Autobiographical memory for stressful events: the role of autobiographical memory in posttraumatic stress disorder.
Published
Journal Article
To provide the three-way comparisons needed to test existing theories, we compared (1) most-stressful memories to other memories and (2) involuntary to voluntary memories (3) in 75 community dwelling adults with and 42 without a current diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Each rated their three most-stressful, three most-positive, seven most-important and 15 word-cued autobiographical memories, and completed tests of personality and mood. Involuntary memories were then recorded and rated as they occurred for 2 weeks. Standard mechanisms of cognition and affect applied to extreme events accounted for the properties of stressful memories. Involuntary memories had greater emotional intensity than voluntary memories, but were not more frequently related to traumatic events. The emotional intensity, rehearsal, and centrality to the life story of both voluntary and involuntary memories, rather than incoherence of voluntary traumatic memories and enhanced availability of involuntary traumatic memories, were the properties of autobiographical memories associated with PTSD.
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Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Rubin, DC; Dennis, MF; Beckham, JC
Published Date
- September 2011
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 20 / 3
Start / End Page
- 840 - 856
PubMed ID
- 21489820
Pubmed Central ID
- 21489820
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1090-2376
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.concog.2011.03.015
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- United States