Couples and Trauma History: A Descriptive Overview of Interpersonal Trauma and Clinical Outcomes

The association between COVID-19-related stressors and mental health outcomes for survivors of past interpersonal and non-interpersonal trauma

“…Individuals who reported only NIPT were assigned to the ‘Non-interpersonal Trauma’ ( M = .41, SD = .49). For the participants who endorsed ‘Other’ traumas that were not present on the PSS trauma checklist (e.g., death of a loved one), each in-text response was analyzed and assigned into corresponding groups based on preexisting literature descriptions of IPT and NIPT ( Forbes et al, 2014 ; Van Bergen, et al, 2020 ). The remaining participants did not experience any trauma.…”

“…Trauma type, which is frequently classified in research literature as either interpersonal or non-interpersonal, has also been implicated in the frequency and severity of psychopathology. Interpersonal trauma (IPT) refers to acts directly affecting the well-being of the individual, that involve a human victim and perpetrator; and can be either experienced or witnessed (e.g., sexual assault, physical attack,), whilst non-interpersonal trauma (NIPT) does not involve a perpetrator ( Lilly et al, 2011 ) and refers to acts related to stress (e.g., illness and natural disasters) ( Forbes et al, 2014 ; VanBergen et al, 2020 ). Research has consistently demonstrated that IPT is more frequently associated with higher levels of psychopathology such as depression and anxiety or depressive/anxious symptoms and stress-related disorders compared to NIPT.…”

Posttraumatic stress, visual working memory, and visual imagery in military personnel

“…PTSD can be caused by exposure to a range of hazards encountered during military service (Brownlow et al, 2018 ), including actual or threatened physical harm (Kessler et al, 2017 ), witnessing the depravities of war (Nordstrand et al, 2019 ; VanBergen et al, 2020 ), and ‘moral injury’ caused by violations of one’s moral code or professional ethics (Hall et al, 2022 ; Litz et al, 2009 ). Military personnel who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for PTSD can still develop subclinical levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) following exposure to these hazards (Erickson et al, 2013 ).…”