Dissociative symptoms and amnesia in Dutch concentration camp survivors

Abstract

We examined to what extent dissociative phenomena in concentration camp survivors are related to posttraumatic stress symptoms. Self-reports of amnesia for traumatic war events and other dissociative experiences were studied in a sample of 31 Dutch survivors of World War II (WWII) Japanese concentration camps. Seventeen survivors treated for war-related psychiatric symptoms were compared to 14 concentration camp survivors who had no psychiatric diagnosis. Although survivors who received treatment scored significantly higher on the Impact of Event Scale and the Post-Traumatic Symptom Scale than control survivors, the two groups did not differ in terms of accessibility of war memories or dissociative experiences. Levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms were not significantly correlated with dissociative experiences. In both groups, reports of psychogenic amnesia for traumatic events were rare. Our results support previous studies demonstrating that post-traumatic stress symptoms are not necessarily accompanied by dissociative experiences. They also contradict the suggestion that amnesia is a common phenomenon in people who have been exposed to war atrocities.

Autobiographical integration of trauma memories and repressive coping predict post‐traumatic stress symptoms in undergraduate students

“…Moreover, because of the substantial phenomenological overlap between PTSD and depression (e.g., Rosen & Lilienfeld, 2008), our fi ndings are also reminiscent of a recent study by Booij and Van der Does (2007), demonstrating that higher levels of cognitive reactivity are a vulnerability marker of depression. Furthermore, we obtained evidence that the tendency to dissociate is positively related to levels of post-traumatic stress symptoms, thereby lending further support to the belief that dissociation overlaps with PTSD symptomatology (e.g., Ozer et al, 2003; but see also Merckelbach, Dekkers, Wessel, & Roefs, 2003a, 2003b. Note that Ozer et al (2003) found that peritraumatic dissociation (e.g., changes in cognitive and perceptual functioning during the trauma) was among the most potent predictors of PTSD symptom severity.…”

Reports of traumatic experiences

“…der Fragmentierung der Erinnerung und der PTBS-Symptomatik kein Zusammenhang bestand. Auf der Basis von subjektiven Einschätzungen untersuchten Merckelbach et al [45] den Abruf traumatischer Erinnerungen bei niederländischen Überlebenden von japanischen Konzentrationslagern im heutigen Indonesien mit und ohne PTBS-Symptomatik. Die Ptbs-Gruppe berichtete wiederum über mehr intrusionen und häufigere Vermeidung; die beiden Gruppen unterschieden sich jedoch nicht bezüglich der Abrufbarkeit der traumatischen erinnerungen.…”

Detecting malingered memory problems in the civil and criminal arena

“…This type of amnesia is termed organic amnesia . Although there are well‐documented cases of offenders who cannot recall their crime due to organic amnesia caused by a blow to the head, a sleeping disorder or temporal lobe epilepsy (for examples see Merckelbach & Christianson, 2007), this is a rare form of amnesia. There have been cases, for instance, in which defendants claim that their alcohol consumption prompted a sleepwalking episode during which they committed a crime that they cannot remember.…”