Cancer-related Posttraumatic growth and Posttraumatic stress disorder: how are they connected and what are their correlates?

PurposeCancer is a stressful life event that can lead to specific posttraumatic reactions. Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Posttraumatic growth (PTG) are two main posttraumatic reactions that are related to each other, and both have different correlates.MethodsThe linearity of the relationship between PTG and PTSD as well as the different socio-demographic, cancer-related, emotional and psychological correlates were analyzed in patients with cancer (N = 126).ResultsThe relationship between PTG and PTSD was found to be more curvilinear than linear. PTSD was more strongly related to psychological factors (e.g., anxious preoccupation, hope-helplessness, resilience) while PTG was strongly related to existential factors (e.g., self-transcendence, religiosity).ConclusionThe results show that cancer-related PTSD and PTG are specifically related constructs which are related differently to particular correlates.