ABSTRACT
Objectives: Childhood sexual abuse is linked to long-term consequences, including depression and anxiety in adulthood. Although considerable progress has been made to understand mechanisms that may account for this relation, such as emotion dysregulation, less attention has been given to protective factors that may mitigate it. One such protective factor might be mindful awareness. Those who act with awareness in daily living tend to engage in healthy emotion regulation skills when faced with stressors and experience less depression and anxiety. In the current study, we aimed to replicate the positive associations among childhood sexual abuse severity, emotion dysregulation, and psychopathology across time, and also identify a personal strength-in this case, mindful awareness-that might mitigate these effects. Methods: Participants were 491 women recruited from the community who completed self-report assessments at three time points over a 32-month period. Results: A series of moderated mediation models revealed childhood sexual abuse severity predicted later reports of depression and anxiety symptoms through greater emotion dysregulation in the form of difficulties engaging in goal-directed behaviors. As expected, mindful awareness weakened the relation between goal-directed emotion dysregulation and symptoms of depression and anxiety, such that greater levels of mindful awareness fully buffered these effects. Conclusions: Through a better understanding of natural resiliency processes among survivors, we can ultimately encourage continued examination of what might be effective additions to existing treatments for the mental health consequences of trauma and adversity.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The effects of traumatic brain injury (TBI) on return to work have been the focus of many clinical studies in recent years. Veterans with a history of TBI may be at increased risk of unemployment. OBJECTIVE: We sought to understand predictors of work outcomes for Veterans with a history of TBI who received evidence-based supported employment. METHODS: Fifty unemployed Veterans with a history of mild-to-moderate TBI and current neuropsychological impairment participated in a 12-month supported employment intervention. Demographic data and baseline assessments of neuropsychological impairment, functional capacity, and psychiatric and post-concussive symptom severity were investigated as predictors of work outcomes (job attainment, weeks worked, and wages earned). RESULTS: Bivariate analyses showed that lower disability ratings, more recent work history, more months worked in the past 5 years, lower PTSD symptom severity, worse verbal memory, and better cognitive flexibility were all associated with better work outcomes. In multivariate regression analyses, better cognitive flexibility and worse verbal memory performance predicted better work outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Further research is needed to determine how treatment of cognitive impairments and psychiatric symptoms is related to return to work in Veterans with a history of TBI.
