Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is often considered to be a disorder of memory as patients suffer from fragmented uncontrollable memories (intrusions) whilst experiencing difficulties in intentionally retrieving details of the traumatic event. Recent research suggests that trait-related deficits in the identification of emotional states (alexithymia) may impact emotional memory processes in a way that promotes intrusion formation in PTSD. Therefore, we investigated the influence of alexithymia on intrusive re-experiencing and emotional recognition memory in a prospective analog study. Twenty-six healthy participants took part in a laboratory experiment, which combined two independent paradigms. Participants were exposed to a traumatic film (first session) and completed an episodic memory task comprising neutral and emotional stimuli (second session). In between sessions, participants recorded intrusive memories of the film. Individuals with higher trait alexithymia (HTA) reported an increased number of intrusions on the day of film presentation. Moreover, analyses of memory performance revealed a negative correlation between alexithymia and emotional recognition memory. Further analyses suggest that reduced emotional recognition memory, as evident in individuals with HTA, may, in turn, be associated with enhanced intrusive re-experiencing. As such, the current findings provide first indications regarding the role of alexithymia in emotional learning and PTSD. Future studies should further investigate these associations as well as potential implications for the treatment of PTSD.
Highlights
Alexithymia refers to a personality construct that comprises several aspects of deficient emotion processing
In order to explore whether particular subdomains of trait alexithymia were related to episodic memory performance, we examined non-parametric correlations between behavioral correlations between intrusion frequency and distress across the ambulatory assessment period and recognition memory performance
The current study aimed to provide first insights on the association between trait alexithymia and intrusive re-experiencing
Summary
Alexithymia refers to a personality construct that comprises several aspects of deficient emotion processing (i.e., difficulties identifying and describing feelings, as well as an externally oriented thinking style; Larsen et al, 2003). As patients with PTSD demonstrate higher alexithymia levels than trauma-exposed healthy controls (Yehuda et al, 1997; Kupchik et al, 2007; Evren et al, 2010; Reeves et al, 2012), it has been proposed that trait alexithymia may influence posttraumatic symptom trajectories (O’Brien et al, 2008). Evidence in this regard is not unequivocal. Recent findings raise the possibility that alexithymia may directly influence PTSD development via associated deficits in emotional memory processing (Frewen et al, 2008b; Jelinek et al, 2010; Minshew and D’Andrea, 2015)
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