Differential Effects of Poor Recall and Memory Disjointedness on Trauma Symptoms

Sachschal, Juliane; Woodward, Elizabeth; Wichelmann, Julia M.; Haag, Katharina; Ehlers, Anke

doi:10.1177/2167702619847195

Cited by 20 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…The disjointed quality of participants' trauma memories was assessed with a short version (Sachschal et al ., 2019) of the Trauma Memory Questionnaire (Halligan et al ., 2003), which included 4 items, α = 0.80.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive paths from trauma to posttraumatic stress disorder: a prospective study of Ehlers and Clark's model in survivors of assaults or road traffic collisions

et al. 2019

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BackgroundIndividual differences in cognitive responses to trauma may represent modifiable risk factors that could allow early identification, targeted early treatment and possibly prevention of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ehlers and Clark's cognitive model of PTSD suggests that negative appraisals, disjointed trauma memories, and unhelpful coping strategies maintain PTSD. These are thought to be influenced by cognitive processing during trauma. The aim of this study was to test this model prospectively with path analyses.MethodsParticipants (N = 828) were recruited from an emergency department following injury in a violent assault or road traffic collision and 700 participated in the 6-month assessments. Cognitive processing was assessed shortly after the event, negative appraisals, disjointed memories, and unhelpful coping strategies at 1 month, persistent PTSD symptom severity at 6 months, and early PTSD symptom severity at 2 weeks.ResultsCognitive variables, with trauma type and gender, explained 52% of the variance in PTSD symptom severity at 6 months. Including early symptom severity in the model did not explain more variance (53%). Early PTSD symptom severity, with trauma type and gender, only predicted 40%. Negative appraisals and disjointed memories predicted persistent symptom severity both directly and indirectly via unhelpful strategies. Peritraumatic processing predicted persistent symptom severity mainly indirectly. The effects of trauma type and gender were fully mediated by the cognitive factors.ConclusionsThe results are consistent with theoretically derived predictions and support cognitive factors as indicators of risk for chronic PTSD and as a target for the treatment and prevention of PTSD.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive paths from trauma to posttraumatic stress disorder: a prospective study of Ehlers and Clark's model in survivors of assaults or road traffic collisions

et al. 2019

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“…However, empirical studies investigating the link between voluntary trauma memory and PTSD symptoms have yielded mixed findings. Whereas some studies establish an association between reduced voluntary trauma memory (i.e., disorganized and/or fragmented memories) and PTSD symptoms (Amir, Stafford, Freshman, & Foa, 1998;Halligan, Michael, Clark, & Ehlers, 2003;Jones, Harvey, & Brewin, 2007;Michael & Ehlers, 2007;Sachschal, Woodward, Wichelmann, Haag, & Ehlers, 2019) others report inconsistent findings (for reviews see Brewin, 2014;Crespo & Fernández-Lansac, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential effects of sleep on explicit and implicit memory for potential trauma reminders: findings from an analogue study

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Brueckner

Schäfer

et al. 2019

European Journal of Psychotraumatology

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Background: Recent findings suggest that disruptions of sleep-related memory processing are involved in the development of posttraumatic stress symptoms. More specifically, exposure to an analogue traumatic event resulted in fewer intrusive memories, when it was followed by sleep instead of continued wakefulness. However, competing evidence suggests that sleep deprivation may reduce intrusive re-experiencing. To address these conflicting accounts, we examined how sleepas opposed to partial sleep deprivationmodulates explicit and implicit trauma memory using an analogue procedure. Methods: Healthy participants (N = 41) were assigned to a Sleep or Partial sleep deprivation group. Prior to nocturnal sleep, both groups were exposed to "traumatic" picture stories. After sleep or partial sleep deprivation, participants were subjected to tests of explicit and implicit memory for potential trauma reminders. Thereafter, participants completed an intrusion triggering task that was embedded in a distractor task. Results: Analyses revealed higher explicit memory for potential trauma reminders after sleep as compared to partial sleep deprivation. No group differences were found for implicit memory. Participants responded with fewer intrusions after sleep than following partial sleep deprivation. Conclusions: The current findings support a protective role of sleep in trauma memory processing, which may be evident after the first night of sleep post-trauma. Although more research is needed, our results corroborate the importance of promoting restful sleep in trauma-exposed individuals.

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“…No difference was observed between the trauma and the control group for both immediate intrusions and intrusions measured during the Stroop task (when averaged across conditions). Studies using a trauma and a neutral film usually show that intrusions related to the trauma film are more frequent, but they generally report the total number of intrusions recorded for a certain period (e.g., 7 days; Gvozdanovic et al 2017;Hagenaars et al 2010;Sachschal et al 2019). It is, therefore, possible that the difference between the number of intrusions induced by the trauma and the neutral film does not appear shortly after the presentation of the film but only after a certain time.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alteration of early attentional processing after analogue trauma exposure: evidence from event-related potentials

et al. 2021

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The present study aimed to determine whether exposure to an analogue traumatic event affects attentional processing of emotional information. Two groups of non-clinical participants matched on anxiety level, depression symptoms and stressful life events viewed either a trauma or a neutral film. They then performed an emotional Stroop task during which both continuous electroencephalographic activity was recorded and intrusive memories were measured. Results revealed that the valence effect (measured by the difference between emotional and neutral conditions) for the P1 amplitude was significantly greater in participants who viewed the trauma film than in participants who viewed the neutral film. This interaction was specific to words semantically related to the analogue trauma event and did not extend to all negative words. Further analyses revealed a relationship between intrusions frequency, P1 amplitude and emotional Stroop interference, indicating a link between attention and intrusive memories. Our findings suggest that exposure to potentially traumatic events has an important impact on neurocognitive function, even in the absence of psychopathology, and that this impact occurs at an early, possibly automatic stage of processing.

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Differential Effects of Poor Recall and Memory Disjointedness on Trauma Symptoms

Cited by 20 publications

References 32 publications

Cognitive paths from trauma to posttraumatic stress disorder: a prospective study of Ehlers and Clark's model in survivors of assaults or road traffic collisions

Cognitive paths from trauma to posttraumatic stress disorder: a prospective study of Ehlers and Clark's model in survivors of assaults or road traffic collisions

Differential effects of sleep on explicit and implicit memory for potential trauma reminders: findings from an analogue study

Alteration of early attentional processing after analogue trauma exposure: evidence from event-related potentials

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