Citation

Raudales AM, Preston TJ, Albanese BJ, Schmidt NB. J. Clin. Psychol. (Hoboken) 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Department of Psychology, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jclp.22966

PMID

32394423

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The current study tested whether emotion dysregulation, assessed by the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), would predict posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) through anxiety sensitivity (AS). Alternate cognitive-affective mediators (i.e., distress tolerance and intolerance of uncertainty) were explored.

METHOD: A total of 259 trauma-exposed community members (ages averaging 37.39; evenly distributed by gender) from a larger clinical trial targeting suicide risk factors completed a clinical interview and self-report questionnaires at baseline, Week-3, and 1-month follow-up appointments.

RESULTS: AS at Week 3 significantly mediated the relationship between initial emotion dysregulation and 1-month follow-up posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) after controlling for condition and baseline symptoms (β = .07; standard error = 0.03; 95% confidence interval = [0.01, 0.14]). Effects held for one out of six emotion dysregulation subscales. Distress tolerance and intolerance of uncertainty were not significant mediators (ps > .05).

CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that emotion dysregulation may confer maintenance of PTSS through AS.

FINDINGS highlight potentially malleable targets for interventions.

© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Language: en

Keywords

PTSS; anxiety sensitivity; distress tolerance; emotion dysregulation; intolerance of uncertainty; posttraumatic stress disorder