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01-02-2010 | Original Article

Autobiographical Memories for Very Negative Events: The Effects of Thinking About and Rating Memories

Auteurs: David C. Rubin, Adriel Boals, Kitty Klein

Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research | Uitgave 1/2010

Abstract

In three related experiments, 250 participants rated properties of their autobiographical memory of a very negative event before and after writing about either their deepest thoughts and emotions of the event or a control topic. Levels of emotional intensity of the event, distress associated with the event, intrusive symptoms, and other phenomenological memory properties decreased over the course of the experiment, but did not differ by writing condition. We argue that the act of answering our extensive questions about a very negative event led to the decrease, thereby masking the effects of expressive writing. To show that the changes could not be explained by the mere passage of time, we replicated our findings in a fourth experiment in which all 208 participants nominated a very negative event, but only half the participants rated properties of their memory in the first session. Implications for reducing the effects of negative autobiographical memories are discussed.

vorige artikel Dysfunctional Attitudes, Attributional Styles, and Phase of Illness in Bipolar Disorder

volgende artikel Implicit Memory and Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms

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Titel: Autobiographical Memories for Very Negative Events: The Effects of Thinking About and Rating Memories
Auteurs: David C. Rubin
Adriel Boals
Kitty Klein
Publicatiedatum: 01-02-2010
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Cognitive Therapy and Research / Uitgave 1/2010
Print ISSN: 0147-5916
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-2819
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-008-9226-6

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