ANXIETY BUFFER DISRUPTION: INTERPLAY BETWEEN NEUROCOGNITIVE FUNCTIONING AND WORLDVIEW DEFENSE IN POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER

Abstract

According to anxiety buffer disruption theory, traumatic experiences can disrupt one’s ability to manage anxiety. There are several studies finding that after reminders of death, individuals high in trauma symptoms respond atypically – that is, whereas most individuals respond to reminders of death with increased self-esteem striving, traumatized individuals do not. Prior research has found that a certain level of cognitive resources are integral to the process of managing death-related thoughts; because traumatized individuals often report cognitive deficits, it may be that atypical responses to reminders of death stem from trauma-related cognitive impairments. Ninety-three participants were recruited via the psychology department at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Participants were administered a working memory task and randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a mortality salience prime, or a neutral prime. Though it was hypothesized that working memory performance and PTSD symptoms would moderate the effect of MS on death-thought accessibility and judgment of moral transgressions, the results did not provide support these hypotheses. Possible explanations and future directions are discussed.