Numbing of Positive, Negative, and General Emotions: Associations With Trauma Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress, and Depressive Symptoms Among Justice‐Involved Youth

Abstract

Increasing attention has been drawn to the symptom of emotional numbing in the phenomenology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), particularly regarding its implications for maladaptive outcomes in adolescence such as delinquent behavior. One change in the definition of emotional numbing according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013) was the limitation to the numbing of positive emotions. Previous research with youth, however, has implicated general numbing or numbing of negative emotions in PTSD, whereas numbing of positive emotions may overlap with other disorders, particularly depression. Consequently, the goal of this study was to investigate whether numbing of positive emotions was associated with PTSD symptoms above and beyond numbing of negative emotions, general emotional numbing, or depressive symptoms among at-risk adolescents. In a sample of 221 detained youth (mean age = 15.98 years, SD = 1.25; 50.7% ethnic minority), results of hierarchical multiple regressions indicated that only general emotional numbing and numbing of anger accounted for significant variance in PTSD symptoms (total R(2) = .37). In contrast, numbing of sadness and positive emotions were statistical correlates of depressive symptoms (total R(2) = .24). Further tests using Hayes' Process macro showed that general numbing, 95% CI [.02, .45], and numbing of anger, 95% CI [.01, .42], demonstrated indirect effects on the association between trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms.

Polyvictimization, Emotion Dysregulation, Symptoms of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Behavioral Health Problems among Justice-Involved Youth: a Latent Class Analysis

“…The three latent classes found in the present study parallel findings from past research in community (e.g., Ford et al, 2010;Grasso et al, 2015) and clinical (e.g., Adams et al, 2016) samples of adolescents. However, unlike these prior studies there was an absence of a limited or low exposure sub-group in the present study, which is not surprising considering the prevalence of trauma/victimization histories among youth in the juvenile justice system (Abram et al, 2004;Ford et al, 2013;Kerig, Bennett, Chaplo, Modrowski, & McGee, 2016). Relatedly, comparison of the current latent classes with those found among juvenile detainees by Ford et al (2013) suggests that all classes of justice-involved youth were exposed to multiple types of trauma and victimization.…”

An Examination of the Role of Difficulties Regulating Positive Emotions in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

“…Further, most (64.5%) veterans with PTSD have been shown to suppress both negative and positive emotions whereas most (62.5%) veterans without PTSD have been shown to suppress only negative emotions (Roemer, Litz, Orsillo, & Wagner, 2001). Finally, Kerig, Bennett, Chaplo, Modrowski, and McGee (2016) provided support for a higher level of PTSD symptoms among justice-involved youth who reported more numbing (i.e., restricted range) of positive emotions, theorized to dampen awareness of distressing emotions (Orsillo, Theodore-Oklota, Luterek, & Plumb, 2007).…”

Broadcasting War Trauma: An Exploratory Netnography of Veterans’ YouTube Vlogs

“…According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , Fifth Edition ( DSM-5 ; APA, 2013), persons with PTSD experience symptoms that fall into four main categories: reexperiencing, avoidance, hyperarousal, and (emotional) numbing. Symptoms of numbing (e.g., social detachment, disinterest, and disconnection), subsumed under the DSM-5 category of Negative Alterations in Cognitions and Mood, are particularly salient in understanding why some combat veterans turn to YouTube to tell their PTSD stories because this symptom subcluster limits social functioning (Hassija, Jakupcak, & Gray, 2012; Kerig, Bennett, Chaplo, Modrowski, & McGee, 2016). A number of service members and veterans experience partial or subsyndromal PTSD, yet demonstrate significant psychosocial impairment (Maguen et al, 2013; Pietrzak, Russo, Ling, & Southwick, 2011; Pietrzak & Southwick, 2009).…”