Different Types of Traumatic Exposure Link Divergently to PTSD and CPTSD

This study aimed to profile at-risk individuals in the aftermath of exposure to war-related traumatic events. We examined the contribution of distal and proximal as well as direct and indirect traumatic exposure, including disturbing social media content, to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex PTSD (CPTSD) among Israeli citizens following the October 7 attack. Five hundred eighty-two participants (M age = 44.81 ± 13.63) reported traumatic exposure, PTSD, and CPTSD a year before the attack and again 2 months after the attack and the beginning of the Israel-Hamas War. Logistic and multinomial regressions were conducted to determine which types of traumatic exposure were associated with PTSD and which were linked with CPTSD. Results showed that both distal and proximal, as well as direct and indirect exposure, were related to PTSD. However, when separating PTSD from CPTSD, indirect exposure, both distal (i.e., familial Holocaust background) and proximal (i.e., indirect exposure to the Israel-Hamas War), was related to a higher risk for PTSD only. In contrast, direct exposure, both distal (i.e., lifetime exposure) and proximal (i.e., direct exposure to the Israel-Hamas War), was related to an elevated risk for CPTSD. Moreover, indirect proximal exposure (i.e., media exposure to the Israel-Hamas War) was also related to CPTSD. These results suggest that different types of exposures are associated with diverse posttraumatic outcomes. Notably, exposure to uncensored disturbing media content may be associated with grave posttraumatic reactions, comparable to those linked to direct exposure.