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Ptsd Symptomology And Relationship Dysfunction: Is Emotional Reactivity The Culprit?, Kristin Lytle

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Emotional numbing, a symptom of PTSD, has been found to be strongly associated with relationship dysfunction (Erbes et al., 2011; Monson et al., 2012; Riggs et al., 1998; Solomon et al., 2008). It is thought that emotional numbing can negatively impact relationships, yet there is limited understanding of the mechanisms of emotional numbing. Information processing theory developed by Litz and Gray (2001) suggests that emotional numbing is not a generalized response to all emotions and is actually specific to positive emotions. They believe that people with PTSD actually experience heightened negative emotions which then lead to emotional numbing to positive …