A transdiagnostic comparison of trauma and panic memories in PTSD, panic disorder, and healthy controls

• Published in: Journal of behavior therapy and experimental psychiatry 2009-09, Vol.40 (3), p.412-422
• Main Authors: Hagenaars, Muriel A, van Minnen, Agnes, Hoogduin, Cees A.L, Verbraak, Marc
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Disorganization; Dissociation; Dissociative Disorders - diagnosis; Dissociative Disorders - etiology; Female; Humans; Interview, Psychological - methods; Intrusions; Life Change Events; Male; Medical sciences; Memories; Memory - physiology; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Neuropsychological Tests; Panic; Panic disorder; Panic Disorder - complications; Panic Disorder - diagnosis; Panic disorders; Personality Inventory; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Posttraumatic stress disorder; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychometrics; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; PTSD; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - complications; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic - diagnosis; Surveys and Questionnaires; Trauma memories; Traumatic life events
• ISSN: 0005-7916; 1873-7943
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbtep.2009.04.001

Abstract Inadequate processing of trauma information is considered to lead to particularly vivid recollections and disorganized memories of the trauma. Although trauma memories have mainly been investigated in PTSD, memories in other psychiatric disorders may actually share some characteristics. This may particularly be true for patients with panic disorder with agoraphobia (PDA) as a first panic attack resembles trauma. To test this hypothesis, PTSD trauma memories ( n = 59) were compared with PDA panic memories ( n = 58), and trauma memories of healthy trauma victims ( n = 135) on self-reported re-experiencing and disorganization. PTSD trauma memories had more re-experiencing elements than memories of the other two groups, although PDA memories had more re-experiencing elements than the controls' trauma memories. Relative to the controls, PTSD and PDA memories were disorganized. Peritraumatic dissociation and current memory-associated dissociation were also high in PTSD and PDA patients compared to the controls. Implications of these results are discussed.