Time course of attentional bias and its relationship with PTSD symptoms in bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only child
Creators: name: Eli, Buzohre
name: Chen, Yaru
name: Zhang, Jing
name: Huang, Xin
name: Wang, Qian
name: Ma, Zhujiang
name: Yv, Yang
name: Liu, ZhengKui
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy
subject: Mental Health

description: <b>Background:</b> The death of a child is a highly traumatic event for parents and often leads to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Attentional bias has been demonstrated in the onset and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. <b>Objective:</b> This study aimed to investigate the time course of attentional bias among bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only child (Shidu parents), and to examine its relationship with PTSD symptoms and symptom clusters. <b>Methods:</b> Shidu parents (<i>n</i> = 38; 50–72 years of age) completed a dot-probe task with negative (trauma-related), positive, and neutral images at four stimulus presentation times (250, 500, 750, and 1250 ms). PTSD symptoms were measured by the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5). <b>Results:</b> We observed difficulty in disengaging from both negative and positive stimuli at 750 ms and attentional bias away from negative stimuli at 1250 ms. At 1250 ms, attentional avoidance of trauma-related stimuli was positively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores. Difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli was negatively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores as well as negative alterations in cogniti and mood scores. <b>Conclusions:</b> These findings enhance our understanding of attentional bias and cognitive–affective processing in PTSD. This study provides evidence that attentional bias (difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli and bias away from negative stimuli) are correlated with PTSD symptoms and certain symptom clusters. The current study examined the time course of attentional bias among bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only child through a dot-probe task and investigated its relationship with PTSD symptoms and symptom clusters.Participants exhibited difficulty in disengaging from both trauma-related and positive stimuli at 750 ms and exhibited attentional avoidance of trauma-related stimuli at 1250 ms.Attentional avoidance of trauma-related stimuli was positively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores. Difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli was negatively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores as well as negative alterations in cognition and mood scores. The current study examined the time course of attentional bias among bereaved Chinese parents who have lost their only child through a dot-probe task and investigated its relationship with PTSD symptoms and symptom clusters. Participants exhibited difficulty in disengaging from both trauma-related and positive stimuli at 750 ms and exhibited attentional avoidance of trauma-related stimuli at 1250 ms. Attentional avoidance of trauma-related stimuli was positively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores. Difficulty in disengaging from positive stimuli was negatively correlated with PCL-5 total and intrusion scores as well as negative alterations in cognition and mood scores.