Post‐traumatic stress disorder and depressive symptoms following a Herdsmen attack: The role of life meaning in mediating trait mindfulness

Abstract

It is well established that mindfulness is beneficial in decreasing post‐traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms, but the explanatory pathway and processes through which this happens are still not clear. The present study investigated two mediation models that explored the psychological process of presence of meaning in life as a mechanism connecting mindfulness to reduced PTSD and depressive symptoms in survivors of a violent attack. A sample of 577 survivors of the Fulani herdsmen attack completed relevant self‐report measures and the bootstrap method was used to test the models for direct, indirect and total effects. Results revealed that mindfulness was negatively associated to PTSD symptoms, and that this association was fully mediated by the ability to find meaning in life. Mindfulness was also indirectly associated to depression through a greater sense of meaning in life. The findings of this study suggest that the presence of meaning in life is the pathway through which mindfulness alleviates PTSD and depression symptoms, and could therefore serve as an intervention target to decrease such negative outcomes in trauma survivors.

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