Autobiographical memories cued by self-statements in patients with alcohol use disorder: linking self-conceptions to past events

ABSTRACT

The study examined the personal sense of identity in alcohol use disorder (AUD) through the relation between autobiographical memories and individuals’ self-conception. The AUD detoxified patients and control participants were asked to create a list of self-statements to which they associated for the three main autobiographical memories illustrating them. The group variable was not associated with the number of positive self-statements, but it was associated with the number of negative self-statements. Furthermore, for the autobiographical memories cued by a positive self-statement, the group was related to the number of positive memories and general memories, while no relation was observed for the memories cued by a negative self-statement. Our results also support that AUD patients’ memories cued by self-statements are older and more alcohol-related. Hierarchical regression analyses in the AUD patients demonstrated that the use of adaptive emotional regulation strategies was the only significant predictor of the use of positive or negative self-statements.

KEYWORDS:

• Self-conception
• autobiographical memory
• identity
• alcohol use disorder
• emotion regulation

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Sarah Jacob and Chloé Delattre for their contribution in recruiting participants. They also want to thank all the participants who volunteered their time by participating in the study and who demonstrated authenticity.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).