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Characteristics of memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth
Author(s) -
Crawley Rosalind,
Wilkie Stephanie,
Gamble Jenny,
Creedy Debra K.,
Fenwick Jenny,
Cockburn Nicola,
Ayers Susan
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
applied cognitive psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.719
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1099-0720
pISSN - 0888-4080
DOI - 10.1002/acp.3438
Subject(s) - psychology , recall , traumatic memories , autobiographical memory , traumatic stress , childhood amnesia , birth trauma , clinical psychology , cognition , episodic memory , psychiatry , developmental psychology , childhood memory , pregnancy , cognitive psychology , biology , genetics
Summary Evidence for memory characteristic differences between trauma and other memories in non‐clinical samples is inconsistent. However, trauma is frequently confounded with the event recalled. This study compares trauma and nontrauma memories for the same event , childbirth, in a non‐clinical sample of 285 women 4–6 weeks after birth. None of the women met diagnostic criteria for post‐traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic birth, defined by the DSM‐5 event criterion, was reported by 100 women. The ratings of some memory characteristics did not differ between memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth: All were rated highly coherent and central to women's lives, with moderate sensory memory. However, women who experienced traumatic births reported more involuntary recall, reliving, and negative/mixed emotions. Thus, trauma memories differed from nontrauma memories. In this non‐clinical sample, this is likely to be due to encoding during trauma rather than the distinctive memory profile for memories retrieved by those experiencing trauma symptoms.