PTSD and Disclosure: Understanding the implications of personality

Despite decades of research outlining the onset, course, and treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the question of why some, but not others, develop the disorder remains unanswered. One of the most widely accepted predictors of the disorder is the presence of negative posttraumatic cognitions. However, because the term “posttraumatic” implies a retrospective prediction, the clinical utility of this finding is relatively insignificant; it does not allow for the identification of those most at risk for developing PTSD prior to trauma exposure. A more promising area of research concerns the degree to which individuals feel comfortable discussing their thoughts and feelings surrounding their trauma experience; this process is otherwise known as disclosure. Specifically, individuals who are reluctant to share their experiences of trauma demonstrate greater symptom severity than those who willingly share. The purpose of the present study was to not only better understand the relationships between disclosure and PTSD, but also to explore how these relationships may be impacted by personality. A path analysis with one predictor variable (disclosure), one mediation variable (posttraumatic cognitions), and two outcomes variables (posttraumatic symptoms and posttraumatic growth) was hypothesized. Given the limited amount of literature related to PTSD and personality, specific predictions regarding this relationship were not made. The present study found evidence to suggest that, indeed, one reason individuals may develop and maintain high levels of anxiety following a trauma may be their attitudes toward sharing this experience with others. As reluctance to disclose a traumatic experience increased, individuals reported higher levels of PTSD symptoms and lower levels of posttraumatic growth (positive outcomes following a trauma). Further, these relationships appeared to be partially mediated by negative cognitions about the trauma, including thoughts about the self, thoughts about others, and self-blame. Although the direction of these relationships was limited in the present study by its correlational design, the results provide preliminary evidence to warrant future research