Peri-and posttraumatic emotional responses have been understudied, and furthermore, have rarely been compared among trauma types. The current study compared college students' retrospective self-reports of peri-and posttraumatic responses of fear, shame, guilt, anger, and sadness among four types of traumatic events: sexual assault, physical assault, transportation accident, and illness/injury. Overall emotional responding was generally high for all trauma types, and for those in the sexual assault group, emotion increased sharply from the peri-to posttraumatic time-point. Generally, fear was higher during the trauma compared to after the trauma, whereas the other emotions tended to remain stable or increase posttrauma. The sexual assault group tended to report higher levels of posttrauma emotion than the other trauma type groups.

We propose a taxonomy of emotional disturbances composed of (a) emotional valence disturbances, (b) emotional intensity/regulation disturbances, and (c) emotion disconnections. Our rationale for developing such a taxonomy is that it can draw additional attention to the importance of emotional disturbances and can provide a framework for organizing both what we already know and what we have yet to explore. We believe such an effort is important because emotional disturbances, which are ubiquitous among individuals with psychopatholog‐ical conditions, can provide incremental predictive power above and beyond traditional diagnostic categories. We discuss the potential clinical utility of our proposed taxonomy and provide recommendations for future research.

This study investigated relationships among proactive coping, positive emotions, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity for 182 undergraduate women with trauma histories. Participants were administered the Life Events Checklist (LEC), PTSD Checklist, Proactive Coping Inventory, Proactive Attitude Scale, General Perceived Self-Efficacy Scale, and measures of posttrauma gratitude and emotional growth. An Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) with proactive coping, proactive attitude, and self-efficacy items indicated a one-factor solution. The proactive coping style factor and posttrauma gratitude were independently negatively associated with current PTSD symptom level, above and beyond the effects of trauma severity, trauma history, and time elapsed since the trauma. The implications of these results for future research and understanding of the development of PTSD and its treatment are discussed.

We examined disgust and fear responses to spiders in spider-distressed and nondistressed individuals. Undergraduate participants (N = 134) completed questionnaires concerning responses to spiders and other potentially aversive stimuli, as well as measures of disgust sensitivity, anxious arousal, worry, and anhedonic depression. In addition, we obtained self-report and facial expressions of disgust and fear while participants were exposed to a live tarantula. Both spider distressed and nondistressed individuals reported disgust and exhibited disgust facial expressions in response to a tarantula. Disgust in response to spiders was not found to be part of a general disgust response to all negative stimuli, nor was it due to a general negative emotional response to spiders. Emotional responses to spiders were differentially associated with scores on personality and psychological functioning measures. The results of this study provide evidence that spiders have a specific disgust-evoking status in both distressed and nondistressed populations.

We tested the efficacy of the Equine Partnering Naturally(©) approach to equine-assisted therapy for treating anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Participants were 16 volunteers who had experienced a Criterion A traumatic event, such as a rape or serious accident, and had current PTSD symptoms above 31 on the PTSD Checklist (PCL-S; Weathers, Litz, Herman, Huska, & Keane, ). Participants engaged in tasks with horses for 6 weekly 2-hour sessions. Immediately following the final session, participants reported significantly reduced posttraumatic stress symptoms, d = 1.21, less severe emotional responses to trauma, d = 0.60, less generalized anxiety, d = 1.01, and fewer symptoms of depression, d = 0.54. As well, participants significantly increased mindfulness strategies, d = 1.28, and decreased alcohol use, d = 0.58. There was no significant effect of the treatment on physical health, proactive coping, self-efficacy, social support, or life satisfaction. Thus, we found evidence that the Equine Partnering Naturally(©) approach to equine-assisted therapy may be an effective treatment for anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptoms. Future research should include larger groups, random assignment, and longer term follow-up.