Is trauma the product of over- or under-elaboration? : A critique of the personal construct model of posttraumatic stress disorder

Abstract

A clinical sample of people diagnosed with PTSD (n = 36) was tested using repertory grids and questionnaires. The study examined the viability of the personal construct model of PTSD (Sewell et al., 1996). Results did not support the model, and the authors critique the methodology previously used to support it. In contrast to the model's alleged under-elaboration of the traumatic event as a causative factor of PTSD, the present study provided evidence of the exact opposite-namely, that the traumatic event appears as over-elaborated within the construct systems of traumatized individuals. New ways of analysis as well as new technologies are proposed.