PTSD

Understanding PTSD Symptoms Over Time: Longitudinal Network Analysis

Background
Network modeling has been applied in a range of trauma-exposed samples, yet results are limited by an over reliance on cross-sectional data. The current analyses used posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom data collected over a 5-year period to estimate a more robust between-subject network and an associated symptom change network.

Methods
A PTSD symptom network is measured in a sample of military veterans across four time points (Ns = 1254, 1231, 1106, 925). The repeated measures permit isolating between-subject associations by limiting the effects of within-subject variability. The result is a highly reliable PTSD symptom network. A symptom slope network depicting covariation of symptom change over time is also estimated.

Results
Negative trauma-related emotions had particularly strong associations with the network. Trauma-related amnesia, sleep disturbance, and self-destructive behavior had weaker overall associations with other PTSD symptoms.

Conclusions
PTSD’s network structure appears stable over time. There is no single ‘most important’ node or node cluster. The relevance of self-destructive behavior, sleep disturbance, and trauma-related amnesia to the PTSD construct may deserve additional consideration.

Understanding PTSD Symptoms Over Time: Longitudinal Network Analysis Read More »

Communication-Focused Therapy (CFT) for PTSD (2)

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a relatively common disorder resulting from very different traumatic events or situations. A trauma represents information which cannot be processed by the organism in a way that is fully self-healing in the short-term. It causes a disturbance to internal communication systems which affects the internal and communication patterns a person

Communication-Focused Therapy (CFT) for PTSD (2) Read More »

Intepersonal Psychotherapy and Exposure Therapies for PTSD (1)

Interpersonal Psychotherapy is a non-exposure-based PTSD treatment. Patients focus on current interpersonal encounters rather than past traumas. This approach may avoid some of the disadvantages of exposure oriented therapies, such as their lack of focus on individual processes, high attrition rates, lower effectiveness for symptoms of depression, association with fear induction and possible short-lived positive

Intepersonal Psychotherapy and Exposure Therapies for PTSD (1) Read More »