Furthermore, some of the PTSD symptoms listed in the diagnostic manual have been criticized for being empirically unfounded, notably the dissociative amnesia component (e.g., Kihlstrom, 2006 McNally, 2003, 2009 Rubin, Berntsen & Bohni, 2008 Shobe & Kihlstrom, 1997). Nonetheless, substantial disagreement exists as to how these disturbances should be understood at a theoretical level. They are also included as PTSD symptoms in the DSM-IV ( American Psychiatric Association, 2000). These characteristics are not just observations made by PTSD researchers (For reviews see Brewin & Holmes, 2003 Dalgleish, 2004). Second, at the same time they have difficulties remembering important parts of the event-a feature known as dissociative amnesia. First, victims of trauma have intrusive recollections of the traumatic event in which they vividly and repeatedly re-experience disturbing sensory impressions and emotions associated with the event. According to a prevalent view, autobiographical memory of trauma victims is disturbed in at least two ways. Our findings contradict key assumptions that have shaped PTSD research over the last 40 years.Īutobiographical memory is central to the understanding of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). 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. In contrast, we show that both involuntary and voluntary recall are enhanced by emotional stress during encoding. These characteristics are often mentioned by PTSD researchers and are included as PTSD symptoms in the DSM-IV-TR ( American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Second, the trauma is difficult to recall voluntarily (strategically) important parts may be totally or partially inaccessible-a feature known as dissociative amnesia. First, the trauma is frequently re-experienced in the form of involuntary, intrusive recollections. There is also some evidence that traumatic stress events can actually lead to a long-term physical reduction of the volume of the brain's hippocampus, an organ integrally involved in the making and processing of memories.Autobiographical memories of trauma victims are often described as disturbed in two ways. Memories from just before the trauma are often completely lost, partly due to the psychological repression of unpleasant memories (psychogenic amnesia), and partly because memories may be incompletely encoded if the event interrupts the normal process of transfer from short-term to long-term memory. Retrograde amnesia sufferers may partially regain memory later, but memories are never regained with anterograde amnesia because they were not encoded properly. When continuous memory returns, the person can usually function normally. Post-traumatic amnesia may be either short term, or longer-lasting (often over a month - see box at right), but is hardly ever permanent. In some cases, anterograde amnesia may not develop until several hours after the injury. The amnesia resulting from trauma may be retrograde amnesia (loss of memories that were formed shortly before the injury, particularly where there is damage to the frontal or anterior temporal regions) or anterograde amnesia (problems with creating new memories after the injury has taken place), or both. In 6% of cases, post-traumatic amnesia lasted for less than an hour 7% experienced memory loss from an hour to a day 16% between a day and a week 23% between a week and a month and 45% experienced amnesia for longer than a month. Studies of traumatic brain injury cases show that less than 3% experienced no memory loss at all. The injured person is disoriented and unable to remember events that occur after the injury and may be unable to state their name, where they are, and what time it is, etc. Post-traumatic amnesia is a state of confusion or memory loss that occurs immediately following a traumatic brain injury.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |