title: Early memories: Clinical relevance and significance.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this research was to examine earliest memories in patients with a mental disorder and their clinical relevance to diagnosis and treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A semi-structured early memory questionnaire was developed and 50 patients with anxiety, depression or a psychotic disorder were interviewed. A thematic analysis was conducted to extract dominant themes from the qualitative data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Family events, play, and receiving attention were dominant themes of pleasant memories, while unpleasant memories consisted of fear-provoking situations, abuse/violence, and death-related themes. Participants were able to recall the feelings they had experienced at the time of their earliest memories and most participants stated that their first memories had significant impact in their lives.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings of this exploratory study suggest that earliest memories may be of clinical significance for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions in psychiatry.
authors.affiliation: Senior Research Officer, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: van der Watt
authors.affiliation: Senior Lecturer, School of Medical Sciences, Edith Cowan University, Mount Lawley, WA, and; Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia d.coall@ecu.edu.au.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Coall
authors.affiliation: Research Associate, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Adelln
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sng
authors.affiliation: Winthrop Professor, School of Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Janca
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004644:Emotions; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006240:Happiness; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D011939:Mental Recall; D008875:Middle Aged; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014904:Western Australia
keywords: assessment; clinical relevance; early memories; first memories; mental disorders