![]() This memory system constitutes a direct explanation for the enhanced involuntary remembering, according to Horowitz’s theory. Instead of a normal integration into the cognitive schemata of the person, the event is subsumed to an active memory storage – a hypothesized memory system that tends to repeat its own content until its processing has been completed. According to Horowitz, the underlying cause for both the enhanced involuntary remembering and the impaired voluntary access is incomplete cognitive processing of the traumatic event and defense mechanisms (e.g., repression and denial). This leads to the paradoxical situation in which periods with vivid intrusive images of the event may be followed by partial or complete amnesia for the event. The second tenet is that voluntary (strategic and controlled) remembering of the event is considerably reduced. One is that the memory of the stressful event tends to repeat itself in an involuntary and uncontrollable fashion. Horowitz’s ( 1975, 1976) model for stress responses has two main tenets concerning the role of memory. Horowitz’s (1976) seminal monograph Stress Response Syndromes had an enormous impact on how the diagnosis of PTSD was conceptualized and described in 1980 (see Berntsen et al., 2008), as well as in subsequent revisions ( American Psychiatric Association, 1980 1986 1994 2000). ![]() The theory outlined in psychiatrist Mardi J. ![]() The diagnosis of PTSD was introduced in DSM III in 1980 as a result of substantial political and social pressure (e.g., Jones & Wessely, 2007 Scott, 1990 Young, 1995, for reviews). In order to appreciate how these two tenets are related, a brief historical review is needed. One is the assumption that emotional stress during encoding has differential effects on subsequent involuntary and voluntary recall, and the other is the assumption that voluntary recall of trauma is incomplete and fragmented. Here we examine two key assumptions in the PTSD literature. 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. Autobiographical memories of trauma victims are often described as disturbed in two ways.
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