Directed Forgetting in Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder: A Study of Refugee Immigrants in Germany

Abstract

People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) often suffer from memory disturbances. In particular, previous studies suggest that PTSD patients perform atypically on tests of directed forgetting, which may be mediated by an altered emotional appraisal of the presented material. Also, a special role of dissociative symptoms in traumatized individuals’ memory performance has been suggested. Here, we investigate these issues in traumatized immigrants in Germany. In an item-method directed forgetting task, pictures were presented individually, each followed by an instruction to either remember or forget it. Later, recognition memory was tested for all pictures, regardless of initial instruction. Overall, the PTSD group’s discrimination accuracy was lower than the control group’s, as PTSD participants produced fewer hits and more false alarms, but the groups did not differ in directed forgetting itself. Moreover, the more negatively participants evaluated the stimuli, the less they were able to discriminate old from new items. Participants with higher dissociation scores were particularly poor at recognizing to-be-forgotten items. Results confirm PTSD patients’ general discrimination deficits, but provide no evidence for a distinct directed forgetting pattern in PTSD. Furthermore, data indicate that, in general, more negatively perceived items are discriminated with less accuracy than more positively appraised ones. Results are discussed in the larger context of emotion and stress-related modulations of episodic memory, with particular focus on the role of dissociative symptoms.

Silymarin Prevents Memory Impairments, Anxiety, and Depressive-Like Symptoms in a Rat Model of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

“…To constantly re-experience the trauma could be producing certain forms of neurodegeneration due to the over-exposition to an altered neurotransmission including adrenergic and glutamatergic [37]. Thus, in a clinical scenario, an effective treatment for PTSD also has to promote some kind of "forgetfulness" [38]. This feature needs to be studied in further detail in relation to the SPS model and the currently observed effects of silymarin on this model.…”

Lethal hopelessness: Understanding and responding to asylum seeker distress and mental deterioration

“…Inconsistencies in autobiographical memory can be particularly distressing and lead to questions regarding the credibility of asylum seeker claims for refugee protection (Baumann et al . ; Spinhoven et al . ).…”

“…It is not surprising that the health or human service worker who, upon direct questioning about mental distress or suicidal ideation, may struggle to get a precise answer (Baumann et al . ; Spinhoven et al . ).…”

Weak evidence for increased motivated forgetting of trauma-related words in dissociated or traumatised individuals in a directed forgetting experiment

“…Using a recognition memory test instead of free recall, the researchers found traumatized refugees in Germany with PTSD did not have larger directed forgetting effects, in line with McNally et al (1998McNally et al ( , 2001. Baumann et al (2013) also found that PTSD patients had higher false-alarm rates (see also Zwissler et al, 2012). However they did find that those with higher dissociation had lower discrimination between true and false items in the to-beforgotten condition, although the sample size was low due to sampling difficulties in clinical populations (N = 25;12 PTSD,13 control).…”

“…Likewise, Zoellner, Sacks, and Foa (2003) found that attempts to induce dissociation experimentally resulted in no directed forgetting effect, which again does not support the idea that trauma or dissociation leads to enhanced forgetting. Baumann et al (2013) found mixed support for elevated motivated forgetting in traumatized/dissociated individuals using the item method of directed forgetting utilizing pictures instead of words. Using a recognition memory test instead of free recall, the researchers found traumatized refugees in Germany with PTSD did not have larger directed forgetting effects, in line with McNally et al (1998McNally et al ( , 2001.…”