ERIC Number: EJ1264900
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2018
Pages: 8
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0888-4080
EISSN: N/A
Characteristics of Memories for Traumatic and Nontraumatic Birth
Crawley, Rosalind; Wilkie, Stephanie; Gamble, Jenny; Creedy, Debra K.; Fenwick, Jenny; Cockburn, Nicola; Ayers, Susan
Applied Cognitive Psychology, v32 n5 p584-591 Sep-Oct 2018
Evidence for memory characteristic differences between trauma and other memories in non-clinical samples is inconsistent. However, trauma is frequently confounded with the event recalled. This study compares trauma and nontrauma memories for the "same event," childbirth, in a non-clinical sample of 285 women 4-6 weeks after birth. None of the women met diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic birth, defined by the DSM-5 event criterion, was reported by 100 women. The ratings of some memory characteristics did not differ between memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth: All were rated highly coherent and central to women's lives, with moderate sensory memory. However, women who experienced traumatic births reported more involuntary recall, reliving, and negative/mixed emotions. Thus, trauma memories differed from nontrauma memories. In this non-clinical sample, this is likely to be due to "encoding" during trauma rather than the distinctive memory profile for memories retrieved by those experiencing trauma symptoms.
Descriptors: Memory, Trauma, Recall (Psychology), Females, Birth, Emotional Response, Cognitive Processes
Wiley. Available from: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. Tel: 800-835-6770; e-mail: cs-journals@wiley.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2191/en-us
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A