Posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, posttraumatic cognitions, and dissociative experiences following rape: The roles of rape tactics and peritraumatic tonic immobility.

ABSTRACT: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a common psychopathological outcome of sexual assault. Peritraumatic tonic immobility (TI; involuntary "freezing") during sexual assault has been linked with worsened PTSD symptoms, yet little research has examined these effects longitudinally. The present study aimed to examine the effects of TI on the severity of PTSD symptoms, negative posttraumatic cognitions (NPC), and dissociative symptoms over 1 year among 112 female survivors of sexual assault aged 16-30 years. Multilevel linear regressions evaluated the effects of time since sexual assault, TI severity, and their interaction on the severity of PTSD symptoms, NPC (total, blame, self, world), and dissociative symptoms. Results indicated that TI severity was associated with increased NPC, β =  

SUBMITTER: Barbano AC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12676996 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature