Body-Related Emotions in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Childhood Sexual Abuse
Abstract
Traumatic experiences are associated with emotions such as anxiety, shame, guilt, disgust, and anger. For patients who have experienced child sexual abuse, these emotions might be triggered by perceptions of their own body. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent of the association of the body to traumatic experiences and to discern the emotions linked to trauma-associated body areas. Ninety-seven female participants were assigned to four groups: post-traumatic stress disorder following child sexual abuse with co-occurring borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder following child sexual abuse without co-occurring borderline personality disorder, borderline personality disorder without post-traumatic stress disorder, and healthy controls. Participants rated 26 body areas regarding their association with trauma and 7 emotions. Emotions were assessed by questionnaires. Results suggest that specific areas of the body are associated with trauma and linked to highly aversive emotions. In post-traumatic stress disorder patients, the areas associated with highly negative emotions were the pubic region and inner thighs. Thus, the patient's body may act as a trigger for traumatic memories.
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Among survivors of childhood sexual trauma, body awareness has been found to trigger strongly aversive emotions such as anxiety, shame, guilt, disgust, and anger, as well as dissociative states.
“Among survivors of childhood sexual trauma, body awareness has been found to trigger strongly aversive emotions such as anxiety, shame, guilt, disgust, and anger, as well as dissociative states [45, 46].”
From Childhood trauma and subclinical PTSD symptoms predict adverse effects and worse outcomes across two mindfulness-based programs for active depression (2025) · cites this paper as [45]
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- Authors
- Dyer, A. S., Feldmann, R. E., & Borgmann, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Mannheim (DE)
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- Central Institute of Mental Health (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Dyer, Anne S.
- ORCID
- Dyer, Anne S.
- Venue
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-08-18
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 627-640
- ISSN
- 1053-8712 (ISSN-L)
- 1547-0679
- OpenAlex
- W1821868230
- Cited by
- 48
- References
- 29
- Citations by year
- 2025: 7 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 4.96
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Child Sexual Abuse (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, child sexual abuse, borderline personality disorder, shame, guilt, disgust, anxiety, trauma triggers, pubic region, women survivors
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Body Image, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Female, Humans, Quality of Life, Self Concept, Shame, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic, Young Adult
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