Extent of Trauma Exposure and PTSD Symptom Severity as Predictors of Anxiety-Buffer Functioning

Two studies conducted in the aftermath of the Cote d'Ivoire civil war tested the anxiety buffer disruption theory prediction that high war exposure and/or high posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are associated with a disruption in normal anxiety buffering functioning. In line with predictions, Study I indicated that mortality salience (as compared to a control condition) increased immediate death-related thought accessibility in persons with high but not low levels of PTSD symptoms. Thus, whereas low PTSD symptom participants showed the previously documented apparent suppression of classic priming effects when exposed to death reminders, high PTSD symptom participants did not exhibit this defense. Study 2 demonstrated that mortality salience interacted with trauma exposure to affect reports of trauma symptoms. Specifically, it led individuals high in exposure to the war, but not those low in exposure, to report more trauma symptoms than in the control condition. The discussion addresses the role of anxiety buffer functioning in responses to traumatic stress and how the anxiety buffer disruption theory approach relates to other theories of trauma.