title: Emotional specificities of autobiographical memory after breast cancer diagnosis.
abstract: Cancer involves stressful events. One aspect of cognition that is impacted by stress is episodic autobiographical memory (EAM). EAM is intimately linked to self-representation. Some studies have revealed impairment of EAM in patients with breast cancer in remission. Yet, these studies failed to differentiate between the influence of adjuvant treatments and that of psychosocial factors. We therefore assessed the psychological impact of breast cancer diagnosis on EAM and self-representation profiles prior to any adjuvant treatment. Patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer (n=31) and women without any history of cancer (n=49) were compared on state anxiety, EAM and its emotional characteristics, and self-representations. The most anxious patients retrieved fewer emotional details for memories than the controls, and had lower self-representation scores than the least anxious patients, who had no deficits in emotional detail retrieval. Our results revealed distinct EAM profiles for patients, reflecting two contrasting modes of coping with breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Nastassja
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morel
authors.affiliation: U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guillaume Régnier University Hospital, Rennes, France.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dayan
authors.affiliation: University of Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Psychology Institute, Memory and Cognition Lab, Boulogne Billancourt, France; INSERM U894, Psychiatry and Neuroscience Centre, University of Paris Descartes, Paris, France; Institut Universitaire de France, France.
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piolino
authors.affiliation: U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Armelle
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Viard
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, François Baclesse Centre, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Djellila
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Allouache
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, François Baclesse Centre, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Noal
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, François Baclesse Centre, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Christelle
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, François Baclesse Centre, Caen, France; Caen University Hospital, Caen, France; "Cancers and Preventions" Joint Team (INSERM, U1086), Caen, France.
authors.forename: Florence
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Joly
authors.affiliation: U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France.
authors.forename: Francis
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Eustache
authors.affiliation: U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France. Electronic address: benedicte.giffard@unicaen.fr.
authors.forename: Bénédicte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Giffard
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D008875:Middle Aged; D012649:Self Concept
keywords: Autobiographical memory; Breast cancer; Period of diagnosis; Self-representations; State anxiety