Threat Appraisals, Neuroticism, and Intrusive Memories: A Robust Mediational Approach with Replication

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony D Mancini ◽  
Laura Aldrich ◽  
Alina Shevorykin ◽  
Serena Veith ◽  
Grace John
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
Experimental Paradigm ◽  
Total N ◽  
Intrusive Memories ◽  
Threat Appraisals

Background: The appraisal of a stressor influences how we adapt to it. We used an experimental paradigm to test and replicate the effects of threat appraisals on subsequent intrusive memories, as well as their moderation by neuroticism. Method: In three studies (total N = 562; 77.6% female; mean age = 18.45), we randomly assigned participants to an aversive or control video, assessed threat appraisals of the video, and assessed intrusive memories of the video at one, three, five, and seven days. Results: Using a robust causal mediational framework, we found that threat appraisals fully mediated the effect of the video on intrusive memories (studies 1 – 3), and for people higher in neuroticism, the causal mediational pathway was stronger (study 1 and 2). Conclusions: These findings indicate threat appraisals have causal effects on subsequent intrusive memories and neuroticism enhances this effect, lending empirical support to appraisal theories of posttraumatic stress disorder.

Changes in intrusive memories associated with imaginal reliving in posttraumatic stress disorder

2006 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 328-341 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E.M. Speckens ◽  
Anke Ehlers ◽  
Ann Hackmann ◽  
David M. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Intrusive Memories

Emotional Numbing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Current and Future Research Directions

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett T Litz ◽  
Brett T Litz ◽  
Matt J Gray
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Emotional Functioning ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
Alternative Theory ◽  
Emotional Numbing

Objective: Despite being understudied and poorly understood relative to the chronic fear, anxiety and other aversive emotional states that occur in the immediate aftermath of trauma, emotional numbing has become a core defining feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Method: This paper seeks to briefly review the literature bearing on these seemingly disparate emotional responses to trauma as well as theoretical accounts of emotional numbing that have been proffered to date. We then offer an alternative theory of posttraumatic emotional functioning and review empirical support for this model. Result: The experience of trauma produces very intense emotions such as overwhelming fear, horror, and anxiety, and these reactions can linger for a lifetime. Many trauma survivors also report restrictions in their emotional experience – a phenomenon most commonly referred to as emotional numbing. In contrast to previous accounts of posttraumatic emotional functioning our model posits that individuals with PTSD have difficulty expressing positive emotions as a result of re-experiencing states. We further argue that patients with PTSD are capable of experiencing and expressing the full range of emotions that were available pretraumatically. Conclusion: Our model holds that individuals with PTSD are not, in fact, ‘emotionally numb’ as a result of traumatic experience. Rather, PTSD is associated with hyperresponsivity to negatively valenced emotional stimuli. Consequently, patients with PTSD require more intense positive stimulation to access the full complement of appetitive or pleasant emotional behaviour.

scholarly journals Resilience after trauma: The role of memory suppression

Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 367 (6479) ◽  
pp. eaay8477 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Mary ◽  
Jacques Dayan ◽  
Giovanni Leone ◽  
Charlotte Postel ◽  
Florence Fraisse ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Control System ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Intrusive Memories ◽  
Memory Suppression ◽  
Traumatic Memories ◽  
Memory Control

In the aftermath of trauma, little is known about why the unwanted and unbidden recollection of traumatic memories persists in some individuals but not others. We implemented neutral and inoffensive intrusive memories in the laboratory in a group of 102 individuals exposed to the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks and 73 nonexposed individuals, who were not in Paris during the attacks. While reexperiencing these intrusive memories, nonexposed individuals and exposed individuals without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) could adaptively suppress memory activity, but exposed individuals with PTSD could not. These findings suggest that the capacity to suppress memory is central to positive posttraumatic adaptation. A generalized disruption of the memory control system could explain the maladaptive and unsuccessful suppression attempts often seen in PTSD, and this disruption should be targeted by specific treatments.

scholarly journals Replicability and Generalizability of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Networks: A Cross-Cultural Multisite Study of PTSD Symptoms in Four Trauma Patient Samples

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-351 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiko I. Fried ◽  
Marloes B. Eidhof ◽  
Sabina Palic ◽  
Giulio Costantini ◽  
Hilde M. Huisman-van Dijk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Small Samples ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Network Structures ◽  
Ptsd Symptoms ◽  
Total N ◽  
Correlation Networks

The growing literature conceptualizing mental disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as networks of interacting symptoms faces three key challenges. Prior studies predominantly used (a) small samples with low power for precise estimation, (b) nonclinical samples, and (c) single samples. This renders network structures in clinical data, and the extent to which networks replicate across data sets, unknown. To overcome these limitations, the present cross-cultural multisite study estimated regularized partial correlation networks of 16 PTSD symptoms across four data sets of traumatized patients receiving treatment for PTSD (total N = 2,782). Despite differences in culture, trauma type, and severity of the samples, considerable similarities emerged, with moderate to high correlations between symptom profiles (0.43–0.82), network structures (0.62–0.74), and centrality estimates (0.63–0.75). We discuss the importance of future replicability efforts to improve clinical psychological science and provide code, model output, and correlation matrices to make the results of this article fully reproducible.

