Effects of emotion regulation strategy use in response to stressors on PTSD symptoms: An ecological momentary assessment study.

BACKGROUND: Although a burgeoning line of research identifies emotion regulation difficulties as a potential maintenance factor for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), little is known in regard to what emotion regulation strategies individuals with PTSD use in their daily lives, their predictors, and their consequences on later PTSD symptoms.

METHOD: The current study utilized ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design to explore prospective relationships between maladaptive and adaptive emotion regulation strategy use and PTSD symptoms in participants with PTSD (N = 30). Participants completed 4 EMAs per day over 8 days, assessing stressors, emotional response, and emotion regulation strategy use.

RESULTS: Individuals with PTSD most commonly used avoidance as an emotion regulation strategy. Multilevel modeling indicated that baseline PTSD symptoms predicted maladaptive emotion regulation strategy use. After covarying for morning PTSD symptoms, maladaptive emotion regulation prospectively predicted increased PTSD symptoms later in the day. Adaptive emotion regulation strategies did not uniquely predict later PTSD symptoms.

CONCLUSION: In line with conceptualizations of difficulties in emotion regulation as a transdiagnostic maintenance factor in PTSD, findings indicate that maladaptive emotion regulation strategies in response to stressors exacerbate PTSD symptoms. The use of adaptive emotion regulation strategies had no positive or negative impact on subsequent PTSD symptoms.

LIMITATIONS: Future studies should utilize longer-term prospective designs.