Citation

Zahradnik M, Stewart SH, Marshall GN, Schell TL, Jaycox LH. J. Trauma. Stress 2009; 22(2): 131-138.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jts.20397

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Using a sample of adult survivors of physical trauma requiring hospitalization (N = 677), we examined the relationship of aspects of alexithymia and anxiety sensitivity to symptoms of posttraumatic distress (PTD). At the bivariate level, both aspects of alexithymia and anxiety sensitivity were positively associated with acute PTD symptomatology, but anxiety sensitivity was more strongly related to PTD symptoms. At the multivariate level, both anxiety sensitivity and aspects of alexithymia made unique and independent contributions to both total PTD symptoms and the majority of PTD symptom clusters. At the facet level, anxiety sensitivity–physical concerns and anxiety sensitivity–psychological concerns, and the alexithymic dimension of difficulty identifying feelings, were uniquely associated with acute PTD symptoms. Findings are discussed in terms of potential clinical implications.