Treatment integration of traumatic memories vs. suppression of distress

This presentation will review a series of three studies that investigated the quality of traumatic memories in three subject populations, using the Traumatic Memory Inventory (TMI- van der Kolk & Fisler, 1996): 1) victims of interpersonal trauma, 2) victims of motor vehicle accidents, and 3) patients who experienced awareness during anesthesia. We then will present the results of the Memory component study from a large treatment outcome study comparing EMDR and fluoxetine for PTSD which showed that, following effective treatment with EMDR, the fragmentation of memory imprints was resolved, while treatment with fluoxetine did not alter the quality of traumatic memories, but suppressed subjective distress.

Conference

English

Bessel A. van der Kolk
James Hopper
Joseph Spinazzola

van der Kolk, B. A., Hopper, J., & Spinazzola, J. (2004, November). Treatment integration of traumatic memories vs. suppression of distress. Presentation at the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies 20th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA