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Disengagement coping as a mediator between trauma‐related guilt and PTSD severity
Author(s) -
Held Philip,
Owens Gina P.,
Schumm Jeremiah A.,
Chard Kathleen M.,
Hansel Joseph E.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of traumatic stress
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.259
H-Index - 134
eISSN - 1573-6598
pISSN - 0894-9867
DOI - 10.1002/jts.20689
Subject(s) - disengagement theory , psychology , coping (psychology) , clinical psychology , posttraumatic stress , mediator , cognition , psychiatry , medicine , gerontology
This study examined disengagement coping as a partial mediator between trauma‐related guilt and severity of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a sample of veterans (N = 175) entering residential PTSD treatment with either PTSD or subthreshold PTSD. Disengagement coping partially mediated the relationship between guilt and self‐reported PTSD severity (b = .07; 95% CI = [−.003, .13]; p = .06), but did not mediate the relationship when PTSD severity was based on clinicians' ratings. These findings bolster Street, Gibson, and Holohan's (2005) contention that higher guilt‐related cognitions are related to increases in the use of disengagement coping strategies, which can interfere with PTSD recovery. The findings support the importance of PTSD treatments that target reductions in guilt‐related cognitions and disengagement coping strategies.