Emotion in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Etiology, Assessment, Neurobiology, and Treatment

Emotion in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder provides an up-to-date review of the empirical research on the relevance of emotions, such as fear, anxiety, shame, guilt, and disgust to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  It also covers emerging research on the psychophysiology and neurobiological underpinnings of emotion in PTSD, as well as the role of emotion in the behavioral, cognitive, and affective difficulties experienced by individuals with PTSD.  It concludes with a review of evidence-based treatment approaches for PTSD and their ability to mitigate emotion dysfunction in PTSD, including prolonged exposure, cognitive processing therapy, and acceptance-based behavioral therapy.

Identifies how emotions are central to understanding PTSD.Explore the neurobiology of emotion in PTSD.Discusses emotion-related difficulties in relation to PTSD, such as impulsivity and emotion dysregulation.Provides a review of evidence-based PTSD treatments that focus on emotion.

1. Fear and Anxiety; Anger 2. Sadness/Depression; Shame and Guilt; Disgust 3. Positive Emotion Disruption 4. Neurobiology of Emotion Dysfunction in PTSD 5. Genetic Influences on Emotional Responding in PTSD 6. Psychophysiology of Emotional Responding in PTSD 7. Emotion Regulation Difficulties 8. Distress Intolerance 9. Emotional Granularity 10. Experiential Avoidance 11. Emotion-driven Impulsivity 12. Attention/Information-Processing Deficits in PTSD and Emotion 13. Influence of Prolonged Exposure on Emotion 14. Influence of Cognitive Processing Therapy on Emotion 15. Acceptance-Based Behavioral Therapy for PTSD 16. Self-Compassion for PTSD 17. Emotion Regulation-Based Treatments for PTSD