Absence of verbal recall or memory for symptom acquisition in fear and trauma exposure: a conceptual case for fear conditioning and learned nonuse in assessment and treatment

• Published in: Journal of rehabilitation research and development 2012-01, Vol.49 (8), p.1209-1220
• Main Author: Seifert, A Ronald
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcoholism; Animal cognition; Avoidance Learning; Behavior; Conditioning (Psychology); Diagnosis; Fear; Fear - physiology; Fear - psychology; Humans; Learning; Memory; Memory, Disorders of; Mental Recall - physiology; Pain - psychology; Pain Management; Physical Therapy Modalities; Psychic trauma; Psychological aspects; Sleep; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - psychology; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - therapy; Treatment Outcome
• ISSN: 0748-7711; 1938-1352
• DOI: 10.1682/JRRD.2011.11.0214

Absence of memory or verbal recall for symptom acquisition in fear and trauma exposure, as well as absence of successful coping behavior for life events, is associated with a number of diagnoses, including traumatic brain injury, posttraumatic stress disorder, pain, and anxiety. The difficulty with diagnosis and treatment planning based on the absence of recall, memory, and successful coping behavior is threefold: (1) these assessments do not distinguish between disruption of behavior and lack of capacity, (2) the absence of verbal recall and memory complicates cognitive-based treatment, and (3) a confounding issue is the same absent behavior can be observed at different times and contexts. While memory of the specific details of the initial traumatic event(s) may not be available to verbal report, the existence of time- and context-dependent relationships for the initial as well as subsequent experiences is arguable. The absence of memory or lack of verbal recall does not rule out measurable physiological bodily responses for the initial trauma(s), nor does it help to establish the effects of subsequent experiences for symptom expression. Also, the absence of memory must include the prospect of fear-based learning that does not require or involve the cortex. It is posited that the literatures of fear conditioning and learned nonuse provide complementary illustrations of how the time and context of the initial trauma(s) and subsequent experiences affect behavior, which is not dependent on the effected individual being able to provide a memory-based verbal report. The replicated clinical application demonstrates that, without scientific demonstration, neither neuroanatomy nor verbal report can be assumed sufficient to predict overt behavior or physiologic responses. For example, while commonly assumed to be predictively so, autonomic nervous system innervation is insufficient to define the unique stimulus- and context-dependent physiological responses of an individual. By recording simultaneous physiological responses to the controlled presentation of a context-dependent stimulus, the unique relationships of physiology and overt behaviors for the individual can be demonstrated. Using this process also allows more complex virtual reality or other in vivo stimulus assessments to be incorporated for the development of individually tailored assessments and therapeutic plans. Thus, with or without memory or verbal recall, the use of multiple time- and context-sp