Alexithymia and PTSD symptoms in urban police officers: Cross-sectional and prospective findings

✍ Scribed by Shannon E. McCaslin; Thomas J. Metzler; Suzanne R. Best; Akiva Liberman; Daniel S. Weiss; Jeffrey Fagan; Charles R. Marmar

• Book ID: 102449423
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 2006
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 144 KB
• Volume: 19
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-9867
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.20133

✦ Synopsis

The relationship of alexithymia to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology was examined cross-sectionally in 166 urban police officers surveyed between 1998 and 1999 and prospectively in 54 of these officers who participated in a follow-up survey after the September 11, 2001 (9/11) terrorist attacks. In cross-sectional analyses, alexithymia scores were positively associated with PTSD symptom levels and self-reported childhood emotional abuse--neglect, but not with cumulative level of critical incident exposure. Alexithymia scores accounted for 11.2% of the variance in PTSD symptoms prior to accounting for additional predictors, but did not retain significance in the final model. In prospective analyses, alexithymia scores significantly predicted 9/11-related PTSD symptom severity over and above pre-9/11 PTSD symptoms.