Enhanced association between perceptual stimuli and trauma-related information in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms (original) (raw)
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Selective processing of trauma-relevant words in posttraumatic stress disorder
Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 1995
This study investigated Stroop color-naming of trauma-related words in male Vietnam combat veterans with (n = 42) and without (n = 15) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The anxiety connotations of the words were either very specific to the Vietnam experience (point, lead), general but still Vietnam-related (medevac, bodybags), or general and not specifically related to Vietnam (crash, griefi. All three categories of words slowed color-naming compared to neutral control words. This was true for all subjects, but the effect was more pronounced in veterans with PTSD. The generally negative but still Vietnam-related words caused more interference in colornaming than did the other categories of words, which was attributed to their ability to access Vietnam combat memories more efficiently. There was a free recall and recognition memory advantage for the emotion words, suggesting that the Stroop interference effect was mediated by an attentional bias towards the anxiety-related material rather than avoidance of it. Veterans with PTSD were slower in color-naming overall, an effect that could not be attributed to group differences in psychiatric medication, depression, or anxiety.
Perceptual processing advantages for trauma-related visual cues in post-traumatic stress disorder
Psychological Medicine, 2012
Background. Intrusive re-experiencing in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) comprises distressing sensory impressions from the trauma that seem to occur ' out of the blue '. A key question is how intrusions are triggered. One possibility is that PTSD is characterized by a processing advantage for stimuli that resemble those that accompanied the trauma, which would lead to increased detection of such cues in the environment.
Trauma Memory Processing in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Psychotherapy: A Unifying Framework
Journal of Traumatic Stress, 2018
Trauma memory processing (TMP) is an empirically supported approach to psychotherapy for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, TMP is not a single, uniform intervention but instead a paradigm that can be operationalized through a variety of component procedures that have not been systematically elucidated and formally tested. Based on findings from phenomenological/structural and neuroimaging research, a central feature of PTSD is theorized to be the involuntary immersion in trauma memories with diminished awareness or negative appraisals of self and current context. Such intrusive reexperiencing-which is epitomized by, but not limited to, flashbacks-is postulated to underlie PTSD's avoidance, altered emotions and cognitions, dissociative, and hyperarousal/hypervigilance symptoms; it is thus a logical target for TMP. The varied approaches to TMP for PTSD are conceptualized as having the common goal of activation of the neural networks in the brain that underlie two key capacities disrupted by intrusive reexperiencing in PTSD: intentional self-referential retrieval of memories and suppression of memory retrieval. Therefore, TMP is postulated to involve two core functions (purposeful reflective remembering and memory awareness in situ) and three essential types (in vivo, imaginal, and cognitive reappraisal). Several implications of this framework for clinical practice and research on TMP for PTSD are discussed. Trauma memory processing (TMP) is an empirically supported paradigm for adults and children with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Bisson, Roberts, Andrew, Cooper, & Lewis, 2013; Morina, Koerssen, & Pollet, 2016). However, TMP is conducted in a variety of ways that have both shared and unique features (Cloitre, 2015). This raises the questions of what, exactly, is the "trauma memory" that is being processed, and what actually is involved in its "processing"? The answer to these questions may seem obvious, but a closer examination is warranted in order to do justice to the varieties of TMP and to enable clinicians and scientists to operationally define and carefully, safely, and effectively conduct and test the process and outcomes of TMP. This paper draws on phenomenological/structural and neuroimaging PTSD research to hypothesize that a central feature of PTSD is an involuntary immersion in trauma memories with diminished or negative appraisals of self and current context.
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 2002
Memory deficits are implicated in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Intentional recall of trauma memories is frequently disorganised or incomplete, whilst involuntary memory fragments are easily triggered by perceptual cues. Ehlers and Clark (Behaviour Research and Therapy 38 (2000) 319-345) propose that a predominance of datadriven processing (i.e., processing sensory impressions) during the trauma contributes to the development of this memory pattern, and therefore, predicts PTSD symptoms after trauma. Two experimental studies examined these hypotheses. Student volunteers viewed a distressing videotape as an analogue for a traumatic event. In Study 1, cognitive processing was manipulated; in Study 2, extreme scorers on a processing screening questionnaire were preselected. The results indicated that data-driven processing is associated with the development of PTSD-like memories and analogue symptoms. r
Integration and organization of trauma memories and posttraumatic symptoms
2011
To examine the connection between trauma memory integration in personal memory, memory organization, and posttraumatic symptom severity, 47 trauma-exposed adults undertook an event-cuing task for their trauma memory and for a memorable nontraumatic negative event. Measures of integration provided by self-endorsement, rated by naïve judges, or calculated from the language of the memories, did not significantly predict posttraumatic stress disorder symptom severity after adjusting for age, time since the event, anxiety when disclosing, familiarity of the memory, and integration of nontrauma memory. Less use of casual connectives in the trauma memory narrative was associated with higher trauma-related avoidance (r = .33; p = .03), whereas self-rating of the trauma memory as disorganized was associated with higher overall symptom severity (r = .42; p = .006).
