings about it
- I tried to remove it from my memory
- I had trouble concentrating
- Reminders of it caused me to have physical reactions, such as sweating, trouble breathing, nausea, or a pounding heart
- I had dreams about it
- I felt watchful and on guard
- I tried not to talk about it
About the Trauma Impact
The IES-R was developed by Daniel S. Weiss and Charles R. Marmar (1997) as a revision of the original Impact of Event Scale (IES) created by Mardi Horowitz in 1979. The revision added a hyperarousal subscale to align with the three-cluster model of PTSD in the DSM.
The IES-R is one of the most widely used self-report measures for post-traumatic stress and has been translated into over 20 languages. It is not a diagnostic instrument but provides a reliable estimate of post-traumatic distress that can guide clinical decision-making.
When completing this assessment, think about a specific stressful life event and rate how distressing each item has been for you during the past seven days.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the IES-R?+
The Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R) is a 22-item self-report measure of post-traumatic distress. It assesses three clusters of PTSD symptoms: intrusion (unwanted re-experiencing), avoidance (emotional numbing and avoidance of reminders), and hyperarousal (heightened alertness and reactivity).
Does a high score mean I have PTSD?+
No. The IES-R measures subjective distress related to a specific event. While high scores suggest symptoms consistent with PTSD, only a qualified clinician can make a formal diagnosis through comprehensive clinical evaluation.
What kind of events can this be used for?+
The IES-R can be used for any distressing life event including accidents, natural disasters, assault, loss of a loved one, medical trauma, childhood abuse, witnessing violence, or any event that has caused significant emotional distress.
What is the clinical cutoff score?+
A mean item score of 1.5 (total score of 33) is commonly used as the clinical cutoff suggesting probable PTSD. However, optimal cutoffs can vary depending on the population and context.
Are my responses stored?+
No. All responses remain completely private and local to your browser. No data is collected, stored, or transmitted to any server.
References
- Weiss DS, Marmar CR. The Impact of Event Scale – Revised. In: Wilson JP, Keane TM, eds. Assessing Psychological Trauma and PTSD. Guilford Press; 1997:399-411.
- Creamer M, Bell R, Failla S. Psychometric properties of the Impact of Event Scale – Revised. Behav Res Ther. 2003;41(12):1489-1496.
- Beck JG, Grant DM, Read JP, et al. The Impact of Event Scale – Revised: Psychometric properties in a sample of motor vehicle accident survivors. J Anxiety Disord. 2008;22(2):187-198.
- American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5). 2013.