Study Description and Background

Studies have shown that combat Veterans are a population with an increased risk for both suicide and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Other studies have examined how specific PTSD symptoms can be used to predict suicidal ideation and its severity.

Avoidance is one of the central aspects of PTSD, and is often viewed as a direct response to trauma related intrusions, such as thoughts, perceptions, images, memories, and dreams. Experiential avoidance is a general term used to describe a process in which an individual is unwilling to experience certain internal events, (e.g., thought, feeling, physical sensation, memory), and instead engages in actions aimed at reducing, avoiding, or controlling these internal experiences or the situations that elicit them.

It has been suggested that experiential avoidance plays a major role in a number of psychiatric conditions, including PTSD and suicidal behavior.

This study is designed to test a novel method of measuring avoidance of trauma-related material in combat Veterans with and without PTSD, and to compare this novel behavioral measure of avoidance with other traditional self-report measures of avoidance. This study will also examine whether motivation to avoid trauma-related material is significantly correlated with suicidal ideation in combat Veterans with PTSD.

The study brochure can be downloaded here