Department of Psychiatry, Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare, Chiba, Japan.
PLoS One. 2021 Mar 31;16(3):e0249126. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0249126. eCollection 2021.
Stressful events in daily life that are non-traumatic (e.g., family-, school-, work-, interpersonal-, and health-related problems) frequently cause various mood disturbances. For some people, being exposed to non-traumatic but stressful events could trigger the onset and relapse of mood disorders. Furthermore, non-traumatic stressful events also cause event-related psychological distress (ERPD), similar to that of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; i.e., intense intrusive imagery or memory recall, avoidance, and hyperarousal) in the general population and individuals with mood disorders. However, previous ERPD studies only showed that people with ERPD display PTSD-like symptoms after non-traumatic experiences; they failed to get to the crux of the matter by only utilizing trauma- or PTSD-related assessment tools. We thus aimed to identify the psychological phenomena and features of ERPD after individuals experienced non-traumatic stressful events, and to develop and validate an appropriate ERPD assessment tool. First, we conducted a qualitative study to obtain the psychological features through interviews with 22 individuals (mean age = 41.50 years old, SD = 12.24) with major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder. Second, in the quantitative component, we implemented a web-based survey with 747 participants of the general population (mean age = 41.96 years old, SD = 12.64) by using ERPD-related questionnaires created based on the qualitative study; then, we examined the reliability and validity of the ERPD assessment tool. Results yielded that the psychological features of ERPD comprised four factors: feelings of revenge, rumination, self-denial, and mental paralysis. These were utilized in the developed 24-item measure of ERPD-a novel self-report assessment tool. For various professionals involved in mental healthcare, this tool can be used to clarify and assess psychological phenomena in people with ERPD.
日常生活中的非创伤性应激事件（如家庭、学校、工作、人际关系和健康相关问题）经常会引起各种情绪障碍。对于一些人来说，暴露于非创伤但有压力的事件可能会引发情绪障碍的发作和复发。此外，非创伤性应激事件也会导致与事件相关的心理困扰（ERPD），类似于一般人群和情绪障碍患者的创伤后应激障碍（PTSD；即强烈的侵入性意象或记忆回忆、回避和过度警觉）。然而，之前的 ERPD 研究仅表明，经历非创伤性体验后，有 ERPD 的人会表现出类似 PTSD 的症状；他们仅利用创伤或 PTSD 相关评估工具，未能抓住问题的关键。因此，我们旨在确定个体经历非创伤性应激事件后 ERPD 的心理现象和特征，并开发和验证一种合适的 ERPD 评估工具。首先，我们通过对 22 名患有重度抑郁症或双相情感障碍的个体（平均年龄=41.50 岁，标准差=12.24）进行访谈，进行了一项定性研究，以获得心理特征。其次，在定量部分，我们使用基于定性研究创建的与 ERPD 相关的问卷，对 747 名普通人群参与者（平均年龄=41.96 岁，标准差=12.64）进行了基于网络的调查；然后，我们检验了 ERPD 评估工具的信度和效度。结果表明，ERPD 的心理特征包括四个因素：报复感、沉思、自我否定和精神麻痹。这些因素被用于开发的 24 项 ERPD 量表——一种新的自我报告评估工具。对于从事精神卫生保健的各种专业人员来说，这个工具可以用来澄清和评估有 ERPD 的人的心理现象。
