The role of tonic immobility and control in the development of intrusive memories after experimental trauma

Kuiling, J. M.E.; Klaassen, Fayette; Hagenaars, Muriel A.

doi:10.1080/09658211.2018.1564331

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…These findings support the hypothesis that intrusive memory might correspond to "hotspot" moments of peak emotional distress (Holmes et al, 2005). Additionally, they provide support in a naturalistic setting to experimental findings concerning the role of peritraumatic arousal (Hall & Berntsen, 2008), cognitive load (Nixon et al, 2007), immobility (Kuiling et al, 2019), data-driven processing (Morina et al, 2013), and somatoform dissociation (Hagenaars et al, 2008) in the development of intrusive memories.…”

Section: Peritraumatic Reactions and Intrusive Memories 16supporting

confidence: 81%

Intrusive memories following disaster: Relationship with peritraumatic responses and later affect.

Massazza¹,

Joffe²,

Brewin³

2021

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

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Cognitive theories of PTSD suggest that intrusive memories result from disrupted information processing during traumatic memory encoding and are characterized by fear, helplessness, and horror at recall. Existing naturalistic studies are limited by the absence of direct comparisons between specific moments that do and do not correspond to intrusive memories. We tested predictions from cognitive theories of PTSD by comparing peritraumatic responses during moments experienced as intrusive memories versus distressing moments of the same traumatic event from the same individual not experienced as intrusive memories. A further comparison was with highly distressing moments experienced during the same event by individuals without intrusive memories. We utilized a psychometrically generated model to distinguish different peritraumatic reactions. Moments experienced as intrusive memories were characterized by higher peritraumatic distress, immobility, cognitive overload, and somatic dissociation when compared both to distressing moments from the same individual that did not intrude, and to the most distressing memories of individuals without intrusions. Exploratory analyses indicated that at recall intrusive memories were characterized by higher levels of primary traumatic emotions such as anxiety, fear, and helplessness in comparison with non-intrusive memories. Findings from this novel naturalistic design support predictions made by cognitive theories of PTSD and have implications for research and preventative interventions targeting intrusive memories.

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Section: Peritraumatic Reactions and Intrusive Memories 16supporting

confidence: 81%

Intrusive memories following disaster: Relationship with peritraumatic responses and later affect.

Massazza¹,

Joffe²,

Brewin³

2021

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

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“…This exposes healthy participants to traumatic images and assesses how many intrusive images occur over the following days. Increased intrusions are associated with spontaneous reports of immobility while watching (Kuiling, Klaassen, & Hagenaars, 2019) and with reductions in heart rate, an indicator of immobility (Chou, La Marca, Steptoe, & Brewin, 2014;Holmes, Brewin, & Hennessy, 2004).…”

Section: Prediction Of Ptsd Symptom Clustersmentioning

confidence: 99%

The structure of peritraumatic reactions and their relationship with PTSD among disaster survivors.

Massazza¹,

Joffe²,

Brewin³

2021

Journal of Abnormal Psychology

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Peritraumatic reactions such as fear, psychic and somatoform dissociation, tonic immobility, data-driven processing, and mental defeat are important in the etiology of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However current measures of such reactions overlap conceptually and do not clearly identify distinct peritraumatic processes. It is not known which processes are uniquely associated with PTSD. We investigated the factor structure of six standard peritraumatic measures and their relationship with the four DSM-5 PTSD symptom clusters. Measures were administered to 308 earthquake survivors with high levels of exposure to traumatic events. Items comprising the six measures were investigated using exploratory structural equation modeling, which identified five peritraumatic response factors. Items from most measures loaded on multiple factors. The factors labeled Mental Defeat and Somatoform Dissociation significantly predicted all PTSD symptom clusters. The factor labeled Cognitive Overload significantly predicted Intrusions, Avoidance, and Alterations in Arousal and Reactivity. The factor labeled Immobility significantly predicted Intrusions and Avoidance while Distress significantly predicted Negative Alterations in Cognition and Mood and Alterations in Arousal and Reactivity. Due to the key role such reactions play in the development of PTSD, the findings are likely to benefit the study of etiological mechanisms, the prediction of those at greatest risk, and the design of preventative interventions.

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“…We did not directly observe other catatonic features in the freezing state, which is a limitation obscuring our interpretation of FTpE as being strongly associated with TI (i.e., hypertonicity, catatonic-like motionless posture, unresponsiveness to painful stimulation) [ 63 , 64 ]. It is necessary to involve conventional measurements for anxiety- related behavior (open field test, forced swimming test, and elevated plus maze) to understand the effects of complex trauma more comprehensively and to validate FTpE as a tool for evaluating anxiety in future study.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Maladaptive Alterations of Defensive Response Following Developmental Complex Stress in Rats

Kim

Park

Lee

et al. 2020

Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci

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Objective Despite the etiological significance of complex developmental trauma in adult personality disorders and treatment-resistant depression, neurobiological studies have been rare due to the lack of useful animal models. As a first step, we devised an animal model to investigate the effects of multiple trauma-like stress during different developmental periods. Methods Twenty-one male Sprague-Dawley rats were classified into 3 groups based on the stress protocol: fear conditioning control (FCC, n = 6), complex stress (ComS, n = 9), and control (n = 6). While the ComS experienced three types of stress (maternal separation, juvenile isolation, electric foot shock), the FCC only experienced an electric foot shock stress and the control never experienced any. We compared fear responses at postnatal day (PND) 29 and PND 56 through freezing time per episode (FTpE), total freezing time (TFT), total freezing episodes (TFE), and ultrasonic vocalization (USV). Results ComS showed the longest FTpE in the conditioned fear response test. ComS and FCC exhibited the longer TFT and these two groups only displayed USV. ComS show difference TFE between PND 29 and PND 56. Conclusion The results of this investigation show that complex stress may affect not quantity of fear response but characteristics of fear response. Longer FTpE may be associated with tonic immobility which could be considered as a failed self-protective reaction and might be analogous to a sign of inappropriate coping strategy and self-dysregulation in complex trauma patients.

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The role of tonic immobility and control in the development of intrusive memories after experimental trauma

Cited by 12 publications

References 60 publications

Intrusive memories following disaster: Relationship with peritraumatic responses and later affect.

Intrusive memories following disaster: Relationship with peritraumatic responses and later affect.

The structure of peritraumatic reactions and their relationship with PTSD among disaster survivors.

Maladaptive Alterations of Defensive Response Following Developmental Complex Stress in Rats

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