Dispositional anger and experiential avoidance in veterans with PTSD

Background: Anger is often indirectly addressed in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) treatment despite reports that traumafocussed therapy may not be sufficient in improving anger responses1. Thus, it is possible that anger in the context of PTSD might be related to additional factors such as personality traits and coping styles. Purpose: We sought to identify additional elements influencing anger. We hypothesised that trait anger (a personality trait) and experiential avoidance (a coping style) would account for significant variance in state anger when controlling for PTSD symptom severity in a sample of treatment-seeking veterans with a history of PTSD. Material and Methods: One-hundred and one veterans completed pencil-and-paper surveys including the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist, Acceptance and Action Questionnaire-II, and State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2, and a subsample of 79 veterans meeting screening criteria for PTSD were included in these analyses. Results: Experiential avoidance, PTSD symptom severity, and trait anger had significant zero-order correlations with state anger while only PTSD symptom severity and trait anger had a significant partial effect in the full model (p< 0.01). Stepwise multiple regression produced a three-predictor model accounting for 27% of the variance in state anger, explained partially by PTSD symptom severity and trait anger (F(3, 75) = 12.86, p < 0 .001). Conclusion: Implications include addressing anger directly in treatment and not as a symptom that will be indirectly reduced through the treatment of PTSD