Practitioners are becoming increasingly aware of the likelihood of recent or long-past traumatic experiences in the lives of those seeking mental health services. These traumas range from unresolved child abuse to more acute assault experiences and natural disasters. Until recently, the mental health professional has had relatively little access to clinical data regarding posttraumatic stress, but the last decade has seen a dramatic increase in empirical studies of psychological trauma, as well as the development of a number of validated trauma-specific assessment devices. This text is a practical, research-based guide to the assessment of posttraumatic psychological disturbance in adults. The chapters discuss three general areas: first, the author describes the etiology and phenomenology of DSM-IV stress disorders and related stress-associated conditions (eg. dissociative disorders). Next, he outlines a philosophy of trauma-relevant psychological assessment that takes into account the complexities involved, such as the need to assess the role of pretraumatic factors and other concomitant psychological disorders. Finally, he reviews both general as well as trauma-focused texts and interviews, and evaluates their strengths and weaknesses. This text will be of interest to a broad audience of clinical psychologists as well as graduate students.