Evaluating Avoidance Behaviors as Maintenance Factors for PTSD in Everyday Life

Abstract

Avoidance is a key component of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in which individuals escape or distract themselves from perceived threats by becoming physically or psychologically distant from uncomfortable thoughts, feelings, or situations. Safety behaviors are a form of avoidance, where individuals engage in preventative behaviors to avoid threatening consequences. Behaviors such as these are believed to maintain aspects of PTSD symptomatology. While studies have shown that some individuals with PTSD engage in safety behaviors, little work has been done on examining how safety behaviors contribute to post-traumatic stress in everyday life. To understand how individuals with post-traumatic stress engage in safety behaviors, this study takes place in a naturalistic setting which offers insight into the everyday lives of those with PTSD symptoms in a nonclinical adult sample. Participants with trauma exposure and who have experienced avoidance symptoms in the past month will undergo a 14-day self-report period in which their safety behavior usage and feelings of post-traumatic stress will be collected at 3 time points throughout the week. It is hypothesized that higher levels of safety behaviors at baseline will predict greater PTSD symptom levels during the self-report period. It is also hypothesized that safety behavior usage will amplify the effect of daily stressors on PTSD symptoms. Understanding how safety behavior usage can maintain post-traumatic stress symptoms in naturalistic settings is essential for improving psychological assessments, treatment planning, and outcomes.