The reappearance hypothesis revisited: Recurrent involuntary memories after traumatic events and in everyday life

Abstract

Recurrent involuntary memories are autobiographical memories that come to mind with no preceding retrieval attempt and that are subjectively experienced as being repetitive. Clinically, they are classified as a symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder. The present work is the first to systematically examine recurrent involuntary memories outside clinical settings. Study 1 examines recurrent involuntary memories among survivors of the tsunami catastrophe in Southeast Asia in 2004. Study 2 examines recurrent involuntary memories in a large general population. Study 3 examines whether the contents of recurrent involuntary memories recorded in a diary study are duplicates of, or differ from, one another. We show that recurrent involuntary memories are not limited to clinical populations or to emotionally negative experiences; that they typically do not come to mind in a fixed and unchangeable form; and that they show the same pattern regarding accessibility as do autobiographical memories in general. We argue that recurrent involuntary memories after traumas and in everyday life can be explained in terms of general and well-established mechanisms of autobiographical memory.

Two versions of life: Emotionally negative and positive life events have different roles in the organization of life story and identity.

“…Consistent with the view that the accessibility of negative events is enhanced in many emotional disorders, robust positive correlations have been found between the CES for negative events and level of PTSD symptoms in relation to the event (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006; 2007; 2008; Boals, 2010; Robinaugh, & McNally, 2010; Rubin, Boals, & Berntsen, 2008; Rubin, Berntsen & Hutson, 2009; Schuettler & Boals, 2011; Smeets et al, 2010; Thomsen & Berntsen, 2009). This positive relationship has been found in a variety of populations suffering from different types of traumatic events.…”

Is it mere distraction? Peri-traumatic verbal tasks can increase analogue flashbacks but reduce voluntary memory performance

“…The most fundamental relates to the use of an analogue traumatic event to infer mechanisms in the development of symptoms of PTSD. Intrusive memories may be seen as occurring on a continuum with PTSD flashbacks at an extreme (Berntsen, 2001;Berntsen & Rubin, 2008). Moreover, it is clearly impractical and unethical to manipulate peri-traumatic factors in vivo in real trauma to test manipulations that may increase real flashbacks.…”

Relationship between frequency of involuntary autobiographical memories and cognitive failure

“…Verwoerd and Wessel reported that the CFQ total score was positively related to involuntary remembering. Intrusive memory is a type of involuntary autobiographical memory (Berntsen & Rubin, 2008;Brewin, 2007). However, it is thought that the influence of remembering an intrusive memory is slightly different from that of a normal involuntary memory.…”