Autobiographical integration of trauma memories and repressive coping predict post‐traumatic stress symptoms in undergraduate students

Rubin

Siegler

2011

Emotion

162

164

Over 2,000 adults in their sixties completed the Centrality of Event Scale (CES) for the traumatic or negative event that now troubled them the most and for their most positive life event, as well as measures of current PTSD symptoms, depression, well-being, and personality. Consistent with the notion of a positivity bias in old age, the positive events were judged to be markedly more central to life story and identity than were the negative events. The centrality of positive events was unrelated to measures of PTSD symptoms and emotional distress, whereas the centrality of the negative event showed clear positive correlations with these measures. The centrality of the positive events increased with increasing time since the events, whereas the centrality of the negative events decreased. The life distribution of the positive events showed a marked peak in young adulthood whereas the life distribution for the negative events peaked at the participants’ present age. The positive events were mostly events from the cultural life script – that is, culturally shared representations of the timing of major transitional events. Overall, our findings show that positive and negative autobiographical events relate markedly differently to life story and identity. Positive events become central to life story and identity primarily through their correspondence with cultural norms. Negative events become central through mechanisms associated with emotional distress.

Section: Effects Of Emotional Valence On the Long-term Accessibility supporting

confidence: 73%

Two versions of life: Emotionally negative and positive life events have different roles in the organization of life story and identity.

Rubin

Siegler

2011

Emotion

162

164

“…Berntsen and Rubin (2006) introduced the Centrality of Event Scale (CES) to examine the relation between the centrality of the traumatic memory and PTSD symptoms. An increasing number of studies in a variety of populations and with different types of traumatic events have shown that people reporting greater centrality of their most negative/traumatic event also score higher on measures of PTSD symptoms (e.g., Berntsen & Rubin, 2006;Boals, 2010;2012;Brown et al, 2010;Lancaster et al, 2011;Perri & Keefe, 2008;Robinough & McNally, 2011;Rubin, Berntsen & Hutson, 2009;Smeets, Giesbrecht, Raymaekers, Shaw, & Merckelbach, 2010;Thomsen & Berntsen, 2009). This positive relationship persists in regression analyses controlling for such factors as depression, thought control, anxiety, dissociation, Neuroticism, repressive coping, selfconsciousness and severity of the trauma (e.g., Berntsen & Rubin, 2007;Lancaster et al, 2011;Smeets et al, 2010).…”

Section: Characteristics Of the Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influences of Event Centrality in Memory Models of PTSD

Fitzgerald

Applied Cognitive Psychology

Broadbridge

2015

The consequences of events for well-being are influenced by individual and situational factors that are often studied in isolation. In the research reported here a large (N = 489) nonclinical sample of college students reported their most traumatic event, PTSD symptoms, depressive symptoms, personality traits, and characteristics of their event memory. This study achieved three major goals. First, we identified the highest types of stress event types in this population as disruptions of interpersonal relationships, homicides/assaults on others, and assaults/accidents involving themselves. Second, we established that the effects of memory characteristics such as vividness, belief, and impact, on PTSD symptoms are mediated by the centrality of the event to identity. Third, we affirmed the hypothesis that a structural model of the influence of personality factors on PTSD symptoms has a higher level of concurrent validity if event centrality is included as a mediator of those influences.Stressful life events, such as exposure to actual or threatened death or sexual violence, can exert a powerful and longstanding impact on a person's life. Following the event, the person may develop Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In order to be diagnosed with this disorder, the person must have encountered a severe, traumatic event (or series of events) and be currently suffering from intrusion symptoms (e.g., having involuntary intrusive memories of the trauma), avoidance symptoms (e.g., avoiding thoughts of the trauma), negative alterations in cognitions and mood (e.g., persistent negative emotional state) and increased levels of arousal (e.g., hypervigilance; American Psychiatric Association, 2013).Although PTSD is conceptually understood as a sequela of a traumatic event, the prevalence of exposure to traumatic events is much higher than the prevalence of the disorder.Several studies have found the life time prevalence of stressful events satisfying the diagnostic trauma criteria to be in the range of 55-90 percent of the general population in the United States and Europe (Breslau et al., 1998;Darves-Bornoz et al., 2008;Kessler et al., 1995), whereas the life time prevalence of PTSD in the same populations is around 10 percent (Breslau et al., 1998;Darves-Bornoz et al., 2008;Kessler et al., 1995). In other words, many people encounter traumatic events without developing PTSD symptoms that are sufficiently severe and long lasting to qualify for a PTSD diagnosis.Following the literature, the development of PTSD among people who have encountered traumatic events can be seen to depend on a complex interplay among three factors : the nature of the traumatic event, characteristics of the person in terms of predispositions and pre-trauma symptoms, and the representation of the traumatic event in memory. In the present study, we examine how these three factors work together to influence PTSD symptom outcomes. Because the present work was conducted and submitted for publication before the publication of the DSM-5 (American Psychiatr...

“…The CES contains such questions as “I feel that this event has become part of my identity.” “This event has become a reference point for the way I understand myself and the world.” “I feel that this event has become a central part of my life story.” “I often think about the effects this event will have on my future.” In contrast to the disintegration view, several studies have shown that the CES correlates positively (not negatively) with level PTSD symptoms. These studies include a variety of samples, including college students, combat veterans, women with a history of childhood sexual abuse, and community dwelling adults with a diagnosis of PTSD (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006, 2007, 2008; Brown, Antonius, Kramer, Root, & Hirst, 2010; Lancaster, Rodrigueza, & Westonb, 2011; Robinaugh & McNally, 2010, 2011; Smeets, Giesbrecht, Raymaekers, Shaw, Merckelbach, 2010; Schuettler, & Boals, 2011). …”

Section: Are Trauma Memories Incomplete Fragmented and Not Well Intmentioning

confidence: 99%

Involuntary Memories and Dissociative Amnesia

Clinical Psychological Science

Rubin

2013

Autobiographical memories of trauma victims are often described as disturbed in two ways. First, the trauma is frequently re-experienced in the form of involuntary, intrusive recollections. Second, the trauma is difficult to recall voluntarily (strategically); important parts may be totally or partially inaccessible—a feature known as dissociative amnesia. These characteristics are often mentioned by PTSD researchers and are included as PTSD symptoms in the DSM-IV-TR (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). In contrast, we show that both involuntary and voluntary recall are enhanced by emotional stress during encoding. We also show that the PTSD symptom in the diagnosis addressing dissociative amnesia, trouble remembering important aspects of the trauma is less well correlated with the remaining PTSD symptoms than the conceptual reversal of having trouble forgetting important aspects of the trauma. Our findings contradict key assumptions that have shaped PTSD research over the last 40 years.