Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-p566r Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-27T11:09:14.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Questionable validity of ‘dissociative amnesia’ in trauma victims

Evidence from prospective studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Harrison G. Pope Jr
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
James I. Hudson
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
J. Alexander Bodkin
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Paul Oliva
Affiliation:
Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Abstract

Background

We reviewed evidence from prospective studies to test whether individuals can develop amnesia for traumatic experiences, a process variously termed ‘repression’, dissociative amnesia’ or ‘psychogenic amnesia’.

Method

Using specified criteria, we selected and analysed studies which prospectively assessed memory in victims of documented traumatic experiences.

Results

In studies in which people were asked directly about a past traumatic experience, they consistently reported memories. Non-reporting occurred only in studies where subjects were not asked directly about the experience. This latter design leaves open the well-documented possibility that subjects simply did not disclose events that they actually remembered. Some prospective studies were also limited by incomplete documentation of trauma and failure to rule out other more ordinary causes of amnesia.

Conclusions

Prospective data as yet fail to demonstrate that individuals can develop dissociative amnesia for traumatic events.

Type
Review Articles
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

See Commentary, pp. 216–217 this issue.

References

American Psychiatric Association (1994a) Statement on memories of sexual abuse. International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis, 42, 261264 Google Scholar
American Psychiatric Association (1994b) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Menial Disorders (4th edn) (DSM–IV). Washington, DC: APA.Google Scholar
Bagley, C. (1995) Child Sexual Abuse and Menial Health in Adolescents and Adults: British and Canadian Perspectives. Aldershot, UK: Avebury.Google Scholar
Bass, E. & Davis, L. (1994) The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse (3rd edn). New York: Harper Collins.Google Scholar
Bennett, M. & Rutledge, J. (1989) Self-disclosure in a clinical context by Asian and British psychiatric outpatients. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 28, 155163.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brltish Psychological Society (1995) Recovered Memories. Leicester; British Psychological Society Google Scholar
Burgen, A. W., Hartman, C. R. & Baker, T. (1995) Memory presentations of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing. 33, 916.Google Scholar
Ferrell, L. R. (1988) Factors that affect a victim's self-disclosure in father– daughter incest. Child Welfore League of America, 67, 462468.Google Scholar
Femina, D. D., Yeager, C. A. & Lewis, D. O. (1990) Child abuse: adolescents records v. adult recall. Child Abuse and Neglect, 145, 227231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flvush, R. & Hudson, J. A. (eds) (1990) Knowing and Remembering in Young Children. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Freud, S. (1914) On the history of the psychoanalytic movement. Reprinted (1953–1974) in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (trans, and ed. Strachey, J.), vol. 14. p. 16. London: Hogarth Press.Google Scholar
Goodman, G. S., Quas, J. A., Batterman-Faunce, J. M., et al (1994) Predictors of accurate and inaccurate memories of traumatic events experienced m childhood. Consciousness Cognition. 4, 269274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Henderson, J. L. & Moore, M. (1944) The psychoneuroses of war. New England Journal of Medicine, 230. 273278.Google Scholar
Holmes, D. (1990) The evidence for repression: an examination of sixty years of research. In Repression and Dissociation. Implications for Personolity. Theory. Psychopothology and Health (ed. Singer, J), pp. 85102. Chicago. IL: Univesity of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kendall-Tackett, K. A., Williams, L. M. & Finkelhor, D. (1993) Impact of sexual abuse on children: a review and synthesis of recent empirical studies. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 164180.Google Scholar
