scholarly journals Autobiographical memory: A candidate latent vulnerability mechanism for psychiatric disorder following childhood maltreatment

2017 ◽  
Vol 211 (4) ◽  
pp. 216-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eamon J. McCrory ◽  
Vanessa B. Puetz ◽  
Eleanor A. Maguire ◽  
Andrea Mechelli ◽  
Amy Palmer ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Salience Network ◽  
Cue Words ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Positive Memories ◽  
Negative Memories

BackgroundAltered autobiographical memory (ABM) functioning has been implicated in the pathogenesis of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder and may represent one mechanism by which childhood maltreatment elevates psychiatric risk.AimsTo investigate the impact of childhood maltreatment on ABM functioning.MethodThirty-four children with documented maltreatment and 33 matched controls recalled specific ABMs in response to emotionally valenced cue words during functional magnetic resonance imaging.ResultsChildren with maltreatment experience showed reduced hippocampal and increased middle temporal and parahippocampal activation during positive ABM recall compared with peers. During negative ABM recall they exhibited increased amygdala activation, and greater amygdala connectivity with the salience network.ConclusionsChildhood maltreatment is associated with altered ABM functioning, specifically reduced activation in areas encoding specification of positive memories, and greater activation of the salience network for negative memories. This pattern may confer latent vulnerability to future depression and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Childbirth and Posttraumatic Stress Responses

2006 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 259-267 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eelco Olde ◽  
Rolf J. Kleber ◽  
Onno van der Hart ◽  
Victor J.M. Pop
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Responses ◽  
Rating Scales ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Traumatic Experience ◽  
Event Scale ◽  
Self Rating ◽  
The Impact

Childbirth has been identified as a possible traumatic experience, leading to traumatic stress responses and even to the development of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The current study investigated the psychometric properties of the Dutch version of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) in a group of women who recently gave birth (N = 435). In addition, a comparison was made between the original IES and the IES-R. The scale showed high internal consistency (α = 0.88). Using confirmatory factor analysis no support was found for a three-factor structure of an intrusion, an avoidance, and a hyperarousal factor. Goodness of fit was only reasonable, even after fitting one intrusion item on the hyperarousal scale. The IES-R correlated significantly with scores on depression and anxiety self-rating scales, as well as with scores on a self-rating scale of posttraumatic stress disorder. Although the IES-R can be used for studying posttraumatic stress reactions in women who recently gave birth, the original IES proved to be a better instrument compared to the IES-R. It is concluded that adding the hyperarousal scale to the IES-R did not make the scale stronger.

scholarly journals Impaired Autobiographical Memory Flexibility in Iranian Trauma Survivors With Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 294-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maryam Piltan ◽  
Ali Reza Moradi ◽  
Mohammad Hassan Choobin ◽  
Parviz Azadfallah ◽  
Sara Eskandari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Emotional Disturbance ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Trauma Survivors ◽  
Community Control ◽  
Memory Specificity ◽  
Memory Flexibility

Reduced ability to retrieve specific autobiographical memories is a well-defined feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and science-driven interventions have emerged to improve memory specificity and thereby symptoms. However, research in depressed samples indicates that the ability to flexibly move between retrieval of specific and general memory types (i.e., memory flexibility) may more accurately conceptualize autobiographical memory deficits in emotional disturbance. In this study, we evaluated memory specificity and memory flexibility in Iranian trauma survivors ( N = 63) with and without PTSD relative to community control participants. Trauma-exposed participants had experienced a serious road-traffic accident. Results indicated that individuals with PTSD experienced reduced memory specificity and memory flexibility relative to trauma-exposed participants and community control participants. A small sample size limits the strength of conclusions, although good statistical power was obtained. Findings suggest that reduced memory flexibility may be a transdiagnostic marker of emotional disturbance and support further development of memory flexibility interventions for PTSD.

scholarly journals Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Autobiographical Memories in Everyday Life

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 325-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Schönfeld ◽  
Anke Ehlers
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Autobiographical Memory ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Trauma Survivors ◽  
Autobiographical Memories ◽  
Self Reports ◽  
Distinct Features ◽  
Ptsd Group

Evidence from self-reports and laboratory studies suggests that recall of nontrauma autobiographical memories may be disturbed in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but investigations in everyday life are sparse. This study investigated unintentional nontrauma and trauma memories in trauma survivors with and without PTSD ( N = 52), who kept an autobiographical memory diary for a week. We investigated whether unintentional nontrauma memories show an overgeneral memory bias and further memory abnormalities in people with PTSD, and whether unintentional trauma memories show distinct features. Compared to the no-PTSD group, the PTSD group recorded fewer nontrauma memories, which were more overgeneral, more often from before the trauma or related to the trauma, were perceived as distant, and led to greater dwelling. Trauma memories were more vivid, recurrent, and present and led to greater suppression and dwelling. Within the PTSD group, the same features distinguished trauma and nontrauma memories. Results are discussed regarding theories of autobiographical memory and PTSD.

scholarly journals Direct and Indirect Links Between Childhood Maltreatment, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Women's Health

2008 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 125-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ariel J. Lang ◽  
Gregory A. Aarons ◽  
James Gearity ◽  
Charlene Laffaye ◽  
Leslie Satz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Women’S Health ◽  
Women's Health ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Childhood Maltreatment ◽  
Stress Disorder

Foundations of posttraumatic stress disorder: Does early life trauma lead to adult posttraumatic stress disorder?

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 477-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura C. Pratchett ◽  
Rachel Yehuda
Keyword(s):  
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ◽  
Posttraumatic Stress ◽  
Childhood Abuse ◽  
Childhood Trauma ◽  
Stress Disorder ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Subsequent Development ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
Early Life Trauma ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe effects of childhood abuse are diverse, and although pathology is not the only outcome, psychiatric illness, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), can develop. However, adult PTSD is less common among those who experienced single-event traumas as children than it is among those who experienced childhood abuse. In addition, PTSD is more common among adults than children who experienced childhood abuse. Such evidence raises doubt about the direct, causal link between childhood trauma and adult PTSD. The experience of childhood trauma, and in particular abuse, has been identified as a risk factor for subsequent development of PTSD following exposure to adult trauma, and a substantial literature identifies revictimization as a factor that plays a pivotal role in this trajectory. The literature on the developmental effects of childhood abuse and pathways to revictimization, when considered in tandem with the biological effects of early stress in animal models, may provide some explanations for this. Specifically, it seems possible that permanent sensitization of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis and behavioral outcomes are a consequence of childhood abuse, and these combine with the impact of retraumatization to sustain, perpetuate, and amplify symptomatology of those exposed to maltreatment in childhood.

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