Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T12:01:05.507Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Experiential Avoidance in Civilian War Survivors With Current Versus Recovered Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Pilot Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 February 2012

Nexhmedin Morina ,
Ulrich Stangier  and
Anne Katrin Risch
Nexhmedin Morina*
Affiliation:
University of Frankfurt, Germany
Ulrich Stangier
Affiliation:
University of Frankfurt, Germany
Anne Katrin Risch
Affiliation:
University of Jena, Germany
*
*Address for correspondence: Nexhmedin Morina, University of Frankfurt, Department of Psychology, Varrentrappstr. 40-42, D-60486 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Email: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The present study investigated the role of experiential avoidance in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following war-related stress. Eighty-four civilian war survivors were assigned to one of three PTSD groups — current PTSD, recovered PTSD and non-PTSD. Groups were subsequently compared in regard to experiential avoidance. Results indicated significantly higher rates of experiential avoidance and psychological distress in the current PTSD group as compared with the recovered PTSD and non-PTSD groups. The recovered PTSD and non-PTSD groups did not significantly differ.

Type
Standard Papers
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , 01 April 2008 , pp. 15 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.Google Scholar
Batten, S.V., Follette, V.M., & Aban, I.B. (2001). Experiential avoidance and high-risk sexual behavior in survivors of child sexual abuse. Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 10, 101–120.Google Scholar
Cardozo, B.L., Kaiser, R., Gotway, C.A., & Agani, F. (2003). Mental health, social functioning, and feelings of hatred and revenge of Kosovar Albanians one year after the war in Kosovo. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 16, 351–360.Google Scholar
Clark, D.B., Ball, S., & Pape, D. (1991). An experimental investigation of thought suppression. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 29, 253–257.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Derogatis, L.R., & Melisaratos, N. (1983). The Brief Symptom Inventory: An introductory report. Psychological Medicine, 13, 595–605.Google Scholar
Ehlers, A., & Clark, D.M. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38 (4), 319–345.Google Scholar
Feldner, M.T., Zvolensky, M.J., Eifert, G.H., & Spira, A.P. (2003). Emotional avoidance: An experimental test of individual differences and response suppression during biological challenge. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 41, 403–411.Google Scholar
Hayes, S.C., Strosahl, K., Wilson, K.G., Bissett, R.T., Pistorello, J., Toarmino, D., et al. (2004). Measuring experiential avoidance: A preliminary test of a working model. The Psychological Record, 54, 553–578.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hayes, S.C., Wilson, K.G., Gifford, E.V., Follette, V.M., & Strosahl, K. (1996). Experiential avoidance and behavioral disorders: A functional dimensional approach to diagnosis and treatment. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 1152–1168.Google Scholar
Karekla, M., Forsyth, J.P., & Kelly, M.M. (2004). Emotional avoidance and panicogenic responding to a biological challenge procedure. Behavior Therapy, 35, 725–746.Google Scholar
Marx, B.P., & Sloan, D.M. (2005). Peritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance as predictors of posttraumatic stress symptomatology. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 569– 583.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mollica, R., Caspi-Yavin, Y., Bollini, P., Truong, T., Tor, S., & Lavelle, J. (1992). The Harvard Trauma Questionnaire. Validating a cross-cultural instrument for measuring torture, trauma, and PTSD in Indochinese refugees. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 180, 111–116.Google Scholar
Morina, N. (2003). Albanian version of Impact of Event Scale – Revised (IES-R). European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies Bulletin, 10, 7–10.Google Scholar
Morina, N. (2006). Verzioni shqip i [Albanian version of the] Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Prishtina: Zana. Google Scholar
Morina, N., & Ford, J.D. (in press). Complex sequelae of trauma exposure among Kosovar civilian war victims. International Journal of Social Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Morina, N. (2007). The role of experiential avoidance in psychological functioning following warrelated stress in Kosovar civilians. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 195, 697–700.Google Scholar
Orcutt, H.K., Pickett, S.M., & Pope, E.B. (2005). Experiential avoidance and forgiveness as mediators in the relationship between traumatic interpersonal events and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24, 1003–1029.Google Scholar
Orsillo, S.M., Roemer, L., & Block-Lerner, J. (2005). ACT with anxiety disorders. In S.C., Hayes & K.D., Strosahl (Eds.), A practical guide to acceptance and commitment therapy (pp. 103–132). New York: Springer Science and Business Media.Google Scholar
Plumb, J.C., Orsillo, S.M., & Luterek, J.A. (2004). A preliminary test of the role of experiential avoidance in post-event functioning. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 35, 245–257.Google Scholar
Sheehan, D.V., Lecrubier, Y., Harnett-Sheehan, K., Amorim, P., Janavs, J., Weiller, E., et al. (1998). The Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.): The Development and Validation of a Structured Diagnostic Psychiatric Interview. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 59, 22–33.Google Scholar
Spira, A.P., Zvolensky, M.J., Eifert, G.H., & Feldner, M.T. (2004). Avoidanceoriented coping as a predictor of anxiety-based physical stress: A test using biological challenge. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 18, 309–323.Google Scholar
Tull, M.T., Gratz, K.L., Salters, K., & Roemer, L. (2004). The role of experiential avoidance in posttraumatic stress symptoms and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192, 754–761.Google Scholar
Weiss, D.F., & Marmer, C.R. (1997). The impact of event scale-revised. In J.P., Wilson & T.M., Keane (Eds.), Assessing psychological trauma and PTSD: A practitioner's handbook (pp. 399–411). New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Wenzlaff, R.M., & Wegner, D.M. (2000). Thought suppression. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 59–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed