Interacting with a friend after a trauma film reduces anxiety and intrusive memories

Interpersonal factors have been linked with psychological adjustment to trauma, but how interpersonal factors influence trauma response is still unclear. Experimental paradigms such as the trauma film paradigm offer a valuable approach for studying this complex dynamic. However, few studies have used the trauma film paradigm to examine the interpersonal context of trauma response, and no studies have incorporated friends into the trauma film paradigm. The purpose of the current study was to examine how inclusion of a friend influenced reactions to a trauma analog.

One hundred young adult females were randomized to watch a brief stressful film of a sexual assault either with or without a friend and the Friend Present condition was given an opportunity to interact following the film. Participants were evaluated on distress during the film, skin conductance, anxiety and negative affect immediately postfilm (preinteraction) and 5 minutes later (postinteraction), and intrusive memories over a three-day period.

No differences were found between conditions on skin conductance or subjective distress during the film. However, the Friend Present condition experienced a greater reduction in state anxiety from preinteraction to postinteraction and greater decreases in intrusive memories over the three-day period.

Findings show the inclusion of a friend mitigated trauma-related stress reactions and suggest that interacting with a friend aided in adaptive processing of the stressor. Findings indicate that additional work is needed to examine how platonic relationships can be targeted to improve prevention and intervention efforts in trauma-related outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).