Publication Date

2015

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Lilly, Michelle M.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Psychology

LCSH

Clinical psychology; Women--Abuse of--Psychology--Research; Post-traumatic stress disorder--Psychological aspects--Research; Anxiety disorders--Psychological aspects--Research; Mediation--Psychological aspects

Abstract

Rumination is conceptualized as a trans-diagnostic process that involves disorder-specific content, and has only recently begun to be explored in posttraumatic stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of "analytic" rumination and "concrete" rumination on analogue PTSD symptoms. Women who experienced assaultive violence (N = 63) were randomly assigned to a concrete rumination, analytic rumination, or control condition. Baseline symptoms were assessed with measures of anxiety and negative affectivity (NA), and a thought listing procedure. After, women underwent a rumination induction, then participated in a trauma-specific perseverative thinking interview to process their trauma and identify trauma beliefs. Finally, women completed post-processing symptom assessments. Results revealed that anxiety, NA, and trauma intrusions increased after the trauma-specific perseverative thinking interview, though these increases did not differ by condition. Also, problematic trauma beliefs did not differ between conditions, though post-hoc analyses revealed that accommodated trauma beliefs were significantly higher among concrete ruminators than analytic ruminators. In analytic ruminators, problematic trauma beliefs were positively associated with anxiety and NA after trauma processing, and anxiety and NA were positively associated with trauma intrusions. As a whole, the hypothesized mediation models in this study were not supported. Implications for research, theory, and practice are discussed.

Comments

Advisors: Michelle M. Lilly.||Committee members: Julie Crouch; Joe Magliano; Holly Orcutt; David Valentiner; Greg Waas.

Extent

160 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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