Psychol Trauma

Objective:The ability to experience positive affect (PA) has clinical and quality of life implications, particularly in vulnerable populations such as trauma-exposed disaster responders. Low PA is included in the diagnostic criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), however evidence for PA reduction in PTSD has been mixed. In contrast, negative affect (NA) has consistently been found to be elevated among individuals with PTSD. Multi-day, ecological momentary assessment (EMA) can provide more ecologically valid evidence about experiences of affect; however no such studies have been conducted in traumatized individuals with PTSD to date.Method:World Trade Center (WTC) responders (N = 202) oversampled for the presence of PTSD were recruited from the WTC Health Program. Participants were administrated the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 at baseline, then completed EMA surveys of affect four times a day over seven consecutive days.Results:Participants with current PTSD (19.3% of the sample) showed significantly higher levels of daily NA compared to those without PTSD. However, there was no group difference in daily PA, nor was PA associated with a dimensional measure of PTSD.Conclusions:Results suggest that for chronic PTSD among disaster responders, positive emotions are not inhibited across daily living. Such findings add to evidence suggesting that PA reduction may not be diagnostically relevant to PTSD, while NA remains an important target for therapeutic interventions. Moreover, results show that WTC responders can experience and benefit from positive emotion, even if they continue to have PTSD symptoms.U01 OH010712/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United StatesU01 OH011321/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United StatesU01 OH011864/OH/NIOSH CDC HHS/United States2021-01-01T00:00:00Z30688510PMC70638298874vault:3507