The co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) pathology with a substance use disorder (SUD) is associated with emotion regulation deficits. However, studies in this area generally rely on trait-based emotion regulation measures, and there is limited information on the relation of PTSD pathology to the use of specific emotion regulation strategies in response to trauma-related distress among SUD patients or the consequences of these strategies for trauma cue reactivity. This study examined the relation of PTSD symptom severity to the use of specific emotion regulation strategies during trauma cue exposure among trauma-exposed SUD patients, as well as the indirect relations of PTSD symptom severity to changes in negative affect, cravings, and cortisol levels pre- to posttrauma cue exposure through different emotion regulation strategies. Participants were 133 trauma-exposed SUD patients. Participants listened to a personalized trauma script and reported on emotion regulation strategies used during the script. Data on negative affect, cravings, and cortisol were collected pre- and postscript. PTSD symptom severity related positively to the use of more adaptive (e.g., distraction) and maladaptive (e.g., suppression) regulation strategies. Moreover, evidence for the indirect effects of PTSD symptom severity on negative affect and cortisol reactivity through both adaptive and maladaptive emotion regulation strategies was found. Implications of findings are discussed.
Many women continue to become infected with HIV, particularly in the Southeastern USA, despite widespread knowledge about methods to prevent its sexual transmission. This grounded theory investigation examined the decision-making process women use to guide their use or non-use of self-protective measures when engaging in sexual activity. Participants included women in the Mississippi cohort of the Women’s Interagency HIV Study who were infected with or at high risk for HIV. Theoretical sampling was used to recruit a sample of 20 primarily African American women aged between 26 and 56 years, living in rural and urban areas. Data were analysed using constant comparative method to generate a theory of the process that guided women’s self-protective decisions. Three key themes were identified: (1) sexual silence, an overall context of silence around sexuality in their communities and relationships; (2) the importance of relationships with male partners, including concepts of ‘love and trust’, ‘filling the void’ and ‘don’t rock the boat’; and (3) perceptions of risk, including ‘it never crossed my mind’, ‘it couldn’t happen to me’ and ‘assumptions about HIV’. These themes impacted on women’s understandings of HIV-related risk, making it difficult to put self-protection above other interests and diminishing their motivation to protect themselves.
Self-report assessments remain among the most widely used measures for most psychological constructs, due to their feasibility, ease of administration, low cost, and wide availability. Self-report measures of emotion dysregulation are no exception. This chapter reviews two predominant conceptualizations of emotion dysregulation (one of which focuses on dysregulated emotional responses per se and another that focuses on maladaptive ways of responding to emotions), as well as the empirical support for extant self-report measures of emotion dysregulation consistent with both conceptualizations. Based on this review, the chapter concludes that both emotional responses themselves and an individual’s responses to those emotions may evidence dysregulation and inform our understanding of normal and abnormal development. Finally, future directions for research in this area are discussed, including the need for studies examining the clinical utility of targeting responses to emotions versus emotional experience per se in psychological interventions.
Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) has been associated with depression and can have an impact on quality of life. Therefore, researchers have suggested the potential utility of psychological interventions for targeting depression among CSU patients. Psychological interventions that may hold the most promise are those that are brief and easily transportable, such as brief behavioural activation treatment for depression. We report results of a preliminary investigation of an uncontrolled open trial of a one-session behavioural activation treatment for depression designed for patients with CSU (BATD-CSU) at a university-based allergy and immunology clinic. Participants were 11 females with chronic, poorly controlled urticaria and symptoms of depression. Following the completion of pretreatment questionnaires, participants were administered BATD-CSU primarily by non-mental health professionals trained and supervised in its delivery. One month post-BATD-CSU, participants completed follow-up questionnaires. Participants exhibited significant reductions in depression severity, avoidance/rumination, and work/school impairment. BATD-CSU was also associated with improvements in urticaria control one month post-treatment. Moreover, five of nine patients reported reliable and clinically significant improvement on at least one outcome. Results demonstrate that BATD-CSU may have benefits for CSU patients even when consisting of one session and delivered by professionals with limited background in psychological interventions, thus speaking to its feasibility and transportability.
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