An Examination of the Retrospective Recall of Psychological Distress

Abstract

In forensic settings, psychologists are often called upon to assess individuals who were exposed to some stressor. The time between the patient being exposed to the stressor and the actual assessment is often lengthy, leading to contention regarding the accuracy of the patient's self-report. The current study examined the retrospective recall of psychological distress (mood and anxiety) in individuals who had previously received a psycho educational evaluation at a university psychological services clinic. Results showed that individuals tended to retrospectively overestimate psychological distress. Although this overestimation tendency was statistically significant, it did not appear to be clinically significant, as the differences were not large enough to produce a categorical change (i.e., pathological vs. non-pathological). Individuals who reported clinically significant levels of distress at their original assessment tended to be more accurate in their retrospective recall of distress as compared to individuals who reported non-clinical levels of distress at their original assessment. The findings of this study suggest that retrospective recall of level of distress may be reasonably accurate in a non-forensic sample.

Key Words:

• Retrospective recall
• recalling distress
• forensic evaluation