Adult memories of childhood trauma: A naturalistic clinical study

✍ Scribed by Judith L. Herman; Mary R. Harvey

• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 828 KB
• Volume: 10
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0894-9867
• DOI: 10.1002/jts.2490100404

✦ Synopsis

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.