Symptom Dimensions and Persistent Trauma Salience in World Trade Center Responders and Survivors with Chronic PTSD

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bharadway S ; Brinkman H ; Brown A ; Feder A ; Kowalchyk M ; Pietrzak R ; Torres D
• Description:
  Background: Emerging research has found a relationship between salient trauma memories and personal identity and coping. Further research is needed to better understand the clinical implications of differential symptom presentations in individuals with chronic PTSD. Using a novel symptomics approach, we investigated associations of chronic PTSD symptom dimensions with self-reported centrality of trauma to participants' life story and perceived ability to cope with trauma in World Trade Center (WTC) disaster-exposed individuals with chronic PTSD. Methods: Data were analyzed from 86 treatment-seeking WTC responders and survivors with chronic full or subthreshold WTC-related PTSD, assessed with the PTSD Checklist e Specific Version (PCL-S). Multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted to examine associations of PTSD symptom dimensions with trauma coping (Perceived Ability to Cope with Trauma Scale) and perceived centrality of trauma to participants' life narrative (Centrality of Event Scale), employing the 7-factor hybrid model, which additionally incorporates externalizing behaviors and anhedonia factors to earlier models. Results: Anhedonia symptoms were independently associated with lower forward-focused perceived ability to cope (beta= -0.36), driven by difficulty experiencing positive feelings (e.g., inability to have loving feelings, feeling numb); negative affect with lower trauma-focused perceived ability to cope (beta= -0.25), driven by psychogenic amnesia; and anxious arousal symptoms with higher centrality of event (beta= 0.24). Conclusions: Individual PTSD symptom dimensions were differentially associated with centrality of the event and with perceived ability to cope with the trauma. These findings may help improve personalized treatment for individuals with chronic PTSD stemming from mass trauma. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Behavior Mental Health Occupational Health Safety September 11 Terrorist Attacks Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: PTSD Models Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Psychological Disorders Psychological Effects Psychological Stress Psychology Symptom Dimensions Symptomics Traumatic Incident Stress World Trade Center World Trade Center Responders WTC

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• ISSN:
  0006-3223
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Abstract or Summary
• Place as Subject:
  Connecticut ; New York ; OSHA Region 1 ; OSHA Region 2
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  87
• Issue:
  9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20066117
• Citation:
  Biol Psychiatry 2020 May; 87(9)(Suppl 1):S342
• Contact Point Address:
  Mary Kowalchyk, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2020
• Performing Organization:
  Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20160901
• Source Full Name:
  Biological Psychiatry
• Supplement:
  1
• End Date:
  20190831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:b87104e83d70182d328798181d2b63b6ac8052858305dde797d267e132766625a21a74089007de4de31d3ad251901564224167f0ebc19f443194c9e58168411b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/212630/cdc_212630_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 46.03 KB ]