Hotspots in the immediate aftermath of trauma - Mental imagery of worst moments highlighting time, space and motion.

Intrusive memories of trauma (memories that enter consciousness involuntarily) highjack cognitive processing, cause emotional distress, and represent a core symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder. Intrusive memories often contain the worst moment/s ('hotspots') of the trauma memory. Little is known about hotspots shortly after they are formed, i.e., in the first hours after trauma. We investigated the features of hotspots in trauma-exposed individuals (n = 21) within 72 h post-trauma, using linguistic analysis and qualitative coding. On average, participants reported three hotspots per traumatic event (M = 7.8 words/hotspot). Hotspots primarily contained words related to time, space, motion, and sensory processing. Most hotspots contained sensory features (97%) and motion (59%). Few cognitions and no emotion words were identified. Results indicate that hotspots collected shortly post-trauma are expressed as motion-rich sensory-perceptual experiences (mental imagery) with little detail about emotion/cognition. Findings are discussed in terms of the function of hotspots (e.g., preparedness for action) and clinical implications.