Network analysis of distress, suicidality, and resilience in a treatment seeking sample of first responders

Ponder, Warren N.; Walters, Kyle J.; Simons, Jeffrey S.; Simons, Raluca M.; Jetelina, Katelyn K.; Carbajal, Jose

doi:10.1016/j.jad.2022.09.097

Cited by 18 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…The impact of resilience was remarkably close on the three scales measuring depression, generalized anxiety, and PTSD. In a recent network analysis of first responders, resilience was upstream from suicide in the directed acyclic graph (DAG; Ponder et al, 2023). In light of their preliminary findings and in conjunction with the present study, this might suggest we need to alter our construction of resilience.…”

Section: Resilience (Rses-22)mentioning

confidence: 63%

“…In a theoretical article early in the pandemic, PeConga and colleagues (2020) suggested that resilience might be best conceptualized as an outcome of a traumatic experience such as COVID-19. Furthermore, Ponder et al (2023) asserted that applied or activated resilience buffers adverse events. In keeping with the conceptualization of resilience as a trauma outcome, we observed a common undercurrent, negative affect (See Table 2), with a minimal difference in correlation strength between PTSD, generalized anxiety, and depression.…”

Section: Resilience (Rses-22)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This study will survey the scholarship of the pandemic through advanced statistical analyses focusing on network analysis (Ebrahimi et al, 2021;Lass et al, 2020;Martín-Brufau et al, 2020;Skjerdingstad et al, 2021;Vos et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2020;Williamson et al, 2021;Yu & Mahendran, 2021). Next, we will review the literature of different approaches from emotional (negative affect), attachment, and resilience theoretical frameworks, as a growing body of literature is burgeoning (Carbajal et al, 2021;Byllesby et al, 2016;Greene et al, 2020;Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016;Moccia et al, 2020;Ponder et al, 2023;Price & van Stolk-Cooke, 2015;Seligowski et al, 2016). We will then further explore the impact, if any, the pandemic has had on frontline workers and veteran communities, exposing a gap in the literature.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Veterans’ Resilience, Attachment, and Negative Affect

Mallory

Ponder²,

Sherrill³

et al. 2022

Journal of Veterans Studies

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On March 13, 2020, the US issued an emergency declaration in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, necessitating increased domestic engagement of the military to mount the national public health response. The US military's increased domestic health response to the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with the effects of its involvement in a 20-year war exacerbated by recent tensions around America's exit from Afghanistan, has led to increased stress on our already overburdened forces. This study compares baseline data from a treatment-seeking veteran sample before the onset of COVID-19 (n = 119) to veterans who sought counseling services during the pandemic (n = 100). We used six standardized mental health measures that assess attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, resilience, depression, generalized anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidality. Independent samples t-tests revealed that depression, generalized anxiety, and PTSD significantly decreased from before the pandemic to after its onset. However, the strength of the correlations between all six measures increased. We interpret the findings through an attachment and resiliency framework. We also explore the role of negative affect that might underlie depression, generalized anxiety, and PTSD. Lastly, we review and discuss a transdiagnostic approach to the therapeutic process, accounting for the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Section: Resilience (Rses-22)mentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Resilience (Rses-22)mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of COVID-19 on Veterans’ Resilience, Attachment, and Negative Affect

Mallory

Ponder²,

Sherrill³

et al. 2022

Journal of Veterans Studies

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“…In participants' retrospective self-reports of depressive symptoms, the group with fearful attachment had statistically significantly higher self-reported scores compared with the securely attached group 84 . Affective depression mediated PTSD to suicide in a treatment-seeking sample of first responders, 49 and the affective depression and negative alterations in cognitions and mood PTSD symptom cluster had the highest centrality strength 48 . These findings suggest the value of using attachment theory as a guiding framework for treatment and clinical intervention 28–31 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Predictors of Suicide and Differences in Attachment Styles and Resilience Among Treatment-Seeking First-Responder Subtypes

Ponder¹,

Carbajal

Whitworth

et al. 2022

J Occup Environ Med

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Objective: To identify the predictors of suicide for firefighters (FFs), emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and law enforcement officers (LEOs). Methods: We used baseline data from FFs/EMTs (n = 69) and LEOs (n = 81) to investigate the unique predictors for both first-responder subtypes. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis on validated assessments of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. Measures of attachment, resilience, PTSD, depression, generalized anxiety, trauma history, and substance use were the independent variables in two backward stepwise regressions predicting suicide. Results: Substance use and somatic depression were significant predictors for LEOs, whereas affective depression, anhedonia, externalizing behaviors, trauma history, and generalized anxiety were significant predictors for FFs/EMTs. Limitations: These data are cross-sectional and should be modeled longitudinally over the course of treatment. Conclusion: Separate constructs influence suicide for LEOs and FFs/EMTs.

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“…In both models, generalized anxiety was controlled for as a covariate. Generalized anxiety was controlled for because it frequently co-occurs with depression and PTSD 31,42–46 . Path coefficients for direct and total effects for the relationship between the independent variable (PTSD), mediators (affective depression or somatic depression), and dependent variable (suicidality) were estimated by the macro command as suggested by Hayes 41 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%