**2. Methods**

The following electronic databases were searched in order to identify relevant studies to include in the review: Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, and Medline. The searches were restricted to studies published between 1994 (the year life-threatening illnesses were included as an example of a traumatic event in the DSM) and May 2011. The following search terms were used: (i) stroke and cerebrovascular accident, and (ii) post-traumatic stress disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD, Impact of Events Scale, IES, Penn, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, PCL, Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, PDS, Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale, CAPS, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, and SCID. Combinations of these two sets of search terms were searched using the Boolean operator "AND". In addition, the reference lists and citation histories of relevant articles were also examined in order to identify further studies to be included in the review. Studies on adult stroke survivors, with a self-report measure of PTSD symptomatology or a clinical interview to diagnose PTSD, that were published in English in peer-reviewed journals were included in the review. Single case studies, qualitative studies, papers without primary data (e.g., editorials), conference abstracts, dissertations, and studies on childhood stroke or subarachnoid haemorrhage were excluded.

The searches identified 411 articles. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria detailed above, 10 articles reporting 9 studies were included in the review; one study was reported in two articles (Sagen et al., 2009, 2010). The following data were extracted from each study (see Table 1): date of publication, country of origin, study design, recruitment site, number of patients screened and excluded, main exclusion criteria, response rate, first or recurrent stroke, sample size, age, gender, stroke location, time since stroke, assessment of PTSD, prevalence of PTSD, and significant correlates of PTSD symptom severity.
