Overgeneral memory and suppression of trauma memories in post-traumatic stress disorder

Abstract

The study investigated the relationship between the suppression of trauma memories and overgeneral memory in 42 assault survivors with and without PTSD. Overgeneral memory (OGM) was assessed with a standard autobiographical memory test (AMT). Participants completed two further AMTs under the instructions to either suppress or not suppress assault memories, in counterbalanced order. Participants with PTSD retrieved fewer and more general memories when following the suppression instruction than participants without PTSD, but not under the control instruction. OGM correlated with PTSD symptom severity, and measures of cognitive avoidance. The results are discussed with reference to current theories of overgeneral memory and its possible relationship with PTSD.

The study was supported by grants from the Wellcome Trust, the Daimler Benz Foundation, and the German National Scholarship Foundation. We thank Dr Edward Glucksman for his collaboration. Many thanks to Anke Weidmann for assisting with running the study, to Ed Watkins for his valuable suggestions, and to Michelle Moulds for her concreteness ratings.

Notes

¹The list of words and ratings is available from the first author.

²When order was included as a factor in the ANOVA, there were no main effects of order nor any interactions with order for both the number of categorical memories and the ratio of categorical memories as a proportion of non-trauma memories.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Sabine Schönfeld

This study was conducted as part of the requirements for the PhD dissertation of the first author