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Attentional biases in PTSD: More evidence for interference
Suzanne L Pineles1, Jillian C Shipherd, Sheeva M Mostoufi
1National Center for PTSD, Women's Health Sciences Division, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Ave. (116B-3), Boston, MA 02130, USA. suzanne.pineles@va.gov
Behaviour Research and Therapy
|September 1, 2009
Summary
Individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) struggle to disengage attention from trauma cues, not detect threats faster. This attentional interference is specific to trauma-related stimuli in PTSD.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive psychology
- Clinical psychology
- Neuroscience
Background:
- Attentional biases toward trauma cues are common in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
- Previous research often fails to distinguish between attentional interference and threat detection facilitation.
- Understanding these biases is crucial for PTSD treatment development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To differentiate attentional interference from threat detection facilitation in PTSD.
- To examine the specificity of attentional biases to trauma-related stimuli in sexual assault survivors.
- To investigate the relationship between PTSD symptom severity and attentional biases.
Main Methods:
- A visual search task (VST) with a lexical decision component was employed.
- Participants included 46 sexual assault survivors with varying levels of PTSD symptoms.
- Stimuli comprised trauma-related, general threat-related, and neutral words.
Main Results:
- High PTSD participants exhibited increased attentional interference with trauma-related words compared to low PTSD participants.
- This attentional interference was specific to trauma-related stimuli, not general threat.
- No evidence supported facilitated detection of threatening stimuli in individuals with PTSD.
Conclusions:
- Attentional biases in PTSD are characterized by difficulty disengaging from trauma cues (interference), not enhanced threat detection.
- Findings support cognitive models of PTSD involving intrusive thoughts and rumination.
- Results have implications for understanding and treating anxiety disorders with similar cognitive features.
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