The role of emotion dysregulation in negative affect reactivity to a trauma cue: Differential associations through elicited posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms

Abstract

Background: Recent research has linked emotion dysregulation with increases in subjective ratings of negative affect (NA reactivity) to trauma reminders, a central symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study adds to this burgeoning line of research by exploring elicited PTSD symptoms as a mechanism explicating the relation between emotion dysregulation and NA reactivity following trauma cue exposure.

Methods: Participants were 60 treatment-seeking marijuana users with insomnia symptoms who reported exposure to a traumatic event. Participants were administered questionnaires assessing emotion dysregulation, PTSD symptoms, and NA prior to and/or after listening to a personalized trauma script, and subsequently completed a diagnostic interview.

Results: Results demonstrated that greater emotion dysregulation was associated with heightened NA reactivity through re-experiencing symptoms, but not avoidance or dissociation symptoms, even after accounting for past 30-day PTSD symptom severity and pre-trauma script NA. These effects were driven by the dimensions of emotion dysregulation characterized by nonacceptance of negative emotions and limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies.

Limitations: This study requires replication among other clinical samples, and is limited by use of self-report measures.

Conclusions: Findings provide novel empirical support for one mechanism through which emotion dysregulation may confer vulnerability to PTSD symptomology, and offer implications for refining PTSD treatments.

Keywords: Emotion dysregulation; PTSD; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Re-experiencing; Reactivity.