Aggression in the Face of Trauma and the Role of Hostile Attention Bias in a Sample of Psychiatric Patients

Previous research has found an association between the level of aggression and perceptual sensitivity to hostile cues in ambiguous situations in a student population. An association with the existence of trauma was suggested. The association between trauma symptoms, perceptual sensitivity to subtle facial cues of anger (hostile attention bias), and aggression was further explored in a sample of 83 psychiatric patients. In line with literature, a cross-sectional association between trauma symptoms and aggression was found. However, perceptual sensitivity was not associated with self-reported aggression nor with trauma symptoms in this population. The results indicate that the clear link between aggression and perceptual sensitivity thus far reported in students, is not necessarily generalizable to a population of psychiatric patients.