TY - JOUR
T1 - Affective lability predicts decreased habituation in posttraumatic stress symptom responding during a single laboratory session of imaginal exposure
AU - Dutton, Courtney E.
AU - Badour, Christal L.
AU - Jones, Alyssa C.
AU - Mischel, Emily R.
AU - Feldner, Matthew T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - Affective lability, or the instability of emotional states, is associated with heightened levels of trauma-related emotional responding and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, the impact of affective lability, specifically on habituation to idiographic trauma cues, has yet to be examined among trauma-exposed individuals. The current study examined differential response trajectories to trauma-related imaginal exposure as a function of affective lability. Specifically, 72 women with a history of sexual victimization participated in a laboratory-based study involving a single session of repeated imaginal exposures to idiographic traumatic event cues. As hypothesized, participants higher in affective lability reported less reduction in trauma-cue elicited posttraumatic stress symptoms across exposure trials. Given these results, it will be important to continue to extend these laboratory findings to better understand how elevated affective lability is related to response to trauma-focused exposure therapy among individuals with PTSD or other trauma-related psychopathology (e.g., borderline personality disorder).
AB - Affective lability, or the instability of emotional states, is associated with heightened levels of trauma-related emotional responding and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, the impact of affective lability, specifically on habituation to idiographic trauma cues, has yet to be examined among trauma-exposed individuals. The current study examined differential response trajectories to trauma-related imaginal exposure as a function of affective lability. Specifically, 72 women with a history of sexual victimization participated in a laboratory-based study involving a single session of repeated imaginal exposures to idiographic traumatic event cues. As hypothesized, participants higher in affective lability reported less reduction in trauma-cue elicited posttraumatic stress symptoms across exposure trials. Given these results, it will be important to continue to extend these laboratory findings to better understand how elevated affective lability is related to response to trauma-focused exposure therapy among individuals with PTSD or other trauma-related psychopathology (e.g., borderline personality disorder).
KW - Affective lability
KW - Exposure
KW - Habituation
KW - PTSD
KW - Trauma
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84981155162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84981155162&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.07.008
DO - 10.1016/j.janxdis.2016.07.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 27517669
AN - SCOPUS:84981155162
SN - 0887-6185
VL - 43
SP - 52
EP - 57
JO - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
JF - Journal of Anxiety Disorders
ER -