Impact Statement Coding of Self‐Related Thought in Women With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Clinical and empirical studies have documented significant alterations in self-related thought in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To our knowledge, however, few studies have examined self-referential cognition by analyzing survivors' written impact statements in individuals whose PTSD is due to interpersonal trauma. In the current study, we performed a linguistic analysis of impact statements (i.e., descriptions of how the trauma has affected the survivors' views of themselves, others, and the world) collected at the start of therapy from women with PTSD that was due to interpersonal trauma, with the goal of determining whether PTSD symptom clusters were associated with altered self-referential thought. We found that higher levels of PTSD-related hyperarousal symptoms were significantly associated with diminished self-related word use, after controlling for depression severity, f 2 = .31. Similarly, diminished negative self-related word use was associated with higher levels of hyperarousal symptoms, f 2 = .47. Our findings align with previous research that has provided evidence for a diminished sense of self in PTSD. These results may help inform targeted interventions aimed at improving social-affective functions in PTSD and other psychiatric conditions.

The relationship between recent PTSD secondary to sexual assault, hippocampal volume and resting state functional connectivity in adolescent girls

“…Here, we found that improvements in both arousal and reactivity symptoms are associated with increased hippocampal-DMN connectivity in a sample of young women exposed to sexual trauma. These results are consistent with previous research linking PTSD-related alterations in self-referential processing to arousal symptoms in women with PTSD secondary to interpersonal trauma ( Philippi et al, 2019 ). Previous research has found unique neural alterations linked to different types of trauma in childhood ( Teicher et al, 2016 ).…”

“…The hippocampus has long been a key region of interest for PTSD research, due to the role it plays in memory, fear learning, and fear extinction, functions that are perturbed by PTSD ( Joshi et al, 2020 ). Furthermore, connectivity within the DMN, including the hippocampus, is associated with autobiographical memory and self-referential thought ( Frewen et al, 2011 ; Menon, 2011 ), processes that are also altered by PTSD ( Frewen et al, 2011 ; Philippi et al, 2019 ). Here, we found that improvements in both arousal and reactivity symptoms are associated with increased hippocampal-DMN connectivity in a sample of young women exposed to sexual trauma.…”

Mindful self-focus–an interaction affecting Theory of Mind?

“…“… fly”). We followed modern research practice and evaluated the SFSC based on the count of “egocentric” and the “egocentric and negative” responses [ 12 , 61 , 62 ]. We divided their sum by the number of raters and the number of SFSC items to get a ratio of self-focus that is as unbiased as possible by the coding variability of an individual rater.…”