What’s in a memory? PTSD and working with survivors of psychological trauma

Abstract

Background: Treating the consequences of psychological trauma and PTSD is of major concern to psychiatry although outcomes are often rather poor, often giving to the fact that the diagnose of PTSD is misused and no consideration of the trauma settings and its consequences on the brain. Aims: This paper looks at the impact of false or induced memories in the trauma narrative and their potential impact on therapy with examples from the everyday world. The consequences of this in civilian therapy sessions is discussed compared to the classical debriefing for PTSD in the armed forces. Methods: We take a theoretical overview of the interaction between therapist and patient with PTSD and consider the shortfalls of any therapy that requires the patient to recount their experiences. Results: We argue the uncritical acceptance of trauma history fails to take account of, and even lends itself, to induced or false memories which undermine treatment. Conclusions: We conclude that, this is also often leading to a wrong conception of the outcome of treatment for PTSD, which is often much more sombre than the treatment outcome of lesser conditions.