Time, before, and after time: temporal self and social appraisals in posttraumatic stress disorder

In the aftermath of a traumatic event, individuals may engage in a series of comparisons in which they appraise their current functioning in relation to how they functioned prior to the traumatic event, as well as how they anticipate functioning in the future. In addition, trauma-exposed individuals may also appraise their functioning in relation to other individuals exposed to the same or similar types of traumatic events. We examine whether PTSD and non-PTSD classified individuals differ in temporal self and social appraisals.

Operation Enduring/Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) combat-veterans with and without PTSD appraised their own past, current, and anticipated future functioning, as well as hypothetical other OEF/OIF veterans functioning across the same three temporal points.

Individuals without PTSD appraised their own functioning as progressively improving across time. In contrast, individuals with PTSD viewed their current pre-trauma current self more favorably than their current or anticipated future self. Both groups appraised hypothetical other OEF/OIF veterans improving with time, yet individuals with PTSD evaluated other OEF/OIF veterans more favorably than those without PTSD.

Limitations of the study include a cross-sectional design, precluding causality; the lack of a non-trauma exposed group, relatively small sample, and all-male gender of participants limit the generalizability to other populations.

PTSD and non-PTSD individuals differ in self and social appraisals when asked to evaluate past, present, and future functioning. Further research needs to better understand the extent to which these differences are associated with resilience to or maintenance of PTSD symptoms.