Autobiographical Memories for Very Negative Events: The Effects of Thinking about and Rating Memories

MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for PTSD: Growing evidence for memory effects mediating treatment efficacy

The application of MDMA in conjunction with psychotherapy has in recent years seen a resurgence of clinical, scientific, and public interest in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Clinical trials have shown promising safety and efficacy, but the mechanisms underlying this treatment form remain largely unestablished. This article explores recent preclinical and clinical evidence suggesting that the treatment's efficacy may be influenced by the mnemonic effects of MDMA. We review data on the effects of MDMA on fear extinction and fear reconsolidation and the utility of these processes for PTSD treatment. We corroborate our findings by incorporating research from cognitive psychology and psychopharmacology and offer recommendations for future research.

Narrative identity does not predict well-being when controlling for emotional valence

Narrative identity refers to a person's internalized and evolving life story. It is a rapidly growing research field, motivated by studies showing a unique association with well-being. Here we show that this association disappears when controlling for the emotional valence of the stories told and individuals' general experience of autobiographical memory. Participants (N = 235) wrote their life story and completed questionnaires on their general experience of autobiographical memory and several dimensions of well-being and affect. Participants' life stories were coded for standard narrative identity variables, including agency and communion. When controlling for emotional valence of the life story, the general experience of autobiographical memory was a significant predictor of most well-being measures, whereas agency was a predictor of one variable only and communion of none. These findings contradict the claim of an incremental association between narrative identity and well-being, and have important theoretical and practical implications for narrative identity as an outcome measure in interventions.

Danger! Negative memories ahead: the effect of warnings on reactions to and recall of negative memories

A trigger warning is an alert that upcoming material containing distressing themes might "trigger" the details and emotion associated with a negative memory to come to mind. Warnings supposedly prevent or minimise this distress. But, do warnings really have this effect? To simulate the experience described above, here, we examined whether warning participants-by telling them that recalling a negative event would be distressing-would change characteristics associated with the immediate and delayed recall of a negative event (such as phenomenology e.g., vividness, sense of reliving), compared to participants who we did not warn. Generally, we found that time helps to heal the "emotional wounds" associated with negative memories: negative characteristics-such as emotion, vividness etc.-faded over time. However, the event's emotional impact (the frequency of experiences related to the event such as "I had trouble staying asleep"), subsided less over a two-week delay for participants who were warned in the first session. Our findings suggest that warning messages may prolong the negative characteristics associated with memories over time, rather than prepare people to recall a negative experience.

The promotional role of meaning in life in future-oriented coping: Positive affect as a mediator

The present study examined the role of meaning in life (MIL) in predicting positive affect and future-oriented coping, and whether positive affect mediated the relationship between MIL and future-oriented coping. The participants were 68 Chinese university students who were randomly assigned to two conditions: a MIL priming condition and a control condition. Positive affect was measured before and after the manipulation. MIL, positive affect and future-oriented coping were assessed at 1-week follow-up. The results showed that the level of positive affect increased after the manipulation in the MIL priming condition. Fifty-five of the participants completed the follow-up survey, and results showed that the MIL priming condition exhibited higher levels of future-oriented coping at follow-up compared to the control condition. Mediation analyses confirmed that MIL promoted proactive coping via positive affect. This study provides empirical support for the promotional role of MIL in future-oriented coping and clarifies the mechanism via the mediating effect of positive affect.

Mnemonic emotion regulation: a three-process model

Emotion regulation comprises attempts to influence when and how emotions are experienced and expressed. It has mostly been conceived of as proactive (e.g. situation selection) or reactive (e.g. attentional distraction), but it may also be retroactive and involve memory. I term such past-oriented activity mnemonic emotion regulation and propose that it involves increasing or decreasing access to or altering the characteristics of a memory. People may increase access to a memory and make it more likely that it will be retrieved in the future, for example by rehearsing a pleasant memory. They may decrease access to a memory and make it less likely that intrusions will be experienced in the future, for example by repeatedly trying to stop an unpleasant memory from being retrieved. Finally, people may alter the characteristics of a memory and change its content or context, for example by replacing a negative impression with a productive interpretation. I discuss how mnemonic emotion regulation may be instigated (e.g. via elaborate rehearsal) as well as the different motives (e.g. hedonic motives) people may have for engaging in regulation. Also, I discuss possible benefits of, variations in, and improvements of mnemonic emotion regulation.

