Although the association between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and social support is well documented, few studies have tested the causal pathways explaining this association at several points in the acute post-trauma recovery period or examined whether the association varies for different sources of social support. To address these gaps, 151 community individuals (mean age = 37.20 years, 69.5% women) exposed to trauma within the previous 6 months were recruited to complete measures of PTSD and social support from intimate partners, friends, and relatives four times in 1 year. In line with recent recommendations for research on social support and PTSD symptoms, random intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM) was used to examine dynamic changes between PTSD severity and social support over time. The pattern of RI-CLPM cross-lagged coefficients indicated that positive deviations from one’s expected stable level of total social support (across all sources) sped up the recovery of PTSD symptoms at the end of the post-trauma year, and more severe PTSD symptoms than expected based on one’s expected stable level of PTSD started eroding social support midway through the assessment year. When specific sources of social support were analyzed separately, the association between within-person increases in social support from friends at any given time point accelerated the recovery from PTSD across the entire year. Among participants with intimate partners (n = 53), intimate partner support did not predict PTSD symptoms, but more severe PTSD symptoms at any given time point predicted less support at the following time point. Results from this longitudinal study provide additional support for the bidirectional relationship between PTSD and social support over time and suggest that perceived social support from friends may be especially helpful during trauma recovery.

Background: Veterans are at high risk for suicide; emotion dysregulation may confer additional risk. Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is a well-supported intervention for suicide attempt reduction in individuals with emotion dysregulation, but is complex and multi-component. The skills group component of DBT (DBT-SG) has been associated with reduced suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation. DBT-SG for Veterans at risk for suicide has not been studied.Aims: This study sought to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of DBT-SG in Veterans and to gather preliminary evidence for its efficacy in reducing suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation and increasing coping skills.Method: Veterans with suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation (N = 17) enrolled in an uncontrolled pilot study of a 26-week DBT-SG as an adjunct to mental health care-as-usual.Results: Veterans attended an average 66% of DBT-SG sessions. Both Veterans and their primary mental health providers believed DBT-SG promoted Veterans’ use of coping skills to reduce suicide risk, and they were satisfied with the treatment. Paired sample t-tests comparing baseline scores with later scores indicated suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation decreased at post-treatment (d = 1.88, 2.75, respectively) and stayed reduced at 3-month follow-up (d = 2.08, 2.59, respectively). Likewise, skillful coping increased at post-treatment (d = 0.85) and was maintained at follow-up (d = 0.91).Conclusions: An uncontrolled pilot study indicated DBT-SG was feasible, acceptable, and demonstrated potential efficacy in reducing suicidal ideation and emotion dysregulation among Veterans. A randomized controlled study of DBT-SG with Veterans at risk for suicide is warranted.