Role of Emotion Regulation and Thought Control in Prediction of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Introduction:The aim of this study was to investigate prediction of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) based on emotion regulation difficulties and thought control strategies.

Method: The participants consistent of 149 people were living in villages in quake-hit of Harris city that was selected by convenience sampling. In order to data collection, PTSD symptom scale-interview (PSS-I), difficulties in emotion regulation scale (DERS) and thought control strategies questionnaire (TCQ) were used. Descriptive indexes, Pearson correlation test and stepwise regression analysis by SPSS-16 was used to analyze the data.

Results: Results revealed significant positive relationship between PTSD, emotion regulation and thought control strategies (P<0.01). There was significant and positive relationship exist between rejection of emotion strategies, difficulty in goal-directed behavior, limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies, difficulty in controlling impulsive behavior and also self-punishment with post-traumatic stress disorder (P<0.01). The results of regression analysis indicated that two subscales of difficulties in emotion regulation strategies (difficulty in goal-directed behavior, limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies) predict 29 percent of variance of PTSD in sample group.

Conclusion: According to role of emotion regulation difficulties especially difficulty in goal-directed behavior and also limited access to effective emotion regulation strategies as predictive of PTSD, it is concluded that emotion regulation training can be necessary in both of prevention and recovery of PTSD.