Thinking hierarchically about posttraumatic response: Commentary on Lehinger etal. (2022).

Abstract

Lehinger etal.'s (2022) study on the associations between posttraumatic stress symptoms, posttraumatic cognitions, and alcohol use in sexual assault survivors extends previous research on posttraumatic response to sexual trauma. The study is useful for these purposes but it also raises other interesting questions about the nature of posttraumatic response and the structure of psychopathology more generally. In this commentary, we describe Lehinger etal.'s (2022) study and its findings and discuss their potential relevance for emerging transdiagnostic, hierarchical models of psychopathology.