Adverse and benevolent childhood experiences in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Complex PTSD (CPTSD) : implications for trauma-focused therapies

Abstract

Background There is very little work on the role of positive or benevolent childhood experiences and how such events might offer protection from the insidious effects of adverse experiences in childhood or later in life. Objectives We set out to test, using latent variable modelling, whether adverse and benevolent childhood experiences could be best described as a single continuum or two correlated constructs. We also modelled the relationship between adverse and benevolent childhood experiences and ICD-11 PTSD and Complex PTSD (CPTSD) symptoms and explored if these associations were indirect via psychological trauma. Methods Data were collected from a trauma-exposed sample (N= 275) attending a specialist trauma care centre in the UK. Participants completed measures of childhood adverse and benevolent experiences, traumatic exposure, and PTSD and CPTSD symptoms. Results Findings suggested that adverse childhood experiences operate only indirectly on PTSD and CPTSD symptoms through lifetime trauma exposure, and with a stronger effect for PTSD. Benevolent childhood experiences directly predicted only CPTSD symptoms. Conclusions Benevolent and traumatic experiences seem to form unique associations with PTSD and CPTSD symptoms. Future research is needed to explore how benevolent experiences can be integrated within existing psychological interventions to maximise recovery from traumatic stress. 目的: 我们着手于使用潜变量模型, 以考查童年期不良经历和良善经历最好可被描述为一个连续体还是两个相关构念。我们还模拟了童年期不良经历和良善经历与ICD-11 PTSD和复杂性PTSD (CPTSD) 症状之间的关系, 并探讨了这些关联是否通过心理创伤间接产生。 方法: 数据从在英国一家专业创伤护理中心接受治疗的创伤暴露样本 (N = 275) 中采集。参与者完成了对童年期不良经历和良善经历, 创伤暴露以及PTSD和CPTSD症状的评估。 结果: 结果表明, 童年期不良经历仅通过终身创伤暴露间接影响PTSD和CPTSD症状, 并且对PTSD作用更大。童年期良善经历直接预测了CPTSD症状。 结论: 良善经历和创伤经历似乎与PTSD和CPTSD症状有独特关联。需要未来研究去探索如何将良善经历整合到现有的心理干预措施中, 以使得从创伤应激中的恢复最大化。