NCJ Number
231950
Journal
Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry Volume: 41 Issue: 4 Dated: December 2010 Pages: 338-344
Date Published
December 2010
Length
7 pages
Annotation
This study examined the extent to which individuals with recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse experience difficulties retrieving specific memories from the past.
Abstract
Individuals who report to have recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) almost by definition believe that these memories were previously inaccessible for them. The authors 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, the authors 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 three 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. Tables and references (Published Abstract)