Relationship between PTSD and pathological personality traits in context of disasters

One of the recurrent outcomes after a stressor event as a disaster is post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which appears to be mediated, in part, by emotional, behavioral, and psychological responses, arising from the belief system associated with the traumatic experience. Studies suggest that personality traits are related to how individuals face or adapt in the event of disaster phenomena. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between PTSD, posttraumatic beliefs and personality traits in people who experienced disasters. 113 individuals participated in the survey, of both sexes (58.4% women) with ages ranging between 19 and 63 years (M=37.5; SD=12.1). We used the Dimensional Clinical Personality Inventory (IDCP), the Brazilian version of the Davidson Trauma Scale, and the Brazilian version of the Posttraumatic Cognitions Inventory. Among the findings, pathological personality characteristics relate positively with PTSD symptomatology, individuals who experienced disaster events presented more pathological personality traits when compared to those who did not experience these events, and negative beliefs were positively related with pathological characteristics of personality. We highlight the need for research on the relationships between personality characteristics and post-traumatic beliefs in order to promote more adequate interventions given the possible disease chronicity.