No Distance is Too Far Between Friends: Associations of Comfortable Interpersonal Distance with PTSD and Anxiety Symptoms in Traumatized Individuals

The study investigated interpersonal distance regulation and preparatory attentional processing in firefighters with multiple duty-related trauma exposure. Participants completed an experimental task that measures comfortable interpersonal distance. During the task, event-related potentials were recorded to assess attentional processing as reflected in the P1 and N1 components. Trauma-related psychopathology was assessed using the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV and the state version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. We found that participants who did not choose a closer distance towards friends as compared to strangers experienced greater anxiety post-trauma. On a neurophysiological level, participants who showed attentional avoidance towards strangers reported more PTSD symptoms. By contrast, participants who showed hypervigilant attention towards strangers reported greater anxiety.