Meijer Laurien, Thomaes Kathleen, Karadeniz Buket, Finkenauer Catrin
Arkin Mental Health Care - Sinai Centrum, Amstelveen, The Netherlands.
Department of Interdisciplinary Social Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2025 Dec;16(1):2468039. doi: 10.1080/20008066.2025.2468039. Epub 2025 Feb 27.
Parental post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can impact parenting and child psychosocial wellbeing. Complementing trauma-focused psychotherapy with parenting interventions can thus have important preventive value. Understanding parents' lived experiences is necessary to tailor such interventions to their needs. This study addressed the question: how can preventive parenting support be shaped to the needs of parents entering specialized psychotherapy for PTSD? To answer this question, we investigated parenting challenges, parent-child communication about PTSD, strengths, and social support experiences of parents with PTSD. The sample included 14 parents seeking PTSD treatment at a tertiary mental healthcare institution, while parenting children aged 4-17. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. On the one hand, parental dysregulation (e.g. exploding or shutting down) was an important challenge. On the other hand, parents' attempts to remain regulated (e.g. through overcontrol and overprotectiveness) also affected family life. When talking to their child about PTSD, parents were guided by what they considered beneficial for the child to know. An important strength was that parents tried to remain attuned to the child's needs, regardless of their own struggles. Parents also described experiences that could be understood as post-traumatic growth through parenting. Generally, parents experienced a lack of social support. Our findings illustrate that parents entering PTSD treatment are highly motivated to do what is best for their child. Based on parents' lived experiences, preventive parenting interventions should address the impacts of both dysregulation and overcontrolling regulation attempts. Another important goal is reducing feelings of incompetence. Integrating the parenting role in psychotherapy for PTSD could also be beneficial. For example, setting parenting-related therapy goals can be motivating. Furthermore, parent-child interactions can be a mirror that reflects the parents' inner state: considering these interactions can help recognize changes in symptomatology.
父母创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）会影响养育方式以及孩子的心理社会幸福感。因此，将以创伤为重点的心理治疗与养育干预措施相结合可能具有重要的预防价值。了解父母的生活经历对于根据他们的需求调整此类干预措施至关重要。本研究探讨了以下问题：如何根据进入PTSD专科心理治疗的父母的需求来制定预防性养育支持措施？为了回答这个问题，我们调查了患有PTSD的父母在养育方面面临的挑战、关于PTSD的亲子沟通、优势以及社会支持经历。样本包括14名在三级精神卫生保健机构寻求PTSD治疗的父母，他们的孩子年龄在4至17岁之间。通过半结构化访谈收集数据，并使用反思性主题分析进行分析。一方面，父母的情绪失调（例如大发雷霆或情绪封闭）是一个重要挑战。另一方面，父母试图保持情绪稳定的行为（例如过度控制和过度保护）也会影响家庭生活。当与孩子谈论PTSD时，父母会以他们认为对孩子了解情况有益的内容为指导。一个重要的优势是，无论自身有多大困难，父母都努力关注孩子的需求。父母还描述了一些可以被理解为通过养育实现创伤后成长的经历。总体而言，父母感到缺乏社会支持。我们的研究结果表明，进入PTSD治疗的父母非常愿意为孩子做最好的事情。基于父母的生活经历，预防性养育干预措施应解决情绪失调和过度控制调节尝试的影响。另一个重要目标是减少无能感。将养育角色纳入PTSD心理治疗可能也会有帮助。例如设定与养育相关的治疗目标可能会起到激励作用。此外，亲子互动可以成为反映父母内心状态的一面镜子：考虑这些互动有助于识别症状的变化。
