Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms and Emotion Experience in Women: Emotion Occurrence, Intensity, and Variability in the Natural Environment

ABSTRACT This study examined emotion occurrence, intensity, and variability in the natural environment in a sample of women with histories of interpersonal victimization. Using paper-and-pencil diaries, women rated emotion experiences (joyful/happy, sad, angry, anxious, tense/frustrated, worried) over an average of 13 hr. Posttraumatic stress symptom severity was uniquely correlated with greater intensity and variability, but not occurrence, of certain negative emotions, and with less frequent occurrence but greater variability of joy/happiness. Intrusive reexperiencing was uniquely associated with greater variability of both anxiety and joy/happiness. Results suggest that women with more severe posttraumatic stress symptoms do not experience more episodes of negative emotion but, once emotion occurs, they have difficulty modulating its intensity. Problems with emotions may motivate treatment seeking among traumatized individuals, and such problems may endure even when PTSD symptoms per se remit. This underscores the potential practical implications of naturalistic studies of emotion among individuals who have experienced psychological trauma.