Validity, Reliability and Internal Consistency of Persian Versions of the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Traumatic Exposure Severity Scale and the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire

Exploring the relationship between peritraumatic dissociative experiences, post-traumatic stress disorder, stigma, and fear: A three-wave study during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 has emerged as a pervasive global challenge, giving rise to both significant public health concerns and a range of psychological experiences, such as fear, stigma, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Importantly, healthcare professionals have been subjected to immense mental health problems as they battle against this disease. This study aimed to investigate the mediating roles of perceived stigma, self-stigma related to COVID-19, and fear of COVID-19 in the associations between peritraumatic dissociative experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder during a three-wave COVID-19 pandemic (4th [T1], no wave [T2], and 5th [T3]) in Iran. Data were collected from healthcare professionals using the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire, Impact of Event Scale-6, Perceived Stigma Scale, Fear of COVID-19 Scale, and Self-Stigma Scale-Short. The results of structural equation modelling demonstrated positive associations between peritraumatic dissociative experiences, perceived stigma, self-stigma related to COVID-19, fear of COVID-19, and post-traumatic stress disorder across all survey waves. Moreover, the study revealed that perceived stigma, self-stigma related to COVID-19, and fear of COVID-19 acted as mediators in the association between peritraumatic dissociative experiences and post-traumatic stress disorder. The implications of these findings highlight the urgent need to address the mental health of healthcare professionals in the aftermath of a pandemic. Policy efforts should be directed towards providing adequate mental health resources and support to mitigate the psychological impact of pandemics on healthcare professionals.

Modeling the structural relationships between trauma exposure with substance use tendency, depression symptoms, and suicidal thoughts in individuals with earthquake trauma experience: the mediatory role of peritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance

BACKGROUND

Despite the fact that studies indicate that earthquake trauma is associated with numerous psychological consequences, the mediating mechanisms leading to these outcomes have not been well-studied. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between trauma exposure with substance use tendency, depression, and suicidal thoughts, with the mediating role of peritraumatic dissociation and experiential avoidance.

METHODS

The descriptive-correlational approach was employed in this study. The participants were people who had experienced the Kermanshah earthquake in 2017. A total of 324 people were selected by convenient sampling method. The Traumatic Exposure Severity Scale, the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire, the Acceptance and Action Questionnaire, the Iranian Addiction Potential Scale, Beck's Depression Inventory [BDI-II], and Beck's Suicidal Thoughts Scale were used to collect data. The gathered data was analyzed‌ using structural equation modeling in ‌SPSS Ver. 24 and LISREL Ver. 24.

RESULTS

The study findings indicated that the intensity of the trauma exposure is directly and significantly associated with depression symptoms, peritraumatic dissociation, and experiential avoidance. The severity of exposure to trauma had a significant indirect effect on the tendency to use substances through experiential avoidance. This is while the severity of the trauma experience did not directly correlate with substance use and suicidal thoughts. In addition, peritraumatic dissociation did not act as a mediator in the relationship between the severity of trauma exposure with substance use, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

CONCLUSIONS

The severity of exposure to the earthquake was associated with symptoms of depression and these findings indicate the importance of experiential avoidance in predicting the tendency to use drugs. Hence, it is essential to design and implement psychological interventions that target experiential avoidance to prevent drug use tendencies and to establish policies that lower depression symptoms following natural disasters.