Intrusive Traumatic Childhood Memories in Depression: A Comparison Between Depressed, Recovered and Never Depressed Women

Abstract

The extent of intrusive traumatic memories of upsetting childhood experiences was investigated in independent samples of female subjects: out-patients with a primary diagnosis of unipolar major depression, women recovered from clinical depression, and healthy controls who had never experienced major depression. Subjects completed self-report questionnaires to measure levels of depression, and intrusive memories of traumatic childhood events. There were no differences between the groups in whether or not they experienced intrusive memories, but severity of intrusions varied significantly. The depressed sample reported significantly more intrusion and avoidance than the recovered or control groups, and the recovered sample reported normal levels of intrusion but higher levels of avoidance of traumatic memories than controls. Severely depressed subjects reported significantly higher levels of intrusion and avoidance than moderately depressed subjects. Implications for psychological models and for the treatment of depression are discussed.