Jordyn M. Tipsword

• Master of Science
• Doctoral Candidate at University of Kentucky

Trauma-related mental contamination (MC) is a distressing sense of dirtiness that arises absent a contaminant following a traumatic event. Existing work has linked MC to more severe posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms among individuals with sexual trauma histories and has begun to characterize some aspects of the experience of trauma-related MC....

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are commonly comorbid and share prominent features (e.g., intrusions, safety behaviors, and avoidance). Excellent self-report and clinician-administered assessments exist for OCD and PTSD individually, but few assess both disorders, and even fewer provide instruction on di...

Mental contamination refers to feelings of dirtiness in response to thoughts, images, or memories. Mental contamination is frequently reported after sexual trauma and is associated with symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Differences in individuals' views about morality and purity may influence the severity of mental contamination, th...

Mental contamination (MC), the experience of dirtiness in the absence of a physical contaminant, has established links with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Shame and guilt have well-documented relationships with symptoms of PTSD and may play a role in the development and maintenance of MC. The present study examined whether trauma-related sha...

Trauma-related mental contamination, or a sense of dirtiness occurring without recent contact with a contaminant, is a distressing and often persistent phenomenon after sexual trauma. Following sexual trauma, cross-sectional work has demonstrated separate positive associations between mental contamination and (a) negative posttraumatic cognitions a...

Although cross-sectional research highlights similarities between symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among individuals exposed to sexual trauma, little is known about how these disorders relate over time. The goal of the present study was to examine whether 1) OCD symptoms prospectively predicte...

Mental contamination (MC)—a sense of dirtiness experienced without contacting an identifiable pollutant—is a distressing and enduring experience among many survivors of sexual trauma. MC has been linked to more frequent use of avoidant coping behaviors (e.g., washing behavior, substance use, binge eating) and approach coping. However, it is unclear...

Objective: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and nonmedical prescription opioid use (NMPOU) are linked. Much of the research documenting this association uses cross-sectional or longitudinal designs that describe patterns of use over extended intervals. The present study used a daily monitoring design to examine how daily fluctuations in PTSD sy...

Mental contamination (MC) – dirtiness experienced in the absence of contact with a physical contaminant – has been linked to PTSD symptoms following sexual trauma. However, there is limited understanding regarding the temporal nature of this association. The present study utilized experience sampling to examine associations between baseline and dai...

Obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs) represent a newly defined category of disorders that include obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), hoarding disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, trichotillomania, and skin-picking disorder. Many environmental factors can influence the etiology and expression of obsessive-compulsive symptoms and OCD,...

Mental contamination (MC)—feelings of dirtiness triggered by internal sources—is a potentially important yet understudied factor for survivors of sexual trauma. MC has been linked to disgust and other negative emotions (e.g., shame, guilt) cross-sectionally and in lab-based paradigms but not yet examined in ecological contexts. Additionally, links...

Research has demonstrated that individuals experiencing trauma-related shame exhibit greater posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. However, little research has investigated additional factors relevant to the shame–PTSD relationship. The current study examined the role of avoidance and approach coping in accounting for the trauma-related sh...