PTSD Cogntive + sociocultural approaches to understanding beh

cognitive - locus of control / Sociocultural - vulnerability models

Etiologies

• the cause or set of reasons behind a mental health disorder (PTSD)

• explains why disorder develops

Cognitive etiology locus of control

• whether people believe they have control over their own lives (internal LOC) or if external forces (fate/luck) dictate their life outcomes (external LOC)

internal locus of control

• people with an internal locus of control tend to take responsability for their actions more, are less influenced by others, and have a stronger sense of self-efficacy

external locus of control

• shift the blame to outside forces, credit luck or chance for success, and are more prone to experiencing learned helplessness

• can cause higher chance of PTSD because they tend to feel more helpless when experiencing/witnessing trauma

PTSD

• a mental health disorder triggered by experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event

• symptoms include affective (mood/emotional), behavioural (repetitive behaviours), cognitive (disruptions to memory), and somatic (physical symptoms)

aim of ratzer et al

• to investigate if the type of LOC is a predictor for PTSD

method of ratzer et al

• 52 pp who were admitted to intensive care unit after traumatic injury

• longitudinal study of 6 months

• pp given tests to measure both level of PTSD onset symptoms and find which LOC they had

results of ratzer et al

• 19.2% of pp developed PTSD symptoms over 6 months

• significant correlation between those with external LOC and the onset of PTSD symptoms

conclusion of ratzer et al

• external locus of control is a predictor for PTSD because there was a signficiant correlation between the pp who had an external LOC and the development of onset PTSD

link back of ratzer et al

• this could be because pp with external LOC tend to feel more helpless when experiencing/witnessing trauma

• which could result in onset of PTSD

eval of ratzer et al

• pp not actually diagnosed with PTSD but instead researchers relied on results of a questionnaire

• possible that other traumas experienced by individuals before their accident may have played a role in the onset of PTSD symptoms

• longitudinal design of six months is same amount of time DSM-5 says is needed before diagnosing PTSD

cognitive etiology eval

• high ecological validity as research tends to be on pp who have already experienced trauma

• lack of generalisability as most traumas are impossible to replicate

• correlational studies which lack causation so other factors could influence development of PTSD

• low internal validity as there is no control over pp daily activity so some pp could discuss their trauma more often than others which may increase or decrease the likelihood of PTSD

Sociocultural etiology: vulnerability models

• when there are more risk factors in the environment than protective factors, then someone is more likely to develop a disorder

Risk factors for PTSD in vulnerability models

• female gender, low socioeconomic status, or previous trauma exposure are consistently found with higher PTSD symptom levels

• lack of social support post-trauma is most significant risk factor

Luby aim

• to investigate whether poverty experienced in early childhood impacts brain development and to explore mediators of this effect

method of luby

• 145 right handed children recruited from large sample of 10 year longitudinal preschool depression study

• cognitively and socially assessed yearly for 3 to 6 years

• then pp had two MRI scans, one of whole brain and one of amygdala + hippocampus areas

• support or hostility of primary caregiver was also noted

• presence of stressful life experiences was also noted

• MRI scans measured brain volumes of white and grey matter and volumes of hippocampus + amygdala

results of luby

• poverty was associated with less white and grey matter in brain and with smaller hippocampus and amygdala volumes

• if caregiver was supportive or hostile mediated effects of poverty on both hippocampi

• stressful life events affected volume of left hippocampus only

conclusion of luby

• in conclusion, poverty experienced in early childhood impacted brain development because the amygdala and hippocampus of children in poverty had smaller volumes

link back for luby

• if the caregiver was supportive then it mediated the poverty effects on the brain which could limit the chance of PTSD development

• a lower socioeconomic status could result in poverty

eval of luby

• while the study sample was large, it was taken from depression study database so children likely already had depression which could have affected brain volume and affected the generalizability of the findings

• could be some bidirectional ambiguity as unsure if the poverty causes the brain volume changes or if caregiver response causes the brain volume changes which reduces internal validity

• study was 6 year longitudinal which increases the credibility of the results and allows the researchers to examine long term effects of poverty

eval of vulnerability models etiology

• holistic research identifies both protective and risk factors, so prioritises prevention over treatment

• high ecological validity

• studies are usually longitudinal

• research is usually correlational

• theories are descriptive rather than explanatory so don’t explain origin of disorder