Post-traumatic distress and the presence of post-traumatic growth and meaning in life: Experiential avoidance as a moderator

Existing models of trauma suggest that for recovery to occur, trauma related cues and emotions require awareness and openness while survivors continue committing action toward valued life aims (other than regulating emotions). Based on this theoretical framework, an unwillingness to be in contact with distressing thoughts and feelings (experiential avoidance) might operate together with post-traumatic distress to predict when people find benefits and meaning in the aftermath of trauma. We hypothesized that people reporting post-traumatic distress and less reliance on experiential avoidance would report greater post-traumatic growth and meaning in life compared with other trauma survivors. We administered questionnaires to 176 college students reporting at least one traumatic event. Results supported these moderation models. This is the fourth study (with different samples, measures, and methodologies) to provide evidence that a combination of excessive anxiety and a heavy reliance on experiential avoidance leads to attenuated well-being. We discuss the implications for understanding heterogeneous trauma reactions.