TY - JOUR
T1 - Autobiographical memory specificity among people with recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse
AU - Raymaekers, Linsey
AU - Smeets, Tom
AU - Peters, Maarten J. V.
AU - Merckelbach, Harald
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - Individuals who report to have recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) almost by definition believe that these memories were previously inaccessible for them. We examined whether poor autobiographical memory specificity for all kinds of events (i.e., events not necessarily related to CSA) may underlie such impressions of amnesia. Thus, we examined whether people who report recovered memories of CSA (n=44) would exhibit more difficulty retrieving specific autobiographical memories compared to people who never forgot their abuse experiences (continuous memory group; n=42) and people without a history of abuse (controls; n=26). The standard Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) was administered to these 3 groups along with measures of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology. Controls were significantly better at retrieving specific autobiographical memories relative to individuals with continuous and recovered CSA memories, who did not differ from each other. Thus, reduced autobiographical memory specificity was not particularly pronounced in people with recovered memories of CSA. Poor autobiographical memory specificity is unlikely to explain the impression of amnesia reported by this group.
AB - Individuals who report to have recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) almost by definition believe that these memories were previously inaccessible for them. We examined whether poor autobiographical memory specificity for all kinds of events (i.e., events not necessarily related to CSA) may underlie such impressions of amnesia. Thus, we examined whether people who report recovered memories of CSA (n=44) would exhibit more difficulty retrieving specific autobiographical memories compared to people who never forgot their abuse experiences (continuous memory group; n=42) and people without a history of abuse (controls; n=26). The standard Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) was administered to these 3 groups along with measures of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder symptomatology. Controls were significantly better at retrieving specific autobiographical memories relative to individuals with continuous and recovered CSA memories, who did not differ from each other. Thus, reduced autobiographical memory specificity was not particularly pronounced in people with recovered memories of CSA. Poor autobiographical memory specificity is unlikely to explain the impression of amnesia reported by this group.
U2 - 10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.03.004
DO - 10.1016/j.jbtep.2010.03.004
M3 - Article
SN - 0005-7916
VL - 41
SP - 338
EP - 344
JO - Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
JF - Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
IS - 4
ER -