A Systematic Review of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Communication Research: Implications for Resilience Communication and Organizing

ABSTRACT Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the psychological response to experiencing and/or witnessing a traumatic event. With over 100 million of the global adult population afflicted with this disorder, more systematic research on PTSD is essential, and the COVID-19 pandemic increased that need. Extant research suggests communication lies at the center of PTSD prevention, symptom mitigation, and recovery, yet communication researchers have largely failed to address the disorder. To advance theory and empirical research, this paper presents a systematic review of PTSD studies in communication literature. Content and computational analyses of 84 relevant articles from three databases show that PTSD research primarily focuses on the military, journalists, and survivors of terrorist attacks. In addition, those with PTSD rely on social networks and support to combat social stigma and self-isolation. Based on these findings, we present four fruitful areas for future research on PTSD across diverse subfields: (1) social networks, (2) diverse populations, (3) social identity, and (4) resilience.