Background and objectives: Avoidance, inherent to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology, is theoretically and empirically linked to the maintenance of PTSD symptom severity. While research indicates traumatized individuals avoid positive and trauma memories, several PTSD treatments focus exclusively on traumatic memories. We examined the mediating role of PTSD's avoidance in the relationship between processing positive memories and PTSD cluster severity (intrusion, mood/cognitions, arousal). Methods: Sixty-five trauma-exposed college students (M_age = 22.52; 86.10% female) were randomly assigned to 3 conditions: narrating/processing, writing/processing, or control (same task across baseline [T0] and follow-up [T1]). Results: Half-longitudinal mediation models indicated participation in the narrating vs. writing and control conditions predicted decreases in T1 intrusion severity via reduction in T1 avoidance severity. Similarly, participation in the narrating vs. writing and control conditions predicted decreases in T1 mood/cognitions' severity via reduction in T1 avoidance severity. Participation in the narrating vs. writing condition predicted decreases in T1 arousal severity via reduction in T1 avoidance severity. Limitations: Data was obtained from an analogue small-size sample of university students. In addition, sessions were only 6–8 days apart, with the processing component of each session lasting ∼30 min. Conclusions: Processing positive memories may relate to lower PTSD severity via a reduction in PTSD's avoidance, paralleling effects of processing trauma memories. Our findings support future investigations of the mechanisms underlying impacts of positive memory processing in the context of PTSD treatments.

背景和目标：避免是创伤后应激障碍 (PTSD) 症状学所固有的，在理论上和经验上与维持 PTSD 症状严重程度有关。虽然研究表明受过创伤的人会避免积极的和创伤性记忆，但一些 PTSD 治疗只关注创伤性记忆。我们研究了 PTSD 回避在处理积极记忆和 PTSD 集群严重程度（侵入、情绪/认知、唤醒）之间的关系中的中介作用。方法：65 名受过创伤的大学生（M_年龄 = 22.52；86.10% 女性）被随机分配到 3 个条件：叙述/处理、写作/处理或控制（基线任务相同 [T0] 和随访 [ T1]）。结果：半纵向中介模型表明参与叙述与写作和控制条件预测通过降低 T1 回避严重性来降低 T1 侵入严重性。同样，参与叙述与写作和控制条件预测通过降低 T1 回避严重性来降低 T1 情绪/认知的严重性。参与叙述与写作条件预测通过降低 T1 回避严重程度来降低 T1 唤醒严重程度。局限性：数据来自一个模拟的小规模大学生样本。此外，会话仅相隔 6-8 天，每个会话的处理部分持续约 30 分钟。结论: 处理积极的记忆可能通过减少 PTSD 的回避和处理创伤记忆的平行效应来降低 PTSD 的严重程度。我们的研究结果支持未来研究在 PTSD 治疗背景下积极记忆处理的潜在影响机制。