Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:16:17.007Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Role of Emotion in PTSD: Two Preliminary Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2012

Mick J. Power  and
Claire Fyvie
Mick J. Power*
Affiliation:
Edinburgh University, Scotland, UK
Claire Fyvie
Affiliation:
Rivers Centre for Traumatic Stress, NHSLothian, UK
*
Reprint requests to Mick Power, Clinical Psychology, Edinburgh University Medical School, Teviot Place, Edinburgh EH8 9AG, Scotland. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background: Two studies are presented that highlight the role of emotion in PTSD in which we examine what emotions in addition to anxiety may be present. Aims: The first aim was to assess the overall emotion profile across the five basic emotions of anxiety, sadness, anger, disgust, and happiness in clients attending a stress clinic. A small pilot study was also carried out to see how the emotion profiles impacted on outcome for CBT. Method: In Study 1, 75 consecutive attenders at a trauma service who were diagnosed with PTSD were assessed with a number of measures that included the Basic Emotions Scale. Results: The results showed that less than 50% of PTSD cases presented with anxiety as the primary emotion, with the remainder showing primary emotions of sadness, anger, or disgust rather than anxiety. A second pilot study involved the follow-up across exposure-based CBT of 20 of the participants from Study 1. Conclusions: The results suggest that anxiety-based PTSD is more likely to benefit from exposure than is non-anxiety based PTSD. Implications both for the classification and the treatment of PTSD are considered.

Keywords

EmotionPTSDanxietyexposuretreatmentoutcome
Type
Research Article
Information
Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , March 2013 , pp. 162 - 172
Copyright
Copyright © British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2012

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 (1980). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Beck, A. T., Steer, R. A. and Brown, G. K. (1996). Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Brewin, C. R., Dalgleish, T. and Joseph, S. (1996). A dual representation theory of post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychological Review, 103, 670–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalgleish, T. and Power, M. J. (2004). Emotion specific and emotion-non-specific components of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD): implications for a taxonomy of related psychopathology. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 42, 1069–1088.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehlers, A. and Clark, D. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 319–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehlers, A., Clark, D. M., Hackmann, A., McManus, F. and Fennell, M. (2005). Cognitive therapy for PTSD: development and evaluation. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 43, 413–431.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Finucane, A., Dima, A., Ferreira, N. and Halvorsen, M (in press). Basic emotion profiles in healthy, chronic pain, depressed and PTSD individuals. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy.Google Scholar
Foa, E. B. and Rothbaum, B. O. (1998). Treating the Trauma of Rape: cognitive-behavioural therapy for PTSD. New York: Guilford.Google Scholar
Gillespie, K., Duffy, M., Hackmann, A. and Clark, D. M. (2002). Community based cognitive therapy in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder following the Omagh bomb. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 40, 345–357.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Grey, N. and Holmes, E. A. (2008). “Hotspots” in trauma memories in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder: a replication. Memory, 16, 788–796.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Holmes, E. A., Grey, N. and Young, K. A. D. (2005). Intrusive images and “hotspots” of trauma memories in post-traumatic stress disorder: an exploratory investigation of emotions and cognitive themes. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 36, 3–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horowitz., M. J. (1979). Psychological response to serious life events. In Hamilton, V. and Warburton, D. M. (Eds.), Human Stress and Cognition (pp. 235–263). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Horowitz, M. J. (1997). Stress Response Syndromes: PTSD, grief, and adjustment disorders (3rd ed.). Lanham: Jason Aronson.Google Scholar
Horowitz, M. J., Wilner, N. and Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of Event Scale: a measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 209–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacobs, W. J. and Dalenberg, C. (1999). Subtle presentations of post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 21, 835–845.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lee, D. A., Scragg, P. and Turner, S. (2001). The role of shame and guilt in traumatic events: a clinical model of shame-based and guilt-based PTSD. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 74, 451–466.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Litz, B. T. and Keane, T. M. (1989). Information processing in anxiety disorders: application to the understanding of posttraumatic stress disorder. Clinical Psychology Review, 9, 243–257.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NICE (2005). Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: NICE Guideline CG26. London: NICE.Google Scholar
Phillips, K. F. V. and Power, M. J. (2007). A new self-report measure of emotion regulation in adolescents: the Regulation of Emotions Questionnaire. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 14, 145–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, M. J. (2006). The structure of emotion: an empirical comparison of six models. Cognition and Emotion, 20, 694–713.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Power, M. J. and Dalgleish, T. (2008). Cognition and Emotion: from order to disorder (2nd ed.). Hove: Psychology Press.Google Scholar
Power, M. J. and Tarsia, M. (2007). Basic and complex emotions in depression and anxiety. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 14, 19–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prigerson, H. G. and Jacobs, S. C. (2001). Traumatic grief as a distinct disorder: a rationale, consensus criteria, and a preliminary empirical test. In Stroebe, M. S., Hansson, R. O., Stroebe, W. and Schut, H. (Eds.), Handbook of Bereavement Research. Washington. DC: American Psychological Association.Google Scholar
Resick, P. A. and Schnicke, M. K. (1993). Cognitive Processing Therapy for Rape Victims: a treatment manual. Newbury Park: Sage.Google Scholar
Richards, D. A., Lovell, K. and Marks, I. M. (1994). Post-traumatic stress disorder: evaluation of a behavioral treatment program. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 7, 669–680.Google ScholarPubMed
Schuchter, S. R., Zisook, S., Kirkorowicz, C. and Risch, C. (1986). The dexamethasone suppression test in acute grief. American Journal of Psychiatry, 143, 879–891.Google Scholar
Thrasher, S., Power, M., Morant, N., Marks, I. and Dalgleish, T. (2010). Social support moderates outcome in a randomized controlled trial of exposure therapy and (or) cognitive restructuring for chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 55, 187–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weiss, D. and Marmar, C. (1997). The Impact of Event Scale - Revised. In Wilson, J. P. and Keane, T. M. (Eds.), Assessing Psychological Trauma and PTSD. New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Wild, J. and Gur, R. C. (2008). Verbal memory and treatment response in post-traumatic stress disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 193, 254–255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
World Health Organization (1992). The ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders: clinical descriptions and diagnostic guidelines. Geneva: WHO.Google Scholar
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.