University of Oxford.
Behav Cogn Psychother. 1995 Jul;23(3):217-49. doi: 10.1017/S135246580001585X.
Intrusive recollections are very common immediately after traumatic events and are considered necessary aspects of emotional processing. However, if these intrusive recollections persist over a long time, they are linked to long-term psychiatric disorder, especially Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This paper discusses the need to investigate factors involved in the maintenance of intrusive traumatic recollections. It is suggested that the idiosyncratic meaning of the intrusive recollections predicts the distress caused by them, and the degree to which the individual engages in strategies to control the intrusions. These control strategies maintain the intrusive recollections by preventing a change in the meaning of the trauma and of the traumatic memories. It is further suggested that what is needed is a comprehensive assessment of the processes that prevent change in meaning, going beyond the assessment of avoidance. In particular, safety behaviours, dissociation and numbing, suppression of memories and thoughts about trauma, rumination, activation of other emotions such as anger and guilt and corresponding cognitions, and selective information processing (attentional and memory biases) may be involved in the maintenance of intrusive recollections. Preliminary data supporting these suggestions from studies of individuals involved in road traffic accidents and survivors of child sexual abuse are described.
侵入性回忆在创伤事件后非常常见，被认为是情绪处理的必要方面。然而，如果这些侵入性回忆持续很长时间，它们就与长期的精神障碍有关，特别是创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）。本文讨论了需要调查维持侵入性创伤回忆的相关因素。有人认为，侵入性回忆的特质意义预示着它们引起的痛苦，以及个体采用控制侵入的策略的程度。这些控制策略通过防止创伤和创伤记忆的意义发生变化来维持侵入性回忆。进一步的建议是，需要对防止意义发生变化的过程进行全面评估，超越对回避的评估。特别是，安全行为、解离和麻木、对创伤的记忆和想法的抑制、反刍、激活其他情绪如愤怒和内疚以及相应的认知，以及选择性信息处理（注意力和记忆偏差）可能与侵入性回忆的维持有关。描述了来自道路交通意外参与者和儿童性虐待幸存者的研究中支持这些建议的初步数据。