Lehnen, R. G. & Skrogen, W. G. (eds) (1981) The National Crime Survey; Working Papers. Volume 1: Current and Historical Perspectives. Washing ton. DC: US Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics (NCJ-75374).Google Scholar
Leopold, R. L. & Dillon, H. (1963) Psycho-anatomy of a disaster: a long term study of post-traumatic neuroses in survivors of a marine explosion. American Journal of Psychiatry 119. 913921.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Malt, U. (1988) The long-term psychiatric consequences of accidental injury: a longitudinal study of 107 adults. British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 810818.Google Scholar
Mekhert, T. P. & Parker, R. L. (1997) Different forms of childhood abuse and memory. Child Abuse and Neglect, 21. 125135.Google Scholar
Muram, D. (1989) Child sexual abuse – genital tract findings in prepubertal girls. I: The unaided medical examination. American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 160, 328333.Google Scholar
National Center for Health Statistics (1965) Health Interview Responses Compared with Medical Records Vital and Health Statistics No. 1000, Series 2, No 7. Washington DC PHS Publications.Google Scholar
Peterson, C. & Bell, M. (1996) Childrens memory for trauma injury Child Development, 67, 30453070 Google Scholar
Pope, H. G. Jr. (1997) Psychology Astray Fallacies in Studies of “Repressed Memory” and Childhood Trauma. Boca Raton Fl: Upton Books.Google Scholar
Pope, H. G. Jr. & Hudson, J. I. (1995) Can memories of childhood sexual abuse be repressed? Psychological Medicine, 25, 121126.Google Scholar
Pope, H. G. Jr. & Hudson, J. I. (1996) “Recovered memory” therapy for eating disorders: implications of the Ramona verdict International Journal of Eating Disorders, 19, 139145.Google Scholar
Salinsky, M. C., Wegener, K. & Sinnema, F. (1992) Epilepsy. driving laws, and patient disclosure to physicians Epilepsia, 33, 469472 Google Scholar
Schaeter, D. L. (1986) Amnesia and crime. How much do we really know? American Psychologist, 41, 286295 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaeter, D. L. (1996) Searching for Memory. The Brain The Mind and the Past, pp 7381. New York Basic Books.Google Scholar
Sheflin, A. W. & Brown, D. (1996) Repressed memory or dissociative amnesia what the science says Journal of Psychiatry & Law. Summer. 143188.Google Scholar
Sorensen, T. & Snow, B. (1991) How children tell the process of disclosure in child sexual abuse Child Welfare League of America, 70, 315.Google Scholar
Spiegel, D. J. (1195) Memory trauma and psychotherapy: a cognitive science view Journal of Psychotherapy Practice and Research. 4. 93122.Google Scholar
Stracciara, A., Ghldoni, E., Guarino, M., et al (1994) Post-traumatic retrograde amnesia with selective impairment of autobiographical memory Carter, 30, 459468 Google Scholar
Swerdlow, N. R., Geyer, M. A. & Perry, W. (1995) Drug screering in “normal” controls Biological Psychiatry 38, 123124 Google Scholar
Terr, L. C. (1979) Children of Chowchilla a study of psychic trauma Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 34 552623.Google Scholar
Terr, L. C. (1983) Chowchilla revisited the effects of psychic trauma four years after a school-bus kidnapping American Journal of Psychiatry, 140, 15431550 Google Scholar
Terr, L. C. (1991) Childhood traurnas an outline and overview. American Journal of Psychirtry, 148, 1020.Google Scholar
Terr, L. C., Bloch, D. A. & Michel, B. A. (1996) Children's memories in the wake of Challenger American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 618625.Google Scholar
Wagenaar, W. A. & Groeneweg, J. (1990) The memory of concentration camp survivors Applied Cognitive Psychology, 4, 7787 Google Scholar
Widom, C. S. & Shepard, R. L. (1996) Accuracy of adult recollection of chidhood victimization Part 1: Childhood physical abuse Psychological Assessment, 8, 412421.Google Scholar
Widom, C. S. & Morris, S. (1997) Accuracy of adult recollections of Childhood victimization Part 2 Childhood sexual abuse Psychological Assessment, 9, 3446.Google Scholar
Williams, L. M. (1992) Adult memories of child sexual abuse preliminary findings from a longitudinal study American Society for Pretention of Child Abuse Advisor, 5, 1920 Google Scholar
Williams, L. M. (1994) Retail of childhood trauma A prospective study of womer's memories of child sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clincal Psychology, 62, 11671176 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.