Emotional Deregulation, Dissociative Experiences and Cognitive Failures in Patients with and without Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

Objective: Studies have found that PTSD patients are more likely to experience various physical and mental health problems. This study was conducted to compare emotional deregulation, dissociative experiences and cognitive failures in persons with and without post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Method: This research was causal–comparative. The sample consisted of 150 persons with and without PTSS (75 in each group) referring to forensic medicine centers of Ardabil city. The subjects were selected via convenient sampling method. Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire-Short Form (CERQ-SF), Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ), and Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) were utilized for data collection. Results: Multivariate analysis of variance showed that mean scores of emotional deregulation, dissociative experiences, and cognitive failures were significantly higher in persons with PTSS (p<0.01). Conclusion: The findings indicated that modifying dissociative experiences and cognitive failures, and enhancing emotional regulation skills may help to mitigate posttraumatic stress symptoms.