Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 42, Issue 4, December 2011, Pages 740-750
Behavior Therapy

Exploring Negative Emotion in Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence: Shame, Guilt, and PTSD

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2011.04.001Get rights and content

Abstract

This study explored the association of shame and guilt with PTSD among women who had experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Sixty-three women were assessed by a research clinic serving the mental health needs of women IPV survivors. Results indicated that shame, guilt-related distress, and guilt-related cognitions showed significant associations with PTSD but global guilt did not. When shame and guilt were examined in the context of specific forms of psychological abuse, moderation analyses indicated that high levels of both emotional/verbal abuse and dominance/isolation interacted with high levels of shame in their association with PTSD. Neither guilt-related distress nor guilt-related cognitions were moderated by specific forms of psychological abuse in their association with PTSD. These data support the conceptualization of shame, guilt distress, and guilt cognitions as relevant features of PTSD. Results are discussed in light of proposed changes to diagnostic criteria for PTSD.

Highlights

► This study explored the association of shame and guilt with PTSD in women who had experienced intimate partner violence. ► Shame, distress, and guilt-related cognitions showed significant associations with PTSD but global guilt did not. ► High levels of emotional/verbal abuse and dominance/isolation interacted with high levels of shame in association with PTSD. ► Neither guilt distress nor guilt cognitions were moderated by psychological abuse in association with PTSD. ► Results support conceptualization of shame, guilt distress, and guilt cognitions as relevant to PTSD Here are the corrections that you require.

Section snippets

Participants

The sample included 63 women who sought assessment and possible treatment at a university-based research clinic for mental health problems following IPV. Announcements for the clinic were sent to churches, advocacy centers, and college campuses, as well as using public service announcements. Women qualified for assessment if their IPV included actual or threatened death or serious injury and their emotional response included intense fear, helplessness, horror, or the perception that they would

Results

Zero-order correlations3, means, and standard deviations of all variables are presented in Table 2.

Discussion

This study explored the association of shame and guilt with PTSD among women who had experienced IPV. PTSD showed significant correlations with shame, guilt-related distress, and guilt-related cognitions, although not with global guilt. Among the significant associations, the effect sizes were small and accounted for 6% (shame, guilt cognitions) to 10% (guilt-related distress) of the variance. A series of moderation analyses examined whether exposure to specific forms of psychological abuse,

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    Support for this work is provided by the Lillian and Morrie Moss COE position (Gayle Beck) and NIMH award F31 MH083385 (Joshua Clapp).

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