Malignant memories: Post‐traumatic changes in memory in adults after a school shooting

Relationships between memory inconsistency for traumatic events following 9/11 and PTSD in disaster restoration workers

“…Of the 11 exposure variables assessed, only perceived life danger while working at the site and exposure to human remains emerged as being differentially associated with PTSD symptoms. Consistent with previous findings (Schwarz et al, 1993;Southwick et al, 1997), this study revealed an association in change in report of life threat and exposure to objective events and PTSD. Participants who changed their initial non-endorsement to endorsement for these two variables did not show a decline in PTSD symptoms at follow up, unlike the other endorsement groups (no change, or change from endorsement to non-endorsement).…”

“…One small study (Schwarz, Kowalski, & McNally, 1993) of staff members who witnessed a school shooting assessed exposure 6 and 18 months after the shooting, using a continuous rating scale. For recall of sense of life threat, changes in exposure scores at follow up were associated with Time 1 reexperiencing symptoms and Time 2 avoidance symptoms and arousal symptoms; increased endorsement of exposure to objective events was associated with more severe avoidance and arousal symptoms at Time 1, and greater re-experiencing and avoidance at Time 2.…”

Thought suppression and traumatic intrusions in undergraduate students: a correlational study

“…Van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995). Instead, our results and those of others (Schwartz, Kowalski & McNally, 1993;Southwick, Morgan, Nicolaou & Charney, 1997) suggest that the content of traumatic intrusions can be in¯uenced by post-trauma elaboration and reconstruction (e.g. Safer, Christianson, Autry, & O È sterlund, 1998).…”

Conceptual Problems with the DSM‐IV Criteria for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

“…In striking contrast to this presupposition, several longitudinal studies have shown that current clinical state affects how trauma-exposed people remember both the objective (e.g., exposure to danger) and subjective (e.g., one's emotional reaction to danger) features of past trauma events (Harvey & Bryant, 2000;Roemer, Litz, Orsillo, Ehlich, & Friedman, 1998;Schwarz, Kowalski, & McNally, 1993;Southwick, Morgan, Nicolaou, & Charney, 1997). The more distressed a survivor is at follow-up assessment, the more severe the survivor recalls the original traumatic stressor to have been, relative to the original assessment.…”