Splintered memories or vivid landmarks? Qualities and organization of traumatic memories with and without PTSD

By Dorthe Berntsen, M. W. Willert, David C. Rubin. 2003

293 citations recorded by the source corpus.

SUMMARY One hundred and eighty-one students answered a standardized questionnaire on Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): 25 reported trauma(s) and indicated a pattern of after-effects that matched a PTSD symptom profile, whereas 88 indicated trauma(s) but no PTSD symptom profile. Both groups answered a questionnaire addressing the recollective quality, integration and coherence of the traumatic memory that currently affected them most. Participants with a PTSD symptom profile reported more vivid recollection of emotion and sensory impressions. They reported more observer perspective in the memory (seeing themselves ‘from the outside’), but no more fragmentation. They also agreed more with the statement that the trauma had become part of their identity, and perceived more thematic connections between the trauma and current events in their lives. The two groups showed different patterns of correlations which indicated different coping styles. Overall, the findings suggest that traumas form dysfunctional reference points for the organization of other personal memories in people with PTSD symptoms, leading to fluctuations between vivid intrusions and avoidance. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience, Developmental and Educational Psychology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/8c9697de32f7499b493df44d632d3d4c0cc0c504

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Citations in the corpus

When Veterans Return: The Role of Community in Reintegration (2011, background): “Ultimately, veterans must be able to articulate a fully integrated (Berntsen et al., 2003) and coherent (Burnell et al.”
Emotion and vantage point in autobiographical (2006, background): “Findings from other studies also suggest that individuals with more severe reactions in response to traumatic events tend to have more observer perspective associated with their memories of those events (eg, Berntsen, Willert, & Rubin, 2003 ; Cooper, Yuile, & Kennedy, 2002 ).”
The Path to Posttraumatic Growth Versus Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Contributions of Event Centrality and Coping (2011, background): “The individual may attempt to avoid negative beliefs and emotions; experience physiological symptoms, anxiety, and stress; and tend toward PTSD symptoms (Berntsen, Willert, & Rubin, 2003 ).”
Reliving, emotions, and fragmentation in the autobiographical memories of veterans diagnosed with PTSD (2004, methodology): “…the studies noted earlier that showed PTSD symptoms correlated positively with the extent to which the memory was integrated centrally into one’s concept of self (Berntsen et al., 2003; Byrne et al., 2001), the concept of fragmentation of memories in PTSD appears to be in need or reexamination.”