School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
School of Psychology, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Psychiatry Res. 2016 Aug 30;242:233-239. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.05.048. Epub 2016 May 30.
While clinical reports suggest that torture survivors may try to suppress their emotions during torture, little is known about the use of emotional suppression following torture. In this study, 82 refugees and asylum-seekers (including 33 torture survivors) completed self-report measures of trait suppression, PTSD symptoms and baseline negative affect before being exposed to images depicting scenes of interpersonal trauma. The use of suppression while viewing the images was indexed and negative affect was measured both immediately after viewing the images and following a five minute rest period. Findings indicated that torture survivors did not show higher rates of trait suppression or state emotional suppression during the experimental session compared to non-torture survivors. However, torture survivors who endorsed state suppression higher levels of distress, and this relationship was especially strong for those with more severe PTSD symptoms. In contrast, there was a negative relationship between state suppression and distress for non-torture survivors with high levels of PTSD symptoms. These findings suggest that, while torture exposure does not lead to greater use of suppression, it does influence the impact of suppression on emotional responses to stimuli.
虽然临床报告表明，酷刑幸存者在遭受酷刑时可能试图压抑自己的情绪，但对于酷刑后使用情绪压抑的情况却知之甚少。在这项研究中，82 名难民和寻求庇护者（包括 33 名酷刑幸存者）在接触描绘人际创伤场景的图像之前，完成了特质压抑、创伤后应激障碍症状和基线负性情绪的自我报告测量。在观看图像时使用压抑的情况被标记，并在观看图像后立即以及在五分钟休息期后测量负性情绪。研究结果表明，与非酷刑幸存者相比，酷刑幸存者在实验过程中并没有表现出更高的特质压抑或状态情绪压抑率。然而，那些报告有更高水平的状态压抑的酷刑幸存者会感到更大的痛苦，而且对于那些 PTSD 症状更严重的人来说，这种关系尤其强烈。相比之下，对于 PTSD 症状严重的非酷刑幸存者来说，状态压抑与痛苦之间呈负相关关系。这些发现表明，尽管酷刑暴露不会导致更多的压抑，但它确实会影响压抑对刺激的情绪反应的影响。
