When the burn goes deep: Emotion reactivity and psychological distress among burn survivors

Despite growing interest in understanding mental health issues among burn survivors, limited research has explored potential factors explaining these challenges. This study explored the role of emotion reactivity, emotion regulation, and burn wound severity in depressive, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among burn survivors. Participants were severe burn survivors (N = 146, M_age = 42.11 years) hospitalized at the National Burn Hospital in Vietnam who completed a battery of self-report measures. Results from hierarchical linear regression indicated that heightened emotion reactivity was associated with higher depressive, B = 0.16, β = .58; anxiety, B = 0.15, β = .56; and PTSD symptoms, B = 0.17, β = .52, among participants. Emotion regulation strategies, such as cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression, did not moderate the association between emotion reactivity and mental health outcomes. Furthermore, no significant association between total burn surface area and psychological symptoms was found, though deeper burns were linked to increased symptom levels. Specifically, survivors with mixed second- and third-degree burns reported higher levels of depressive, B = 1.93, β = .32, and anxiety symptoms, B = 2.10, β = .36, compared to those with second-degree burns only. Future research should further explore factors that moderate the associations among emotion reactivity, burn severity, and mental health, particularly those that influence the effectiveness of emotion regulation strategies. In addition to identifying factors that contribute to mental health problems, these findings could inform health care policies that emphasize pain management and emotional support for burn survivors.