Attitudes to emotional expression and personality in predicting post-traumatic stress disorder

Background Previous research has revealed mixed findings with regard to the effects of disclosure on trauma recovery. More recently, studies on psychological trauma have found associations among religion, meaning, and health. This study investigated prior disclosure as a moderator for the association between religious emotional expression and adaptive trauma processing, as measured by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Methods Using Pennebaker’s written emotional expression paradigm, 105 participants were assigned to either a conventional trauma-writing condition or religious trauma-writing condition. PTSD symptoms were assessed at baseline and again at one-month post writing. Results A two-way interaction was found between prior disclosure and writing condition on PTSD symptoms at follow-up. For the religious trauma-writing condition only, there was a significant difference between low versus high disclosure participants in PTSD symptoms at follow-up, such that low prior disclosure participants registered fewer PTSD symptoms than high prior disclosure participants, while prior disclosure did not have such effect in the conventional trauma-writing condition. Limitations: This two-way interaction may be further qualified by other important psychosocial variables, such as differences in personality, coping style, social support, or use of prayer as a form of disclosure, which were not assessed in this study. Conclusion Religious emotional expression may encourage adaptive trauma processing, especially for individuals with low prior disclosure. These findings encourage further investigation of the conditions under which disclosure and religion may be a beneficial factor in trauma adaptation and treatment.

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Free Your Mind: Emotional Expressive Flexibility Moderates the Effect of Stress on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms

International Journal of Molecular Sciences ◽

10.3390/ijms21155355 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 21 (15) ◽

pp. 5355

Author(s):

Einat Levy-Gigi ◽

Reut Donner ◽

George A. Bonanno

Keyword(s):

Emotional Expression ◽

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ◽

Traumatic Stress ◽

Protective Factor ◽

Stress Disorder ◽

Clinical Symptoms ◽

Daily Routine ◽

Post Traumatic Stress ◽

Traumatic Exposure ◽

Post Traumatic

Servicemen are exposed to high levels of stress as part of their daily routine, however, studies which tested the relationship between stress and clinical symptoms reached inconsistent results. The present study examines the role of expressive flexibility, which was determined according to the ability to enhance or suppress either negative or positive emotional expression in conflictual situations, as a possible moderator between stress and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) symptoms. A total of 82 active-duty firefighters (all men, age range = 25–66, M = 33.59, SD = 9.56, range of years in duty service = 2–41, M = 14.37, SD = 11.79), with different duty-related repeated traumatic exposure, participated in the study. We predicted and found that firefighters with low, but not high, expressive flexibility showed a significant positive correlation between duty-related traumatic exposure and PTSD symptomology (t(81) = 3.85, p < 0.001). Hence, the greater the exposure the higher level of symptoms they exhibited. In addition, we found a difference between the moderating roles of suppressing positive and negative emotional expression, as high but not low, ability to suppress the expression of negative emotions (t(81) = 1.76, p > 0.05), as low but not high, ability to suppress the expression of positive emotions (t(81) = 1.6, p > 0.05), served as a protective factor in buffering the deleterious effect of repeated traumatic exposure. The results provide a pivotal support for the growing body of evidence that a flexible emotional profile is an adaptive one, in dealing with negative life events. However, while there is a need to update behavior, the direction of the adaptive update may differ as a function of valance.

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