Attentional control, trauma, and affect regulation: A preliminary investigation. Traumatology, 16, 11–18. doi: 10.1177/1534765610362801

Disengaging and shifting attention from threat-related stimuli may help reduce negative affect, thereby allowing distressed individuals to function more effectively in their environment. The present pilot study provides an initial examination of asso-ciations among attentional control (AC), posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), and affective responding following trauma retelling. Participants (N = 49) reported baseline affect, described their traumatic event, and completed self-report measures. Affect was reassessed at two time points following trauma retelling. AC predicted the degree to which participants recovered from trauma-elicited negative mood following trauma retelling, with individuals high in AC showing greater recovery than individuals low in AC. A small to medium effect was observed for PTSS as a moderator of this relationship. Findings suggest that individuals with higher levels of AC are better able to attenuate distress associated with trauma stimuli; furthermore, trauma-related distress may negatively affect one’s ability to use AC. Thus, interventions aimed at developing executive atten-tion may be helpful in alleviating trauma-related distress. Keywords posttraumatic stress disorder, PTSD, affect regulation, trauma, attentional control Though a majority of American adults experience one or more traumatic events in the course of their lives (e.g., Kessler