Does Language of Retrieval Affect the Remembering of Trauma?

Abstract

Semantic and episodic bilingual memory has been extensively researched. Research has also been conducted in the area of autobiographical memory. This study investigated traumatic bilingual memories. This study was a preliminary exploration of possible differences in the reporting of the intensity of 3 clusters of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and 5 specific characteristics of traumatic memory in the first versus second languages of bilingual (Spanish–English) individuals who sustained traumatic experiences in childhood. Participants were 19 Spanish–English coordinate bilingual individuals. A repeated measures design examined the prediction that, regardless of the order in which language was presented (whether Spanish–English or English–Spanish), bilingual participants would rate the intensity of specific symptoms and characteristics of traumatic memory higher in their first language. It is hypothesized that the first language is most closely connected to early experience between the self and the first other. Additionally, the relation between affect and first language is different from the relation between affect and second language. P. Janet (1919/1925) and current trauma research suggest that traumatic memories may be encoded differently from ordinary memories. Matching language at the time that traumatic memories were experienced with the later language of retrieval may significantly facilitate the healing process by allowing unique access to traumatic memories through the first language.

KEYWORDS:

• bilingual trauma memory
• language
• trauma remembering

The author acknowledges Dr. Gregory Murrey and her dissertation committee.