Types of trauma-related blame following interpersonal trauma.

Objective: The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) now includes trauma-related blame as a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD Criterion D3; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). To date, most blame research has utilized quantitative scales, primarily for self-blame, with little attention to other forms of blame. The aims of this study were to (a) identify the common blame types reported by interpersonal trauma survivors through open-ended statements, and (b) explore how well these blame types converge with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) screener's blame item and total scores.