Goran Opacic

Do personality traits predict post-traumatic stress ?: a prospective study in civilians experiencing air attacks

BACKGROUND Previous studies have suggested an association between personality traits and post-traumatic stress. These studies either focused exclusively on military veterans or assessed personality traits after the traumatic event. This study investigates to what extent personality traits as assessed before the traumatic experience predict post-traumatic stress in civilians experiencing air attacks at the end of the exposure to stressful events and 1 year later. METHOD The revised version of the NEO Personality Inventory was administered to 70 students in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. In 1999, 1 or 2 years after the assessment, all students were exposed to air attacks for 11 weeks. At the end of the attacks and 1 year later post-traumatic stress was measured on the Impact of Event Scale. RESULTS Pre-trauma personality predicted 13% of the variance of intrusion scores 1 year after the attacks. There was no significant correlation between personality traits and subsequent avoidance scores at any point of time. CONCLUSIONS Personality traits that are assessed before a traumatic event can, to a limited extent, predict intrusive symptoms in a non-clinical sample of civilians. Pre-trauma assessments of personality might be less strongly associated with post-traumatic stress than personality traits obtained after the traumatic event.

A mathematical model of stress reaction: Individual differences in threshold and duration

People differ in what they experience as stressful and to what extent. We define a variable—stress threshold (σ)—that links the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis and the memory system in a feedback mechanism. Current σ dictates the intensity of a stimulus that turns the stress response on. On the other hand, each “jump” of the HPA axis helps long-term registration of the stressful event via concentration changes of some of its products, consequently changing the value of σ for future Stressors. After the action of a strong exterior stressor, the new stressful memory acts as an internal source of stress. We assume that its intensity decreases with the rate of processing the stressful information. This process is characterized by a time parameter τ. Both σ and τ are individual: They depend on personality traits, genetic as well as acquired. The mathematical model presented here simulates the feedback mechanism between the HPA axis and the memory system involved in stress reaction.

Irrational Beliefs, Dysfunctional Emotions, and Marital Adjustment A Structural Model

This study aimed to formulate and test a thorough and comprehensive model that explains how irrational beliefs and dysfunctional emotions of partners affect marital adjustment. Unlike previous research that examined the direct association of irrational cognitions and marital disturbance, we hypothesized that emotions—anger, depression, and anxiety—have a mediatory role in the relationship between irrational cognitions and marital adjustment of both partners. We also hypothesized that dysfunctional emotions of one partner affect the perceived marital adjustment of the other partner. The model was tested on nonclinical sample of 100 couples (N = 200). The results of structural equation modeling support the model. We found that irrational beliefs lead to dysfunctional emotions, which further affect the perceived marital adjustment of both partners. However, on examining the partners’ mutual effect, it was found that only dysfunctional emotions of the males affect females’ perceived marital adjustment but not vice versa.

Sleep Studies in Serbian Victims of Torture: Analysis of Traumatic Dreams

One of prominent features related to the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is according to DSM-5 “recurrent distressing dreams in which the content and/or affect of the dream are related to the traumatic event(s)”. The phenomenology and the underlying dynamics of traumatic dreams are areas of study that still need to be understood.

The connection between dysfunctional relationship beliefs and dyadic adjustment

The purpose of this study was to determine the connection between dyadic adjustment and dysfunctional relationship beliefsthat are discussed in the contemporary cognitive-behavioural perspective. Given the nature of personal relationships, the study included intrapersonal and interpersonal approach. The intrapersonal approach suggests that ones perception of dyadic adjustment is determined by ones own personality characteristics, while the interpersonal approach suggests that ones partners characteristics have influence, too. Accordingly, it was assumed that people perceive their marriages as less adjusted if they themselves and their partner have more pronounced dysfunctional beliefs. The sample consisted of 100 married couples from Serbia aged 20-64 years (M=41.8). The participants completed the Relationship Beliefs Questionnaire and the Dyadic Adjustment Scale. Significant intrapersonal effects of relationship beliefs on theperceived dyadic adjustment were found for both genders. Expected intrapersonal effects were found only in the female sample. Additionally, unexpected positive effects of certain groups of relationship beliefs(e.g. romantic idealism) were found.