Increases in retrospective accounts of war-zone exposure over time: The role of PTSD symptom severity

Emerging literature suggests that self-compassion may be an important concept for understanding recovery from the impact of trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The present study explored the interconnection among self-compassion, resilience, emotion dysregulation, and PTSD symptom severity in a sample of treatment-seeking women with PTSD. We predicted that self-compassion would be negatively related to PTSD symptom severity and to emotion dysregulation, and positively related to resilience. The results supported our main hypotheses. In addition, emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and self-compassion and affected the relationship between self-compassion and resilience. These findings corroborate previous research that points to the important role of self-compassion in mental health and in the aftermath of stressful life events. The present study expands this research by demonstrating that PTSD symptom severity is negatively related to self-compassion in a clinical population of women with experiences of severe and repeated interpersonal trauma.

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Emotion Regulation Difficulties in Trauma Survivors: The Role of Trauma Type and PTSD Symptom Severity

Behavior Therapy ◽

10.1016/j.beth.2010.04.004 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 41 (4) ◽

pp. 587-598 ◽

Cited By ~ 280

Author(s):

Thomas Ehring ◽

Dorothea Quack

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Symptom Severity ◽

Ptsd Symptom ◽

Trauma Survivors ◽

Ptsd Symptom Severity ◽

Trauma Type

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Thwarted Belongingness and PTSD Symptom Severity among Firefighters: The Role of Emotion Regulation Difficulties

Behavior Modification ◽

10.1177/01454455211002105 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 014544552110021

Author(s):

Samuel J. Leonard ◽

Anka A. Vujanovic

Keyword(s):

Emotion Regulation ◽

Indirect Effect ◽

Symptom Severity ◽

Ptsd Symptom ◽

Thwarted Belongingness ◽

Online Questionnaire ◽

Ptsd Symptom Severity ◽

Bidirectional Associations ◽

Empirical Implications

The present investigation examined the associations among thwarted belongingness (TB), emotion regulation difficulties (ERD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity among firefighters. First, the associations of TB and ERD with PTSD symptom severity were evaluated. Second, the indirect effect of TB on PTSD symptom severity through ERD was examined. The sample included 246 trauma-exposed firefighters ( M age = 40.21, SD = 9.93, 93.1% male) who completed an online questionnaire battery. Results demonstrate significant, positive associations among TB, ERD, and PTSD symptom severity; and an indirect effect of TB on PTSD symptom severity through heightened ERD (β = 0.17; CI [0.08, 0.29]). Alternate indirect effect models were also significant, underscoring the potentially bidirectional associations of these variables. These findings suggest that there is merit in investigating the role of interpersonal factors and ERD among firefighter populations to better understand PTSD symptomatology. Clinical and empirical implications are discussed.

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