Publications by authors named "Vanessa Tirone"

Article Synopsis
  • PTSD often coexists with chronic pain, and this study investigates whether treating PTSD can influence pain outcomes.
  • A group of 125 veterans participated in a 3-week cognitive processing therapy program and showed a slight decrease in pain interference during treatment.
  • Results indicated that higher pain interference levels predicted more severe PTSD and depressive symptoms, and reducing pain interference was linked to improvements in PTSD severity, suggesting potential benefits of integrated treatment approaches for veterans.
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: Betrayal traumas have a particularly deleterious effect on mental health. Although social support is a robust predictor of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, it is not clear what factors may impact this relationship among betrayal trauma survivors. : This study sought to describe the association between social support and PTSD symptom severity among survivors of betrayal trauma and examine whether methodological, sample, trauma, and social support characteristics moderated this association.

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Social support is one of the most robust predictors of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Yet, little is known about factors that moderate the relationship between social support and PTSD symptom severity. This meta-analysis estimated the overall effect size of the relationship between self-reported social support and PTSD severity and tested meaningful demographic, social support, and trauma characteristics that may moderate this association using both cross-sectional and longitudinal effect sizes.

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Background: The experience of Military Sexual Trauma (MST) in the form of sexual assault and sexual harassment is common during service in the U.S. Armed Forces and often leads to adverse health outcomes including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

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Article Synopsis
  • Sexual revictimization, or experiencing multiple incidents of rape, is linked to poor mental health, especially among civilians, but is less researched in veterans.* -
  • The study compared veterans with histories of revictimization to those with a single rape incident during a 3-week cognitive processing therapy for PTSD, finding that revictimized veterans reported higher distress before treatment.* -
  • Despite entering treatment with greater distress, both groups benefitted equally, indicating that sexual revictimization did not affect rates of improvement in PTSD or depression symptoms during and after treatment.*
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Untreated perinatal depression and anxiety are significant public health problems that disproportionately affect ethno-racial minorities. The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of a coordinated perinatal mental health care model, focusing on socially-disadvantaged, ethno-racial minority women, with an intersectional-feminist perspective. The treatment model was grounded in intersectionality theory with the aim of addressing complex social vulnerability factors in the context of perinatal mental health treatment.

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Objective: To determine whether sleep disturbance and symptoms of depression mediate the relationship between pain and cognitive dysfunction (CD) in a sample of 115 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Methods: A total of 115 patients with SLE completed questionnaires regarding pain, perceived stress, depression, sleep, and CD. Relationships among pain, sleep, depression, and CD were assessed using bootstrap mediation models, controlling for race/ethnicity, fibromyalgia diagnosis, current corticosteroid use, disease activity and damage, and perceived stress.

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Introduction: Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTS) are associated with increased risk of obstetric complications among pregnant survivors of trauma, abuse and interpersonal violence, but little is known about how PTS affects women's actual experiences of obstetric care. This study investigated the rate at which abuse history was detected by obstetricians, whether abuse survivors experienced more invasive exams than is typically indicated for routine obstetric care, and whether psychological distress was associated with abuse survivors' sense of self-efficacy when communicating their obstetric care needs.

Methods: Forty-one pregnant abuse survivors completed questionnaires about abuse history, current psychological distress and self-efficacy for communicating obstetric care needs and preferences.

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This pilot study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of tailored cognitive-behavioral resilience training (TCBRT) for trauma-exposed individuals with a variety of subsyndromal psychological symptoms. TCBRT is a brief, flexible intervention that allows individuals to select the areas they wish to target using common cognitive-behavioral change principles. There were 14 individuals (78.

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Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a serious problem throughout the world. Each year a substantial number of women experience psychological, physical, and sexual aggression from an intimate partner, with many women experiencing serious mental and physical health outcomes as a result of their victimization. A number of services are available to women who sustain IPV (e.

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Psychological entrapment occurs when people continue investing in unfavorable situations after already devoting too much to lose. We predicted that women who already invested more time and resources into their relationships would exert effort to improve their relationships following partner violence. In turn, these efforts were expected to increase women's subjective investment in, and thus, commitment to violent relationships.

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Article Synopsis
  • Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a widespread issue affecting women's mental and physical health globally, leading researchers to investigate reasons why women decide to stay or leave abusive relationships.
  • A study involving 84 female IPV victims examined how their perceptions of social networks and relationship commitment influenced their readiness to change their situation.
  • Results indicated that women's views on their social circles and their commitment to the relationship were linked to their decision-making about leaving, suggesting the importance of involving close friends and family in support interventions.
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Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a serious, devastating, and prevalent problem. IPV places women at risk for negative health consequences, including increased mental health disorders. The majority of research to date has focused on mental health disorders among women in domestic violence shelters, and research is needed that examines mental health disorders among a broader range of women experiencing IPV.

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Sexual compliance involves willing consent to unwanted sex despite a lack of sexual desire.The authors hypothesized that compliance would be significantly more common among women with sexually coercive partners because compliance allows women to bypass possible coercion. Undergraduate women in heterosexual relationships ( N = 76) responded to self-report measures of partner sexually coercive behavior at baseline and sexual compliance 6 weeks later.

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Comorbid substance use and posttraumatic stress disorders (SUD-PTSD) predict poorer treatment outcomes. Self-medication has been forwarded as a symptom-level explanatory model. However, research has yet to be conducted that can provide detailed examination of SUD and PTSD symptom fluctuations over time as posited by such a process.

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