title: Adult memories of childhood trauma: a naturalistic clinical study.
abstract: The clinical evaluations of 77 adult psychiatric outpatients reporting memories of childhood trauma were reviewed. A majority of patients reported some degree of continuous recall. Roughly half (53%) said they had never forgotten the traumatic events. Two smaller groups described a mixture of continuous and delayed recall (17%) or a period of complete amnesia followed by delayed recall (16%). Patients with and without delayed recall did not differ significantly in the proportions reporting corroboration of their memories from other sources. Idiosyncratic, trauma-specific reminders and recent life crises were most commonly cited as precipitants to delayed recall. A previous psychotherapy was cited as a factor in a minority (28%) of cases. By contrast, intrusion of new memories after a period of amnesia was frequently cited as a factor leading to the decision to seek psychotherapy. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the role of psychotherapy in the process of recovering traumatic memories.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Herman
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Harvey
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001364:Awareness; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012094:Repression, Psychology; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy