Sopp M Roxanne, Brueckner Alexandra H, Michael Tanja
Division of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychology, Saarland University, Saarbrücken, Germany.
Front Psychol. 2019 Jan 8;9:2642. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02642. eCollection 2018.
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often considered to be a disorder of memory as patients suffer from fragmented uncontrollable memories (intrusions) whilst experiencing difficulties in intentionally retrieving details of the traumatic event. Recent research suggests that trait-related deficits in the identification of emotional states (alexithymia) may impact emotional memory processes in a way that promotes intrusion formation in PTSD. Therefore, we investigated the influence of alexithymia on intrusive re-experiencing and emotional recognition memory in a prospective analog study. Twenty-six healthy participants took part in a laboratory experiment, which combined two independent paradigms. Participants were exposed to a traumatic film (first session) and completed an episodic memory task comprising neutral and emotional stimuli (second session). In between sessions, participants recorded intrusive memories of the film. Individuals with higher trait alexithymia (HTA) reported an increased number of intrusions on the day of film presentation. Moreover, analyses of memory performance revealed a negative correlation between alexithymia and emotional recognition memory. Further analyses suggest that reduced emotional recognition memory, as evident in individuals with HTA, may, in turn, be associated with enhanced intrusive re-experiencing. As such, the current findings provide first indications regarding the role of alexithymia in emotional learning and PTSD. Future studies should further investigate these associations as well as potential implications for the treatment of PTSD.
创伤后应激障碍（PTSD）通常被认为是一种记忆障碍，因为患者遭受碎片化的无法控制的记忆（侵入性记忆），同时在有意回忆创伤事件的细节时存在困难。最近的研究表明，与特质相关的情绪状态识别缺陷（述情障碍）可能以一种促进PTSD中侵入性记忆形成的方式影响情绪记忆过程。因此，我们在一项前瞻性模拟研究中调查了述情障碍对侵入性重现和情绪识别记忆的影响。26名健康参与者参加了一项实验室实验，该实验结合了两个独立的范式。参与者观看了一部创伤性影片（第一阶段），并完成了一项包含中性和情绪刺激的情景记忆任务（第二阶段）。在两个阶段之间，参与者记录了对影片的侵入性记忆。具有较高特质述情障碍（HTA）的个体在观看影片当天报告的侵入性记忆数量增加。此外，对记忆表现的分析显示述情障碍与情绪识别记忆之间存在负相关。进一步的分析表明，HTA个体中明显的情绪识别记忆降低可能反过来与增强的侵入性重现有关。因此，目前的研究结果首次表明了述情障碍在情绪学习和PTSD中的作用。未来的研究应该进一步调查这些关联以及对PTSD治疗的潜在影响。
