A meditation-based program called the Mantram Repetition Program (MRP) reduced hyperarousal symptoms in veterans with PTSD more than a non-specific psychotherapy control. Hyperarousal reductions were greater at both post-treatment and 8-week follow-up, and these reductions also helped decrease other PTSD symptom clusters. The findings suggest that targeting hyperarousal may be a key pathway to recovery from PTSD.
The four-dimensional (4-D) model proposes that trauma-related dissociation involves altered states of consciousness (TRASC) and normal waking consciousness (NWC) across time, thought, body, and emotion. In 142 patients with PTSD, 46 of whom also had a dissociative disorder, TRASC experiences were less frequent and more specifically linked to other dissociation measures, dissociative disorder comorbidity, and childhood sexual abuse than NWC experiences. However, the prediction that TRASC items would show lower intercorrelation was not supported. The model offers a promising way to understand dissociation in trauma-related disorders.
People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) who also have posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) report dissociative trauma-related altered states of consciousness (TRASC) less often than normal waking consciousness (NWC) symptoms. TRASC are more strongly linked to dissociative experiences and childhood emotional neglect than NWC symptoms are, especially in those with both BPD and PTSD. The prediction that TRASC symptoms would be less intercorrelated than NWC symptoms was not supported. The 4-D model categorizes trauma symptoms across time, thought, body, and emotion, each possibly experienced as normal or dissociative.
Inpatients with PTSD and those with co-occurring major dissociative disorders (DD) showed similar symptom profiles, axis I comorbidity, and high levels of childhood trauma. Only trauma-specific avoidance behavior and dissociative symptoms differed between groups. The authors conclude that PTSD and DD are affiliated disorders that could be classified within the same diagnostic category, supporting a typological model in which profound dissociation is specific to DD and accompanied by higher avoidance.