Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 38, Issue 3, September 2007, Pages 256-268
Behavior Therapy

A Laboratory-Based Study of the Relationship Between Childhood Abuse and Experiential Avoidance Among Inner-City Substance Users: The Role of Emotional Nonacceptance

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2006.08.006Get rights and content

Abstract

Despite the theorized centrality of experiential avoidance in abuse-related psychopathology, empirical examinations of the relationship between childhood abuse and experiential avoidance remain limited. The present study adds to the extant literature on this relationship, providing a laboratory-based investigation of the relationships between childhood sexual, physical, and emotional abuse, experiential avoidance (indexed as unwillingness to persist on 2 psychologically distressing laboratory tasks), and self-reported emotional nonacceptance among a sample of 76 inner-city treatment-seeking substance users. As hypothesized, results provide evidence for heightened experiential avoidance and emotional nonacceptance among individuals with moderate-severe sexual, physical, and emotional abuse (compared to individuals reporting none-low abuse). However, although emotional nonacceptance was associated with increased risk for experiential avoidance, it mediated the relationship between childhood abuse and experiential avoidance only for emotional abuse. As such, results suggest that one mechanism through which emotional abuse in particular leads to experiential avoidance is emotional nonacceptance. Findings suggest the utility of interventions aimed at decreasing experiential avoidance and promoting emotional acceptance among abused individuals.

Section snippets

Participants

Participants were 76 inpatient residents in a drug and alcohol abuse treatment center in Northeast Washington, DC. Treatment at this center involves a mix of strategies adopted from Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous, as well as group sessions focused on relapse prevention and functional analysis. The center requires complete abstinence from drugs and alcohol (including any form of pharmacological treatment, such as methadone), with the exception of caffeine and nicotine; regular drug testing

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    The authors wish to thank Walter Askew of the Salvation Army Harbor Lights Residential Treatment Center of Washington, DC for assistance with participant recruitment, and Matthew T. Tull for his valuable feedback on previous versions of this manuscript.

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