Cheung Jessica, Bryant Richard A
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia.
School of Psychology, University of New South Wales, Australia.
J Behav Ther Exp Psychiatry. 2017 Mar;54:108-111. doi: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.07.005. Epub 2016 Jul 9.
Intrusive memories are a core feature of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Cognitive models posit that PTSD symptoms are stimulated by maladaptive appraisals about symptoms. This study aimed to test the causal pathway of maladaptive appraisals about the meaning of intrusions on subsequent intrusive memories.
Forty-five healthy participants were presented with a traumatic film, and were subsequently told either (a) intrusions are indicative of poor psychological functioning, (b) intrusions are not indicative of psychological functioning, or (c) no instructions. Participants subsequently completed a measure of cognitive performance to index potential interference by intrusions, as well as a scale of intrusive memories.
Participants who were told that intrusions are indicative of negative psychological state subsequently reported more intrusive memories than those who were told that intrusions have no particular significance.
Inferences are reduced by lack of group differences in appraisals reported by participants. A stronger index of intrusions would have been achieved through diary keeping in the period after the experimental session.
This finding provides initial causal evidence that appraising intrusions as maladaptive may directly enhance the occurrence of intrusions following encoding of an aversive event, and in this sense is supportive of cognitive models of PTSD.
侵入性记忆是创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）的核心特征。认知模型认为，PTSD症状是由对症状的适应不良评估所激发的。本研究旨在检验对侵入性记忆意义的适应不良评估对后续侵入性记忆的因果路径。
45名健康参与者观看了一部创伤性影片，随后被告知以下三种情况之一：（a）侵入性记忆表明心理功能较差；（b）侵入性记忆与心理功能无关；（c）不给予任何指示。参与者随后完成一项认知表现测量，以评估侵入性记忆的潜在干扰，以及一项侵入性记忆量表。
被告知侵入性记忆表明消极心理状态的参与者，随后报告的侵入性记忆比那些被告知侵入性记忆没有特殊意义的参与者更多。
由于参与者报告的评估中缺乏组间差异，推论受到影响。通过在实验 session 后的一段时间内记日记，可以获得更强的侵入性记忆指标。
这一发现提供了初步的因果证据，即认为侵入性记忆是适应不良的评估可能会直接增加在厌恶事件编码后侵入性记忆的发生，从这个意义上说，这支持了PTSD的认知模型。
