Impulsive behaviors as an emotion regulation strategy: Examining associations between PTSD, emotion dysregulation, and impulsive behaviors among substance dependent inpatients

Abstract

Recent investigations have demonstrated that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with a range of impulsive behaviors (e.g., risky sexual behavior and antisocial behavior). The purpose of the present study was to extend extant research by exploring whether emotion dysregulation explains the association between PTSD and impulsive behaviors. Participants were an ethnically diverse sample of 206 substance use disorder (SUD) patients in residential substance abuse treatment. Results demonstrated an association between PTSD and impulsive behaviors, with SUD patients with PTSD reporting significantly more impulsive behaviors than SUD patients without PTSD (in general and when controlling for relevant covariates). Further, emotion dysregulation was found to fully mediate the relationship between PTSD and impulsive behaviors. Results highlight the relevance of emotion dysregulation to impulsive behaviors and suggest that treatments targeting emotion dysregulation may be useful in reducing impulsive behaviors among SUD patients with PTSD.

Resilience: Protective Factors for Depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among African American Women?

“…Exhibition of PTSD symptoms in African American women often lead to involvement in risky behaviors (i.e. alcohol/substance abuse and risky sexual behaviors) that serve as a function of avoidance or escape (Sullivan & Holt, 2008;Sullivan, Cavanaugh, Buckner, & Edmondson, 2009;Weiss, Tull, Viana, Anestis, & Gratz, 2012;Weiss, Tull, Borne, & Gratz, 2013). Behavioral health professionals should prioritize identification and responding to the unique issues generated by trauma exposure among this population, and develop skills to promote trauma-focused treatment engagement and resilience skill building.…”

Using Functional Neuroimaging to Refine the Diagnostic Construct of Borderline Personality Disorder

“…Evidence supports this argument, with studies finding that while individuals with BPD endorse higher levels of impulsivity as measured by self-report, laboratory measures have yielded inconsistent and weak findings for impulsivity in emotionally neutral situations [135,136]. From this viewpoint, impulsive behaviors may be understood as maladaptive emotion regulation strategies [137,138] but not as a discrete dimension of the pathology.…”

Associations between societal disapproval and changes in symptoms of PTSD and appetitive aggression following treatment among high-risk South African males

“…The perpetration of violence often co-presents with victimisation (Malik, Sorensen, & Aneshensel, 1997), and PTSD has been shown to be related to aggression (Dyer et al, 2009; Jakupcak et al, 2007). This association may result from an underlying dysregulation of emotion (Weiss, Tull, Viana, Anestis, & Gratz, 2012) and impulse which may cause aggression, or individuals who suffer from numbing symptoms related to PTSD may utilise aggression in order to up-regulate themselves. Aggressive behaviour may thus serve as a coping mechanism when individuals lack other skills to handle traumatic situations (Spaccarelli, Coatsworth, & Bowden, 1995), resulting in a ‘victim-to-victimiser cycle’ (Glasser et al, 2001).…”