Associations Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Emotion Dysregulation, and Alcohol Dependence Symptoms Among Inner City Females

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Brittany Goldstein, Emory University; Bekh Bradley-Davino, Emory University; Kerry Ressler, Emory University; Abigail Powers, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2016-07-28
• Publisher: Wiley: 12 months
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2016 The Authors.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22332
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Journal of Clinical Psychology
• ISSN: 0021-9762
• Volume: 73
• Issue: 3
• Start Page: 319
• End Page: 330
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was primarily supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (MH071537; MH102890) and the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD071982).; Support also included Emory and Grady Memorial Hospital General Clinical Research Center, NIH National Centers for Research Resources (M01 RR00039).
• Keywords: alcohol dependence; emotion dysregulation; women; traumatized population; PTSD
• Research Categories: Psychology, General; Psychology, Behavioral

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine how emotion dysregulation (ED) might help explain the relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and alcohol dependence (AD) symptoms in females. Method: Participants included 260 women from primary, diabetes, and gynecological clinics of an urban public hospital. This is a primarily African American sample (96.9%), including individuals reporting exposure to at least 1 traumatic event. We examined the associations and predictability patterns between severity of PTSD symptoms, ED, and AD symptoms. Results: Using linear regression analyses, PTSD avoidance and numbing symptoms and ED were significant predictors of AD symptoms. When looking at specific dimensions of ED, one's inability to engage in goal-directed behavior under strong emotional influences showed a full indirect effect on the relationship between PTSD avoidance and numbing symptoms and AD symptoms. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that having poor emotion regulation skills may help explain why females with PTSD become dependent on alcohol.