Changes in emotion regulation in adults with and without a history of childhood abuse following posttraumatic stress disorder treatment.

OBJECTIVE

This study compared changes in emotion regulation and trait affect over the course of PTSD treatment with either prolonged exposure (PE) therapy or sertraline in adults with and without a history of childhood abuse (CA).

METHOD: Two hundred adults with PTSD received 10 weeks of PE or sertraline. Emotion regulation and trait affect were assessed pre- and posttreatment and at 6-month follow-up with the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (Gross & John, 2003), the Negative Mood Regulation Scale (Catanzaro & Mearns, 1990), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988).

RESULTS

Individuals with and without a history of CA did not differ from one another at pretreatment on PTSD severity, emotion regulation, or positive/negative affect. In addition, treatment was effective at improving emotion regulation and trait affect in those with and without a history of CA, and no significant differences in emotion regulation or trait affect emerged posttreatment or at 6-month follow-up between adults with and without a history of CA. Furthermore, noninferiority analyses indicated that the emotion regulation and trait affect outcomes of individuals with a history of CA were no worse than those of individuals without a history of CA.

CONCLUSION

These findings cast doubt on the assumption that CA is associated with worse emotion regulation following PTSD treatment, arguing against assertions that a history of CA itself is a contraindication for traditional PTSD treatment, and that there is a clear necessity for additional interventions designed to target assumed emotion regulation deficits. [Corrected]