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Relationship of rumination and self-compassion to posttraumatic stress symptoms among Veterans
Abigail E Ramon1, Kyle Possemato1, Dessa Bergen-Cico2
1VA Center for Integrated Healthcare, Syracuse VA Medical Center, Syracuse, New York, USA.
Abstract:
Past research demonstrates interrelationships amongst rumination, self-compassion, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, little research has considered rumination and self-compassion together in relation to PTSD in clinical populations. In this cross-sectional study, we examined the unique effect of self-compassion on PTSD beyond the effect of rumination. Secondarily, we examined if rumination mediates the effect of self-compassion on PTSD. Participants included 52 US military Veterans (73.1% male) enrolled in a community support program for PTSD who completed self-report measures of study variables at one time point. Hierarchical regression results showed rumination was related to higher PTSD scores (f = .12; small ES) in step one, and the addition of self-compassion in step two was related to lower PTSD scores (f = .10; small ES) and explained a unique 9% of the variance. In contrast to previous research, results showed self-compassion mediated the relationship between rumination and PTSD, with a significant indirect effect (ab) of .20 (95% confidence interval [CI] = .028 to .457). Findings suggest the explanatory value of self-compassion for PTSD after accounting for rumination and may also reflect a process where rumination about behaviors one regrets gives rise to uncompassionate responding, which then contributes to greater PTSD.
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