A Narrative Commentary on the Use of a Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy-Informed Group to Address Irrational Beliefs, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Comorbidities

Irrational beliefs of Demandingness, Catastrophizing, Low Frustration Tolerance, and Depreciation have demonstrated prevalence in disparate areas of life, including psychopathology, the military, politics, religion, and education. Individuals with mental health concerns, such as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), endorse elevations in such thoughts compared to the general population. This commentary describes the rationale for focusing on irrational beliefs in efforts to address PTSD and presents the Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)-Informed Group for PTSD as a potential novel application of a well-established intervention. In support of these suggestions, we present a narrative review of the published work on irrational beliefs and REBT tenets as relevant for PTSD. We then introduce and describe the REBT-Informed Group intervention, summarize the prior preliminary research conducted by our group, and present some novel data from a re-analysis of this prior work. We end with commentary related to future directions of REBT approaches for PTSD to address limitations and expand the impact of the treatment to military and other Veteran or civilian populations

Genetic and Environmental Predictors of Adolescent PTSD Symptom Trajectories Following a Natural Disaster

Genes, environmental factors, and their interplay affect posttrauma symptoms. Although environmental predictors of the longitudinal course of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms are documented, there remains a need to incorporate genetic risk into these models, especially in youth who are underrepresented in genetic studies. In an epidemiologic sample tornado-exposed adolescents (n = 707, 51% female, Mage = 14.54 years), trajectories of PTSD symptoms were examined at baseline and at 4-months and 12-months following baseline. This study aimed to determine if rare genetic variation in genes previously found in the sample to be related to PTSD diagnosis at baseline (MPHOSPH9, LGALS13, SLC2A2), environmental factors (disaster severity, social support), or their interplay were associated with symptom trajectories. A series of mixed effects models were conducted. Symptoms decreased over the three time points. Elevated tornado severity was associated with elevated baseline symptoms. Elevated recreational support was associated with lower baseline symptoms and attenuated improvement over time. Greater LGLAS13 variants attenuated symptom improvement over time. An interaction between MPHOSPH9 variants and tornado severity was associated with elevated baseline symptoms, but not change over time. Findings suggest the importance of rare genetic variation and environmental factors on the longitudinal course of PTSD symptoms following natural disaster trauma exposure

ClinEEG_SupplementalTables_revised – Supplemental material for Evaluating the Contribution of EEG Power Profiles to Characterize and Discriminate Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Factors in a Combat-Exposed Population

<p>Supplemental material, ClinEEG_SupplementalTables_revised for Evaluating the Contribution of EEG Power Profiles to Characterize and Discriminate Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Factors in a Combat-Exposed Population by Christina M. Sheerin, Laura M. Franke, Steven H. Aggen, Ananda B. Amstadter and William C. Walker in Clinical EEG and Neuroscience</p

Supplemental_Figure_1 – Supplemental material for Evaluating the Contribution of EEG Power Profiles to Characterize and Discriminate Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Factors in a Combat-Exposed Population

<p>Supplemental material, Supplemental_Figure_1 for Evaluating the Contribution of EEG Power Profiles to Characterize and Discriminate Posttraumatic Stress Symptom Factors in a Combat-Exposed Population by Christina M. Sheerin, Laura M. Franke, Steven H. Aggen, Ananda B. Amstadter and William C. Walker in Clinical EEG and Neuroscience</p