Reliving, emotions, and fragmentation in the autobiographical memories of veterans diagnosed with PTSD
Abstract
Fifty veterans diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) each recalled four
autobiographical memories: one from the 2 years before service, one non-combat memory
from the time in service, one from combat, and one from service that had often come
as an intrusive memory. For each memory, they provided 21 ratings about reliving,
belief, sensory properties, reexperiencing emotions, visceral emotional responses,
fragmentation, and narrative coherence. We used these ratings to examine three claims
about traumatic memories: a separation of cognitive and visceral aspects of emotion,
an increased sense of reliving, and increased fragmentation. There was evidence for
a partial separation of cognitive judgments of reexperiencing an emotion and reports
of visceral symptoms of the emotion, with visceral symptoms correlating more consistently
with scores on PTSD tests. Reliving, but not fragmentation of the memories, increased
with increases in the trauma relatedness of the event and with increases in scores
on standardized tests of PTSD severity. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10123Published Version (Please cite this version)
10.1002/acp.950Publication Info
Rubin, DC; Feldman, ME; & Beckham, JC (2004). Reliving, emotions, and fragmentation in the autobiographical memories of veterans
diagnosed with PTSD. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 18(1). pp. 17-35. 10.1002/acp.950. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/10123.This is constructed from limited available data and may be imprecise. To cite this
article, please review & use the official citation provided by the journal.
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Jean Crowell Beckham
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Interest in assessment and treatment of trauma, particularly as occurs for both women
and men during military service; focus in treatment outcome of differential and collective
contribution for psychopharmacological and behavioral interventions in PTSD populations;
long term physical health effects of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder.
David C. Rubin
Juanita M. Kreps Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience
For .pdfs of all publications click here My main research interest has been in long-term
memory, especially for complex (or "real-world") stimuli. This work includes the study
of autobiographical memory and oral traditions, as w
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