Trauma centrality and PTSD in veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan

• Published in: Journal of traumatic stress Vol. 23; no. 4; pp. 496 - 499
• Main Authors: Brown, Adam D., Antonius, Daniel, Kramer, Michael, Root, James C., Hirst, William
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germantown Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.08.2010; Wiley
• Subjects: Adaptation, Psychological; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Afghan Campaign 2001; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Checklist; Combat Disorders - diagnosis; Combat Disorders - psychology; Depressive Disorder - diagnosis; Depressive Disorder - psychology; Dissociative Disorders - diagnosis; Dissociative Disorders - psychology; Female; Humans; Iraq War, 2003-2011; Life Change Events; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Personality Assessment; Personality Inventory - statistics & numerical data; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Self Concept; Statistics as Topic; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Terrorism - psychology; Veterans - psychology; Violence - psychology; Wounds and Injuries - psychology; Asia; Afghanistan; Iraq; Human; Symptomatology; Cross sectional study; Anxiety disorder; Personal identity; Personality; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Severity score; Veteran; Predictive factor; Trauma; Stress
• ISSN: 0894-9867; 1573-6598
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.20547

Research has demonstrated that the extent to which an individual integrates a traumatic event into their identity (“trauma centrality”) positively correlates with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity. No research to date has examined trauma centrality in individuals exposed to combat stress. This study investigated trauma centrality using the abridged Centrality of Event Scale (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006) among Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veterans (n = 46). Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that trauma centrality predicted PTSD symptoms. Trauma centrality and PTSD symptoms remained significantly correlated when controlling for depression in subgroups of veterans with or without probable PTSD. This study replicates and extends findings that placing trauma at the center of one's identity is associated with PTSD symptomatology.