Main and interactive effects of negative posttraumatic cognitions and disgust sensitivity in predicting daily experiences of sexual trauma-related mental contamination.

Abstract

Trauma-related mental contamination, or a sense of dirtiness occurring without recent contact with a contaminant, is a distressing and often persistent phenomenon after sexual trauma. Following sexual trauma, cross-sectional work has demonstrated separate positive associations between mental contamination and (a) negative posttraumatic cognitions about oneself, the world, and/or self-blame and (b) disgust sensitivity, defined as the extent to which one is prone to distress when experiencing disgust. However, existing work has been primarily restricted to cross-sectional designs and has yet to consider the potential moderating role of disgust sensitivity in associations between negative posttraumatic cognitions and persistent mental contamination. The present study used a daily monitoring design to evaluate main and interactive effects of negative posttraumatic cognitions (about the self, world, and self-blame) and disgust sensitivity in predicting daily experiences of mental contamination among a sample of 39 women with a history of sexual trauma. Results revealed a significant main effect of posttraumatic cognitions about the self in predicting subsequent mental contamination. An unexpected interaction also emerged for posttraumatic cognitions about the world, wherein such cognitions only significantly predicted daily mental contamination among women high in disgust sensitivity. Findings offer preliminary understanding regarding the role of cognitions about the self in contributing to ongoing mental contamination as well as the potential contributing role of cognitions about the world among women more vulnerable to distress when experiencing disgust. Future work should consider the potential for bidirectional relationships between negative posttraumatic cognitions and trauma-related mental contamination.

Mental contamination among trauma survivors: A scoping review.

“…Additionally, Olatunji et al (2008) found that maladaptive trauma-related cognitions were associated with MC in their sample and proposed that misinterpretations of the traumatic event (i.e., interpreting a sexual assault as evidence that one is tainted) lead to the development of increased MC. Moreover, Tipsword, McCann, et al (2022) demonstrated that negative trauma-related cognitions about oneself prospectively predicted increases in MC among female assault survivors. They additionally found that for women high in disgust sensitivity, negative posttraumatic cognitions about the world predicted increases in MC over time.…”

“…Other authors have highlighted the role of posttrauma cognitive appraisals (Elliott & Radomsky, 2013; Ishikawa et al, 2013; Ojserkis et al, 2018; Olatunji et al, 2008; Tipsword, McCann, et al, 2022). Indeed, studies involving recall of past sexual assault experiences (Ishikawa et al, 2013) and analog studies involving imagining receiving a forced kiss (Elliott & Radomsky, 2013; Radomsky & Elliott, 2009) indicate that appraisals of (a) the degree of violation associated with the event, (b) responsibility for the event, and (c) the perpetrator’s morality and cleanliness are associated with MC.…”

“…The PRISMA flow diagram (Page et al, 2021) is presented in Figure 1, and as can be seen, a total of 19 studies were included in the review. An additional two papers were identified in the May 2023 search (Badour etal., 2023; Tipsword, McCann, et al, 2022) that were a secondary analysis of a larger study included from the initial search (Brake et al, 2021). Results from these two papers were also included in the review…”