The organisation and content of trauma memories in survivors of road traffic accidents.
We investigated the trauma narratives of 131 road traffic accident survivors prospectively, at 1 week, 6 weeks, and 3 months post-trauma. At 1 and 6 weeks, narratives of survivors with acute stress disorder (ASD) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were less coherent and included more dissociation content. By 3 months, their narratives also contained more repetition, more non-consecutive chunks, and more sensory words. Traumatic brain injury was associated with a separate characteristic, confusion, at all three time points. Three aspects of narrative organisation at 1 week--repetition, non-consecutive chunks, and coherence--predicted PTSD severity at 3 months after controlling for initial symptoms. The results suggest both a strong concurrent and predictive relationship between narrative disorganisation and ASD/PTSD but that as people recover from ASD, their narratives do not necessarily become less disorganised.
Jones
Charlie
C
Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, UK.
Harvey
Allison G
AG
Brewin
Chris R
CR
D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000523:psychology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000523:psychology*; D040701:Stress Disorders, Traumatic, Acute / Q000523:psychology*; D017741:Survivors / Q000523:psychology*