J Affect Disord. 2023 Jun 9:S0165-0327(23)00789-9. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2023.06.023. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder is associated with emotion regulation difficulties. However, our understanding of these difficulties has been limited by the reliance of previous work on retrospective trait self-reports, which are unable to capture dynamic, ecologically-valid use of emotion regulation strategies.

METHODS: To address this issue, this study used an ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design to understand the impact of PTSD on emotion regulation in daily life. We conducted an EMA study in a trauma exposed sample with varying levels of PTSD severity (N = 70; 7 days; 423 observations).

RESULTS: We found that PTSD severity was linked to greater use of disengagement and perseverative-based strategies to manage negative emotions, regardless of emotional intensity.

LIMITATIONS: Study design did not allow investigation into the temporal use of emotion regulation strategies and small sample size.

CONCLUSIONS: This pattern of responding to emotions may interfere with engaging with the fear structure and thus impair emotion processing in current frontline treatments; clinical implications are discussed.

PMID:37302510 | DOI:10.1016/j.jad.2023.06.023