A transdiagnostic comparison of trauma and panic memories in PTSD, panic disorder, and healthy controls.
Inadequate processing of trauma information is considered to lead to particularly vivid recollections and disorganized memories of the trauma. Although trauma memories have mainly been investigated in PTSD, memories in other psychiatric disorders may actually share some characteristics. This may particularly be true for patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA) as a first panic attack resembles trauma. To test this hypothesis, PTSD trauma memories (n=59) were compared with PDA panic memories (n=58), and trauma memories of healthy trauma victims (n=135) on self-reported re-experiencing and disorganization. PTSD trauma memories had more re-experiencing elements than memories of the other two groups, although PDA memories had more re-experiencing elements than the controls' trauma memories. Relative to the controls, PTSD and PDA memories were disorganized. Peritraumatic dissociation and current memory-associated dissociation were also high in PTSD and PDA patients compared to the controls. Implications of these results are discussed.
Hagenaars
Muriel A
MA
Department of Clinical Health and Neuropsychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. mhagenaars@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
van Minnen
Agnes
A
Hoogduin
Cees A L
CA
Verbraak
Marc
M
D000328:Adult; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016584:Panic Disorder / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010555:Personality Inventory; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires