The Role of Rumination in Elevating Perceived Stress in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Rumination has been shown to be important in both the maintenance and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). Increased rumination has also been linked to perceptions of increased stress, which in turn are significantly associated with increased PTSD severity. The present study sought to examine this relationship in more detail by means of a mediation analysis. Forty-nine female survivors of interpersonal violence who met Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed., text rev.; DSM-IV-TR) criteria for PTSD were administered the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS), the Ruminative Thought Style Questionnaire (RTS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Beck Depression Inventory–II (BDI-II). Results indicated that perceived stress mediates the relationship between rumination and PTSD, but did not do so after controlling for depression. Such results provide further evidence for the overlap between PTSD and MDD, and, in broader clinical practice, translate to a sharper focus on rumination and perceived stress as maintenance factors in both disorders.

Salivary Testosterone Levels Under Psychological Stress and Its Relationship with Rumination and Five Personality Traits in Medical Students

“…Theatrically, rumination is a multifaceted and contains certain aspects of depression, such as weakness of executive control, creating negative thoughts, and insisting on the mental negative status 17. Rumination is important in both maintenance and the increase of the severity of depression and stress and its increase is associated with a rise in perceived stress 18. To date, research findings confirm the relationship between rumination and responses of cortisol15 and salivary alpha amylase19 to stress.…”

“…Several previous studies have attempted to explore the possible relationship between stress and personality variables, such as hardiness, sensation seeking, achievement motivation, extraversion and neuroticism, however, these studies have been conducted using higher levels of personality dimension measurement tools that contain both specific groups and have many internal correlations 18. In particular, testosterone level is related to a number of behavioral and psychosocial variables, such as feelings of hostility, anger, impulsivity, and aggression 11…”

The efficacy of narrative exposure therapy in a sample of Iranian women exposed to ongoing intimate partner violence—A randomized controlled trial

“…Previous research shows that the weighted mean prevalence of PTSD and depression among IPV‐affected women was 63.8% and 47.6%, respectively, and there was a dose–response relationship between IPV experiences and PTSD symptom severity (Golding, ; Martinez‐torteya et al, ). In addition, perceived stress is regarded as a maintenance factor in PTSD and depression among female survivors of interpersonal violence and needs to be taken into account in IPV programmes (Hu, Koucky, Brown, Bruce, & Sheline, ). Moreover, IPV‐affected women more frequently exhibit symptoms of BPD than nonabused women.…”

Long-term health outcomes of childhood sexual abuse and peer sexual contact among an urban sample of behaviourally bisexual Latino men

“…appraised stress) may be of particular interest, given that perceived stress has consistently shown high comorbidity with post-traumatic stress (Besser, Neria, and Haynes 2009; Laganà and Reger 2009), and has been identified as an exacerbating factor in the maintenance severity of post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology (Hu et al 2014). Research elsewhere indicates that perceived stress may also act as a mediating factor in the development (Fincham et al 2009; Haisch and Meyers 2004) and maintenance (Besser, Neria, and Haynes 2009; Hu et al 2014) of post-traumatic stress disorder symptomatology following traumatic life experiences, such as childhood sexual abuse. Moreover, stress and other non-pathological psychological outcomes can and do impact the general well-being of childhood sexual abuse survivors, and bear investigation in their own right.…”