Emotions and emotion regulation in posttraumatic stress disorder

Carmen P McLean; Edna B Foa

doi:10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.10.006

Emotions and emotion regulation in posttraumatic stress disorder

Curr Opin Psychol. 2017 Apr:14:72-77. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.10.006. Epub 2016 Dec 12.

Authors

Carmen P McLean¹, Edna B Foa²

Affiliations

¹ University of Pennsylvania, 3535 Market Stress, Suite 600N, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. Electronic address: mcleanca@mail.med.upenn.edu.
² University of Pennsylvania, 3535 Market Stress, Suite 600N, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA.

PMID: 28813323
DOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.10.006

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has been associated with negative emotions such as shame, guilt, anger, and disgust, as well as impairments in the ability to effectively regulate these emotional states. There is evidence showing that each of these negative emotions and emotion regulation difficulties are related to the severity of PTSD stemming from various trauma types. In contrast, much less is known about the temporal relationship between these features and PTSD. Studies have found that treatments for PTSD often lead to improvements in these negative emotions and in emotion regulation difficulties, but how these features impact the efficacy of various PTSD treatments is less clear.

Publication types

Review