Emotional distress and positive and negative memories from military deployment: the influence of PTSD symptoms and time

During military deployment, soldiers are confronted with both negative and positive events. What is remembered and how it affects an individual is influenced by not only the perceived emotion of the event, but also the emotional state of the individual. Here we examined the most negative and most positive deployment memories from a company of 337 soldiers who were deployed together to Afghanistan. We examined how the level of emotional distress of the soldiers and the valence of the memory were related to the emotional intensity, experience of reliving, rehearsal and coherence of the memories, and how the perceived impact of these memories changed over time. We found that soldiers with higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms were more affected by both their negative and positive memories, compared with soldiers with lower levels of PTSD symptoms. Emotional intensity of the most negative memory increased over time in the group with highest levels of PTSD symptoms, but dropped in the other groups. The present study adds to the literature on emotion and autobiographical memory and how this relationship interacts with an individual's present level of emotional distress and the passage of time.

Visual imagery in autobiographical memory: The role of repeated retrieval in shifting perspective

Recent memories are generally recalled from a first-person perspective whereas older memories are often recalled from a third-person perspective. We investigated how repeated retrieval affects the availability of visual information, and whether it could explain the observed shift in perspective with time. In Experiment 1, participants performed mini-events and nominated memories of recent autobiographical events in response to cue words. Next, they described their memory for each event and rated its phenomenological characteristics. Over the following three weeks, they repeatedly retrieved half of the mini-event and cue-word memories. No instructions were given about how to retrieve the memories. In Experiment 2, participants were asked to adopt either a first- or third-person perspective during retrieval. One month later, participants retrieved all of the memories and again provided phenomenology ratings. When first-person visual details from the event were repeatedly retrieved, this information was retained better and the shift in perspective was slowed.

Continuity of phenomenology and (in)consistency of content of meaningful autobiographical memories

Phenomenology is a critical component of autobiographical memory retrieval; it reflects both (a) memory-specific features and (b) stable individual differences. Few studies have tested phenomenology longitudinally. The present work examined the continuity of memory phenomenology in a sample of Italians adults (N=105) over a 4-week period. Participants retrieved two 'key' personal memories, a Turning Point and an Early Childhood Memory, rated the phenomenology of each memory, and completed measures of personality, psychological distress and subjective well-being. Phenomenological ratings were moderately stable over time (median correlation >.40), regardless of memory content. Personality traits, psychological distress and well-being were associated with phenomenology cross-sectionally and with changes in phenomenology over time. These results suggest that how individuals re-experience their most important personal memories is relatively consistent over time and shaped by both trait and state aspects of psychological functioning.

Women's experiences in a community-based participatory research randomized controlled trial

Integrating community-based participatory research (CBPR) into traditional study designs can enhance outcomes in studies with disadvantaged groups. Little is known, however, about study participants' experiences with these approaches, the underlying processes involved in creating more positive outcomes, and whether undesirable effects on study outcomes occur simultaneously. We conducted focus group interviews with 31 disadvantaged women who participated in a CBPR-driven randomized controlled trial (RCT) both to explore their study experiences and to obtain their interpretations of select study findings. Using dimensional analysis, we found the tailored health questionnaire, treatment by study staff members, and RCT participants' understandings of and responses to randomization were salient to what women described as transformative experiences that occurred over the course of the RCT. These findings have implications for understanding how CBPR and non-CBPR aspects of interventions and study designs have the potential to affect both process and endpoint study outcomes.

Involuntary and voluntary autobiographical memory specificity as a function of depression

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

This study tests the hypothesis derived from the CaR-FA-X model (Capture and Rumination, Functional Avoidance and Executive Function model, Williams et al., 2007), that depressed individuals will be less specific during voluntary than involuntary autobiographical memory retrieval and looks at the relative contributions of rumination, avoidance and executive function to memory specificity.

METHODS

Twenty depressed and twenty never depressed individuals completed a memory diary, recording 10 involuntary and 10 voluntary autobiographical memories. Psychiatric status (assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, SCID-1), psychopathology, rumination, avoidance and executive function were assessed prior to completion of the memory diary.

