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Child / Adolescent - Trauma / Maltreatment

Experiential Avoidance as a Mediator between Childhood Trauma and Alexithymia

(PS4-D88) Experiential Avoidance as a Mediator Between Childhood Trauma and Alexithymia

Friday, November 18, 2022

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM EST

Location: Westside Ballroom, 5th Floor

Author(s)

BB

Brittany Bonasera, M.A.

Student
Hofstra University
Seaford, New York

Co-Author(s)

EM

Elizabeth L. McCabe, B.A.

Student
Hofstra University
Brightwaters, New York
EF

Elizabeth Finer, B.A.

Student
Hofstra University
New York, New York
MS

Mitchell L. Schare, ABPP, Ph.D.

Professor of Psychology
Hofstra University
Hempstead, New York

Two of the most robust predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) are having a history of childhood trauma and experiencing emotional numbing following a traumatic event. Emotional numbing, sometimes conceptualized as a result of emotional avoidance, is associated with poorer treatment outcomes and leads to greater difficulties with emotion regulation, especially in survivors of childhood trauma. Two phenomena that have been associated with emotional avoidance in PTSD are alexithymia and experiential avoidance (EA), both of which have been theorized as learned coping behaviors that may emerge during childhood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between childhood trauma (defined as emotional abuse and neglect), alexithymia, and PTSD through examining the additional role that EA might play. Seventy-four adults recruited through Amazon’s mTurk participated in the current study, ranging in age from 22 to 60 years old (M = 38.20, SD = 9.62) and varying in gender, race, and ethnicity. Subjects meeting criteria for PTSD as indicated by the PCL-5 completed a Qualtrics survey including a demographics form, the ERQ, CTQ-SR, TAS-20, and MEAQ. As hypothesized, mediational analyses indicated that EA significantly mediated the relationship between emotional abuse and alexithymia F(1, 72) = 5.58, p = .02, R2 = .07. These results indicate that individuals with a history of childhood trauma, specifically emotional abuse, engage in higher levels of EA, which leads to higher levels of alexithymia. In contrast, individuals with more experiences of emotional neglect engage in less EA and demonstrate less features of alexithymia F(1, 72) = 24.92, p < .001, R2 = .257. A multiple linear regression also supported the hypothesis that individuals who engaged in more EA, reported higher PTSD symptomatology and were less able to effectively regulate their emotions than their counterparts would exhibit clinically significant levels of alexithymia F(4, 69) = 13.07, p ≤ .001, Adjusted R2 = .398. Results from this study add to the current conceptualization of the breadth and severity of trauma-related avoidance, and assist in gaining a better understanding of the emotional numbing component of PTSD. Moreover, these findings highlight the need for more focused interventions to target emotional avoidance in PTSD.