Suchergebnisse

INTRODUCTION: The co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol misuse presents a pervasive and clinically relevant concern among US military veterans. OBJECTIVE: The current investigation sought to examine the role of positive emotion dysfunction in the relation between PTSD symptomatology and alcohol misuse. To do so, we examined the separate and sequential roles of positive emotional intensity and positive emotional avoidance in the relation between PTSD symptoms and alcohol misuse among US military veterans. METHOD: Cross-sectional data were collected from 468 US military veterans (M age= 37.74, 70.5% male, 69.0% White) who responded to an online survey. RESULTS: Findings suggest that positive emotional avoidance, separately, and positive emotional intensity and positive emotional avoidance, sequentially, mediated the relation between PTSD symptoms and alcohol misuse. CONCLUSIONS: Findings advance theory on the role of positive emotions and related processes in the co-occurrence of PTSD and alcohol misuse, and highlight important avenues for future research and treatment focused on the PTSD-alcohol misuse co-occurrence.

Research has identified heterogeneous subgroups of individuals based on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression symptoms. Using data collected from veterans in India (N = 146) and U.S. (N = 194), we examined (1) best-fitting latent class solution; (2) multi-group invariance of the class solution; and (3) construct validity of optimal class solution. Results indicated that the optimal 4-class solution differed in severity and severity/type in the India and U.S. samples respectively. With similarity in the optimal number of classes across cultural samples, the meaning/nature of classes differed. In the India sample, anxiety severity predicted the Low Severity Class vs. all other classes, and the Moderately High Severity/High Severity Classes vs. the Moderately Low Severity Class; number of traumas predicted the High Severity vs. other classes; and resilience predicted the Moderately Low Severity vs. Moderately High Severity Classes. In the U.S. sample, alcohol use predicted the High Severity Class vs. all other classes, and the High Depression-Low PTSD Class vs. the Low Severity Class; rumination significantly predicted the High Severity and High Depression-Low PTSD Classes vs. each of the High PTSD-Low Depression and Low Severity Classes. Thus, meaning and nature of PTSD-depression subgroups may vary culturally; hence, culturally-sensitive interventions need to account for this heterogeneity.