RESULTS

Both groups were more specific during involuntary than voluntary memory retrieval. No overall group differences were identified. However, when non-remitted depressed participants were compared to partially remitted and never depressed participants the expected interaction was identified; non-remitted depressed individuals were less specific during voluntary, but not during involuntary recall. Consistent with theory, negative correlations between memory specificity, rumination and avoidance were also present.

LIMITATIONS

The study presents an important yet preliminary finding which warrants further replication with a larger sample size.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings provide support for a number of models of autobiographical memory retrieval in particular the CaR-FA-X model of memory specificity.

A self-administered, mild form of exposure therapy for older adults

Despite the effectiveness of exposure therapy to alleviate trauma-related distress, many older adults are unable or unwilling to enter therapy. Mild forms of exposure therapy, such as completing memory questionnaires about a stressful event, have been shown to reduce distress in younger adults. This study attempted to examine the impact of a mild form of exposure therapy in an older adult population. A community-living sample of 263 older adults nominated a stressful event from their lives, and were randomly assigned to either complete questionnaires concerning their memory of the stressful event, or a control task. Results indicated that those who had completed the memory questionnaires about a nominated stressful event evidenced lower levels of distress two weeks later. This effect was stronger for events that were either more recent or had elevated initial levels of distress. These findings suggest an alternative treatment for older adults who have experienced a stressful or traumatic event.

Autobiographical memory for stressful events: the role of autobiographical memory in posttraumatic stress disorder

To provide the three-way comparisons needed to test existing theories, we compared (1) most-stressful memories to other memories and (2) involuntary to voluntary memories (3) in 75 community dwelling adults with and 42 without a current diagnosis of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Each rated their three most-stressful, three most-positive, seven most-important and 15 word-cued autobiographical memories, and completed tests of personality and mood. Involuntary memories were then recorded and rated as they occurred for 2 weeks. Standard mechanisms of cognition and affect applied to extreme events accounted for the properties of stressful memories. Involuntary memories had greater emotional intensity than voluntary memories, but were not more frequently related to traumatic events. The emotional intensity, rehearsal, and centrality to the life story of both voluntary and involuntary memories, rather than incoherence of voluntary traumatic memories and enhanced availability of involuntary traumatic memories, were the properties of autobiographical memories associated with PTSD.

The coherence of memories for trauma: evidence from posttraumatic stress disorder

Participants with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and participants with a trauma but without PTSD wrote narratives of their trauma and, for comparison, of the most-important and the happiest events that occurred within a year of their trauma. They then rated these three events on coherence. Based on participants' self-ratings and on naïve-observer scorings of the participants' narratives, memories of traumas were not more incoherent than the comparison memories in participants in general or in participants with PTSD. This study comprehensively assesses narrative coherence using a full two (PTSD or not) by two (traumatic event or not) design. The results are counter to most prevalent theoretical views of memory for trauma.

Reactivity of measurement in health psychology: how much of a problem is it? What can be done about it?

PURPOSE

Measurement reactivity is defined as being present where measurement results in changes in the people being measured. The main aim of this review is to provide an overview of the current state of knowledge concerning the extent and nature of psychological measurement affecting people who complete the measures. Other aims are to describe how this may affect conclusions drawn in health psychology research and to outline where more research is needed.

METHODS

Narrative review.

RESULTS

Several studies, using a variety of methods, have found measurement procedures to alter subsequent cognition, emotion, and behaviour. In many instances, the effects obtained were of up to medium size. However, the extent to which such studies are representative is not clear: do other studies which find no reactive effects of measurement not exist or do they exist but are not reported?

CONCLUSIONS

Although measurement reactivity can yield medium-sized effects, our understanding of this phenomenon is still rudimentary. We do not know the precise circumstances that are likely to result in measurement reactivity: we cannot predict when problems are more likely to arise. There is a particular absence of studies of the mechanisms by which measurement reactivity arises. There is a need for a systematic review of this literature, which should aim to quantify the extent of measurement reactivity effects and to provide a firmer evidence base for theorizing about the sources of reactivity.