| Abstract [eng] |
Although Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) was only officially defined in the 2018 edition of the ICD-11, research suggests that its prevalence may be even higher than that of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Due to its comorbidity with depressive symptoms and diagnostic challenges in Lithuania, CPTSD often remains unrecognized, which may prevent individuals from receiving the help they need. Moreover, a growing body of research emphasizes the importance of trauma-related shame in the symptomatology of CPTSD. Therefore, the aim of this study was to identify and evaluate the associations between traumatic experiences, post-traumatic stress, complex post-traumatic stress, depressive symptoms, and trauma-related shame in a sample of treatment-seeking adults. The study included 143 adults (80.4% women; mean age = 38.56 years, SD = 12.32). The following instruments were used in the study: the International Trauma Exposure Measure (ITEM; Hyland et al., 2021), the International Trauma Questionnaire (ITQ; Cloitre et al., 2018), the short form of the Trauma-Related Shame Inventory (TRSI–SF; Grau et al., 2022), and the International Depression Questionnaire (IDQ; Shevlin et al., 2023). The study sample demonstrated a higher prevalence of CPTSD risk (41.3%) than PTSD risk (23.1%), while the prevalence of depression risk reached 42.7%. Correlational analysis revealed that all examined constructs were significantly and positively associated with one another, and group comparisons showed that individuals belonging to the CPTSD risk group experienced higher levels of trauma-related shame. Regression analysis indicated that only internalized trauma-related shame predicted the severity of PTSD, CPTSD, and depressive symptoms, whereas the moderating role of trauma-related shame in the relationship between cumulative trauma and CPTSD, as well as between cumulative trauma and depressive symptom levels, was not confirmed. The findings highlight the strong role of internalized shame in the context of CPTSD and depression and encourage the development of effective interventions aimed at reducing trauma-related shame. |
