Related Experiment Videos
Arousal, numbing, and intrusion: symptom structure of PTSD following assault
E B Foa1, D S Riggs, B S Gershuny
1Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Pennsylvania, Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute, Philadelphia, 19129.
Objective:
This study investigated hypotheses concerning the importance of symptoms of numbing in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Methods:
Symptoms of PTSD were assessed in 72 female rape victims and 86 female victims of nonsexual assault approximately 3 months after the crimes occurred. A principal-components factor analysis of subjects' symptoms was then undertaken.
Results:
The analysis yielded three factors: arousal/avoidance, numbing, and intrusion. These were somewhat different from the symptom clusters in DSM-III-R, since effortful avoidance and numbing symptoms did not load on the same factor. Numbing symptoms appeared to be particularly important in identifying individuals with PTSD.
Conclusions:
The results imply that there are two patterns of posttrauma symptoms, one characterizing PTSD and the second characterizing a phobic reaction.