POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER AND MEMORY/LEARNING
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a psychological disorder characterized by the recurrence of a particular traumatic event in the mind of the individual who experienced it; symptoms include a numbness or lack of responsiveness to external stimuli and a variety of depression- and/or anxiety-related behaviors such as sleep disturbances, low threshold for startling, impairment of memory and often guilt about some element of participation in the event (Sue, Sue & Sue, 1994). Memory and memory processes are such a key element of the disorder that in his discussion of the condition Dworetzky (1995) stated:
Clearly, the memories of a traumatic experience can have long-term effects even though the immediate danger has been removed. How long will stress of this sort last? Perhaps as long as the events are remembered. (p. 431)
The centrality of memory and learning processes (as they relate to memory) has lead to great deal of theory and research. Cognitive models of PTSD proposed that the problem involves problematic information processing arising as a reaction to trauma. In this regard, Litz, Weathers, Monoaco, Herman, Wulfsohn, Marx, and Keane (1996) studied a sample of Vietnam combat veterans with current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), with other Axis-I disorders, or with no Axis-I disorders. All subjects completed a series of tasks designed to elucidate the psychophysiological parameters of memory/information-processing in PTSD.
These tasks included a modified Stroop procedure (MSP), a standard Stroop procedure, a recognition memory task, and a threat rating task. Physiological responses were recorded throughout the study. Findings indicated that, as might be expected based on the information processing models, PTSD subjects exhibited greater MSP interference to high threat words than both comparison groups, and a liberal response bias toward recognizing...