Rumination, Posttraumatic Growth and Posttraumatic Symptoms in People Who Have Lived Highly Stressful Experiences

Abstract

Highly stressful events produce consequences on mental health; while mainly negative, recent findings suggest some positive consequences such as learning from one's own experience.  This study analyzed the influence of different types of rumination (brooding, reflection, intrusive and deliberate) and the subjective severity of event on posttraumatic growth —ptg— and posttraumatic symptoms —pts— in people who experienced a highly stressful event. Six hundred and twenty-nine people participated in the study, all older than 18 years (51 % men), inhabitants of the province of Concepcion, Chile. A hypothetical model was evaluated through a path analysis which showed that reflective and deliberate rumination influenced on the ptg, the negative and intrusive rumination influenced on the pts, that deliberate rumination mediated the relationship between other forms of rumination and subjective severity with the ptg, and intrusive rumination mediated the relationship between the subjective severity and the negative rumination with the pts. The model fit indices were satisfactory. A multi-group analysis showed no difference in the model between men and women. Finally, we discuss the relevance of these findings for the prediction of consequences after a highly stressful event and its relation to the prevention and psychological intervention in persons exposed.