Monitoring and blunting: Implications for combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder

The current study examines the impact of monitoring-blunting strategies on combat-related psychopathology among soldiers who suffered a combat stress reaction episode during the 1982 Lebanon War. For this purpose, we assessed subjects' habitual use of monitoring and blunting, their mental health status 2 years are participation in war (PTSD, general psychiatric symptomatology, and problems in social functioning), their trauma-related intrusion and avoidance tendencies, and their habitual coping styles. Results show that soldiers who rely primarily on monitoring strategies suffer the least from trauma-related psychopathology. The use of blunting strategies was associated with more severe psychopathology. In addition, monitors tend to rely on problem-focused coping strategies, while blunters tend to rely on emotion-focused coping strategies. Results are discussed in terms of Miller's conceptualization of styles of information seeking under threat.