Objective: This study is aimed to test the symptoms network of ICD-11 Complex Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) symptoms, using data collected from Ukrainian civilians during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine war. Findings can inform our understanding of the stress response in individuals exposed to continuous trauma and give insight into the nature of CPTSD during war.
Methods: A network analysis was conducted on CPTSD symptoms as assessed by the International Trauma Questionnaire using data from a nationally representative sample of 2000 Ukrainians.
Results: While Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Disturbances in Self Organization (DSO) clusters did not enmesh, several communities within these clusters were merged. Results highlight that in terms of strength centrality, emotional dysregulation (emotional numbing) and a heightened sense of threat were most prominent.
Conclusion: The results confirm the ICD-11 structure of CPTSD but suggest that continuous traumatic stress manifests in more condensed associations between CPTSD symptoms and that emotional regulation may play a vital role in activating the CPTSD network. War-exposed populations could be provided with scalable, brief self-help materials focused on fostering emotion regulation and sense of threat
