Driven to distraction: Childhood trauma and dissociation, but not PTSD symptoms, are related to threat avoidance

Abstract

IntroductionMixed findings with respect to attention biases in traumatized samples may reflect heterogeneity in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) presentations. Dissociation symptoms in particular, have been associated with decreased awareness of threat and may account for variability in prior findings. ObjectiveThe present study examined relationships among self-reported PTSD and dissociative symptom domains, attention biases, and lifetime traumatization. MethodSeventy-eight adult participants recruited via crowdsourcing website Amazon MTurk were assessed on trauma history, PTSD and dissociative symptoms; and completed a modified dot-probe task. ResultsFindings indicated that early trauma exposure and dissociative derealization were associated with greater avoidance of threat. There was a significant interaction among trauma exposure and dissociation, such that those with early lifetime neglect and derealization had greater threat avoidance. ConclusionResults highlight the complex relations among early trauma characteristics, dissociation, and attention. Future studies with longitudinal designs are needed to bolster observed findings.