Intrusive Memories and Modality-Specific Mental Imagery in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

2010 ◽  
Vol 218 (2) ◽  
pp. 64-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Jelinek ◽  
Sarah Randjbar ◽  
Michael Kellner ◽  
Angnes Untiedt ◽  
Jana Volkert ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Mental Imagery ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Sensory Quality ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Experiences ◽  
Intrusive Memories ◽  
The Impact

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is characterized by vivid intrusive memories of the trauma. Among these, visual sensations of the trauma are most commonly reported. However, intrusions may involve other senses as well (e.g., acoustic, olfactory, or bodily sensations). It has been proposed that enhanced mental imagery may predispose individuals with traumatic experiences to intrusions and ultimately to PTSD. A total of 58 victims of interpersonal violence with current (n = 20), past (n = 19), and no lifetime PTSD (n = 19) as well as non-traumatized controls (n = 23) were assessed with the Vividness of Visual Imagery Questionnaire (VVIQ) and a modality-specific imagery questionnaire. Moreover, the sensory quality of the traumatic intrusions was assessed in traumatized participants. Participants with recovered PTSD displayed less overall mental imagery than the other three groups who were indistinguishable. No relation was found between the modality-specific mental imagery and the sensory quality of the intrusions. The impact of mental imagery on intrusive memories in PTSD is complex. Less mental imagery appears beneficial in the recovery process, but does not prevent the development of intrusive symptoms in the first place. Further investigation of perceptual and memory vividness as well imagery control (i.e., to sustain, modify, or terminate an image) also including trauma-related material may be important for trauma-specific interventions.

Evaluation of gray matter reduction in patients with typhoon-related posttraumatic stress disorder using causal network analysis of structural MRI

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Hui Juan Chen ◽  
Rongfeng Qi ◽  
Jun Ke ◽  
Jie Qiu ◽  
Qiang Xu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
False Discovery Rate ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Gray Matter ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Causal Effects ◽  
Causal Network ◽  
Recent Onset ◽  
False Discovery

Abstract Background The structural changes recent-onset posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) subjects were rarely investigated. This study was to compare temporal and causal relationships of structural changes in recent-onset PTSD with trauma-exposed control (TEC) subjects and non-TEC subjects. Methods T1-weighted magnetic resonance images of 27 PTSD, 33 TEC and 30 age- and sex-matched healthy control (HC) subjects were studied. The causal network of structural covariance was used to evaluate the causal relationships of structural changes in PTSD patients. Results Volumes of bilateral hippocampal and left lingual gyrus were significantly smaller in PTSD patients and TEC subjects than HC subjects. As symptom scores increase, reduction in gray matter volume began in the hippocampus and progressed to the frontal lobe, then to the temporal and occipital cortices (p < 0.05, false discovery rate corrected). The hippocampus might be the primary hub of the directional network and demonstrated positive causal effects on the frontal, temporal and occipital regions (p < 0.05, false discovery rate corrected). The frontal regions, which were identified to be transitional points, projected causal effects to the occipital lobe and temporal regions and received causal effects from the hippocampus (p < 0.05, false discovery rate corrected). Conclusions The results offer evidence of localized abnormalities in the bilateral hippocampus and remote abnormalities in multiple temporal and frontal regions in typhoon-exposed PTSD patients.

Pharmacotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Empirical Review and Clinical Recommendations

2005 ◽  
Vol 39 (8) ◽  
pp. 674-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Cooper ◽  
Jessica Carty ◽  
Mark Creamer
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Case Reports ◽  
Antidepressant Medication ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Pharmacological Treatments ◽  
Open Label

Objective: Growing awareness of the psychological effects of trauma has emphasized the need for clinicians across a range of practice settings to be aware of evidence-based treatment options for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The purpose of this article is to review the available empirical data on pharmacological approaches to PTSD and to provide recommendations for clinical practice. Method: Although a comprehensive search of PsychInfo and Medline databases revealed a multitude of case reports and open-label trials, this paper focuses primarily on evidence obtained from randomized controlled trials to determine the most effective pharmacological treatments for PTSD. Results: The research data overwhelmingly supports antidepressant medication as the first-line pharmacotherapy for PTSD, with selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors having the strongest body of empirical support. Other medications, and with care, combination pharmacotherapy, may also have a role in the management of certain presentations. Cautions for clinicians in treating this complex disorder are provided. Conclusions: Despite a substantial increase in the amount and quality of research into pharmacological treatments for PTSD in recent years, there is still a pressing need for more data to guide routine clinical practice. In particular, future research regarding the psychobiological basis of PTSD may guide the development of a PTSD-specific drug, designed to treat the unique characteristics of this disorder.

Evidence-Based Psychotherapies for Adults with PTSD

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliette M. Harik ◽  
Jessica L. Hamblen ◽  
Sonya B. Norman ◽  
Paula P. Schnurr
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Current Clinical Practice ◽  
Behavioral Therapies ◽  
Cognitive Behavioral Therapies ◽  
Key Techniques

This chapter provides an overview of evidence-based psychotherapies for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults. It defines these psychotherapies as those that received the strongest possible recommendation in any of the current clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of PTSD. These treatments include trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapies (which are further categorized as primarily exposure, primarily cognitive, or mixed cognitive-exposure) and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. For each approach, the chapter offers a review of the theoretical underpinnings, describes key techniques, and summarizes the existing empirical support. It also briefly discusses efforts to enhance existing evidence-based psychotherapies and to evaluate novel, emerging psychotherapies targeting symptoms of PTSD.

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