The Relationships of Distress Tolerance, Self-compassion to Posttraumatic Growth, the Mediating Role of Cognitive Fusion

The present research examined the direct and indirect relationship between distress tolerance, self-compassion, and cognitive fusion with posttraumatic growth in a sample of Iranian individuals that had childhood abuse experience. Participants included 190 Iranian individuals with childhood abuse experience (126 women and 64 men). Questionnaires were administered and all of the participants gave written informed consent at the pre-assessment. Results showed that there is a positive relationship between distress tolerance, self-compassion, and posttraumatic growth. Another result showed that there is a negative relationship between cognitive fusion and posttraumatic growth. We tested, via structural equation model, whether distress tolerance and self-compassion predicted posttraumatic growth through cognitive fusion. Results showed cognitive fusion mediates the relationship between distress tolerance and posttraumatic growth but could not predict posttraumatic growth via self-compassion. In sum, the results of the present research showed that cognitive fusion is an important mediator factor in the relationships of distress tolerance with posttraumatic growth.