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 2003
Two studies of assault victims examined the roles of (a) disorganized trauma memories in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), (b) peritraumatic cognitive processing in the development of problematic memories and PTSD, and (c) ongoing dissociation and negative appraisals of memories in maintaining symptomatology. In the cross-sectional study (n ϭ 81), comparisons of current, past, and no-PTSD groups suggested that peritraumatic cognitive processing is related to the development of disorganized memories and PTSD. Ongoing dissociation and negative appraisals served to maintain PTSD symptoms. The prospective study (n ϭ 73) replicated these findings longitudinally. Cognitive and memory assessments completed within 12-weeks postassault predicted 6-month symptoms. Assault severity measures explained 22% of symptom variance; measures of cognitive processing, memory disorganization, and appraisals increased prediction accuracy to 71%.
Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 2012
Many past examinations of memory changes in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have focused on changes in memory for trauma. However, it is unclear if these mnemonic differences extend beyond the memory of the trauma to memory for other positive and negative information and if they are specific to individuals with PTSD or extend to other individuals who have experienced trauma. The present study examined the influences of trauma exposure and PTSD on an effect that may parallel tunnel memory in PTSD: the emotion-induced memory trade-off, whereby emotional aspects of an experience are remembered at the expense of the nonemotional context. Three groups of participants (25 with current PTSD, 27 who had experienced trauma but did not have current PTSD, and 25 controls who had neither experienced significant trauma nor met criteria for current PTSD) were shown complex visual scenes that included an item (positive, negative, or neutral) placed on a neutral background. Forty-five minutes later, participants underwent a recognition memory test for the items and backgrounds separately. An emotion-induced memory trade-off was said to occur when there was a significant difference in item and background memory for emotional scenes, but not for neutral scenes. Results indicated that people with PTSD, like the other groups, were more likely to remember positive and negative items than neutral items. Moreover, people with PTSD exhibited a memory trade-off comparable in magnitude to that exhibited by the non-trauma control group. In contrast, trauma-exposed people without a current diagnosis of PTSD did not show a trade-off, because they remembered items within scenes better than their accompanying contexts not only for emotional but also for neutral scenes. These results suggest that (1) the effect of emotion on memory for visual scenes is similar in people with PTSD and control participants, and (2) people who have experienced trauma, but do not have PTSD, may have a different way of attending to and remembering visual scenes, exhibiting less of a memory trade-off than either control participants or people with PTSD. Citation: Mickley Steinmetz KR, Scott LA, Smith D and Kensinger EA (2012) The effects of trauma exposure and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) on the emotion-induced memory tradeoff. Front. Integr. Neurosci. 6:34.
Conceptual & Perceptual Priming in PTSD
Cognitive models of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) assert that memory processes play a significant role in PTSD (see e.g., . Intrusive reexperiencing in PTSD has been linked to perceptual processing of trauma-related material with a corresponding hypothesized lack of conceptual processing. In an experimental study that included clinical participants with and without PTSD (N ϭ 50), perceptual priming and conceptual priming for trauma-related, general threat, and neutral words were investigated in a population with chronic trauma-induced complaints as a result of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The study used a new version of the word-stem completion task ) and a word-cue association task. It also assessed the role of dissociation in threat processing. Further evidence of enhanced perceptual priming in PTSD for trauma stimuli was found, along with evidence of lack of conceptual priming for such stimuli. Furthermore, this pattern of priming for trauma-related words was associated with PTSD severity, and state dissociation and PTSD group made significant contributions to predicting perceptual priming for trauma words. The findings shed light on the importance of state dissociation in trauma-related information processing and posttraumatic symptoms.