Term
| What is a "false memory"? |
|
Definition
sexual abuse (or other event) did not happen but the person has a false memory that it did
inacessible persistence and inaccurate
or less researched is memories that were always remembered but are inaccurate (still false) |
|
|
Term
| What are recovered memories? |
|
Definition
sexual abuse (or other event) occured but there was a time when the memory was not accesible.
note: how the memory impairment occurred is a separate question (mechanism or process question)
Inaccessible but Accurate |
|
|
Term
| What is the false dichotomy of recovered memories? |
|
Definition
conflates persistence and accuracy of memory
either a memory is persistent (always available) and completely accurate
OR
a memory is not persistent (was not accessible at some point) and therefore is not accurate
logically, the concepts are distinct and orthogonal |
|
|
Term
| What is an "unproblematic memory"? |
|
Definition
| Always remembered and always accurate |
|
|
Term
| What is the logical look at the false memory debate? |
|
Definition
Logically, it is possible that people sometimes remember events (including childhood trauma) that never took place.
People sometimes forget (or repress or have amnesia for) events (including childhood trauma) that did take place
Both can be true, they do not contradict each other |
|
|
Term
| Where do we see traumatic amnesia in the DSM? |
|
Definition
PTSD avoidance #3: “inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma”
Acute Stress Disorder: “Dissociative amnesia (inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma)”
Also in dissociative disorder diagnoses (although link to trauma is not required by DSM criteria) |
|
|
Term
| Basic facts of the Williams case? |
|
Definition
Williams (1994, 1995)
206 documented cases of sexual abuse from ER visits
17 years after ER visit, 176 contacted again and asked many questions including childhood sexual abuse.
38% mention the abuse, 10% reported there was a period where they had forgotten. |
|
|
Term
| In Williams (1994) how were the women asked about their experiences with sexual abuse? |
|
Definition
Behaviorally specific questions, such as: sexual contact b y force, sexual contact with a family member, sexual contact that took place against their wishes.
Asked about fabricated reports of abuse made by themselves or others.
Asked whether anyone in their family ever got in trouble for their sexual activities. |
|
|
Term
| Why is Williams (1994) so important? |
|
Definition
| Prospective, gold standard for documented abuse (verified in ER), fairly large n, ethnically diverse |
|
|
Term
| What are other explanations for the Williams (1994) results? |
|
Definition
Maybe 38% remembered but didn't want to talk about it (but the 38% did talk about other personal things, including abortions and other personal sexual details)
Maybe 38% were too young at the time of the abuse - "infantile amnesia" |
|
|
Term
| If perpetrator is close to the family member they were ______(more/less) likely to report sexual abuse? |
|
Definition
|
|
Term
| Evidence for fabricated memories? |
|
Definition
Strong evidence
Mostly laboratory
Common type (post event suggestions)
Use of word "smashed" causes people to misremember there was broken glass in the description of the car accident.
High confidence, detailed description, and maintained in spite of contradictory evidence |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Primary pathway for information exchange between left and right hemispheres. |
|
|
Term
| Left Hemisphere of Corpus Callosum |
|
Definition
| Verbal tasks, especially language (broca' area) |
|
|
Term
| Right Hemisphere of Corpus Callosum |
|
Definition
| Spatial information, emotional information (especially neative emotions) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
translates short term memory and lays it down in long term memory.
Important for short-term memory and consolidation into long-term memory
Categorizes stimuli (esp as reward, punishment, novel)
Creates simple maps or summaries
Evaluates how stimuli relate to long-term memory (LTM)
Essential for formation of explicit, declarative memories
Exposure to prolonged stress results in deficits in short-term memory (STM) funciton (experiments on animals and correlational studies in humans on PTSD and cognitive functioning) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Important for processing emotional information
Assigns a "feeling" (or affecitve label) to input
Neocortex elaborates and connects it with episodic (personal) info to give it meaning.
Integrates emotional and non-emotional information about stimuli |
|
|
Term
| Frontal Lobes/prefrontal cortex |
|
Definition
"central executive": planning, thinking, executing
Medial prefrontal cortex: inhibit responses from more primitive brain areas (e.g. limbic system)
Mood regulation |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Adrenal steroids secreted during stress
IN humans, cortisol is the main glucocorticoid
Helps us respond to threat and attack (suppresses functions not immediately needed like digestion and the immune system, and directs energy to brain and muscles)
Causes pathology under prolonged stress
HIgh levels of GC (due to stress) results in damage of hippocampus (decrease in # of neurons, changes in cytoarchitecture - less branches and fewer connections |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Overexposure to glucocorticoids (GC) results in degeneration or accelerated aging of hippocampus |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Look at structures of the brain
PTSD and stress associated with reduced hippocampal volume |
|
|
Term
| Gurvis et. al: (vietnam vets) |
|
Definition
Participants: 7 Vietnam vets w/PTSD, 7 Vietnam vets without PTSD (ever), 8 controls (non- veterans with no history of trauma or PTSD)
Method: completed neuropsychological tests, MRI analyzed to examine hippocampal volume
Results: PTSD group performed more poorly on most neuropsych tests (esp. attention/concentration)
Hippocampal volume: PTSD group 26% lower volume than non-PTSD group
Negative correlation between severity of combat exposure and hippocampal volume |
|
|
Term
| Stein et al: (CSA survivors) |
|
Definition
Participants: 21 women w/CSA history, 21 women wo/CSA history
MRI to measure hippocampal volume
HV 5% smaller in CSA group
Severity of dissociative symptoms correlated to left hippocampal volume |
|
|
Term
| Critiques of research on effects of trauma on hippocampal volume (HV)? |
|
Definition
Causal direction: could be that low hippocampal volume or impaired functioning makes you more susceptible to PTSD if you experience a trauma.
No repeated measurements of HV: what happens over time? when does the volume loss occur?
No links to process and experience: relation to clinical symptoms? What are the specific mechanisms whereby reduced HV leads to flashbacks or other memory impairments?
Control groups adequate? Small samples? |
|
|
Term
| How does the hippocampus link to dissociation? |
|
Definition
Hippocampus important in integrating stimuli into one coherent memory
Obvious link to dissociation
Evidence that hippocampus is implicated in dissociation:
IN surgery, stimulating hippocampus leads to dissociative symptoms
Ketamine (which blocks certain receptors w/high concentration in hippocampus) leads to dissociative symptoms |
|
|
Term
| What does Bremner say about peritraumatic dissociation and its effect on the hippocampus? |
|
Definition
| “may represent not a risk factor for later pathology, but instead the initial onset of a PTSD-dissociative spectrum disorder. Dissociation at the time of trauma may represent the subjective sensation of hippocampal damage at the time of stress” |
|
|
Term
| Why is perpetration less well-studied than victimization? |
|
Definition
Perpetrators do not want to talk to researchers
Difficulty in gaining access to known perpetrators |
|
|
Term
| What makes the motivations for participating in research different for perpetrators than victims? |
|
Definition
survivors want to understand the experience, perpetrators try not to
perpetrators may be trying to reduce a sentence or please authorities
Perpetrators do not very often seek out therapy; survivors often do (in U.S. culture) |
|
|
Term
| Take away points on studying perpetration? |
|
Definition
much research has focused on categorizing perpetrators
can be useful
one drawback: focus in on individual rather than developmental/contextual factors
Perpetration is a LEARNED behavior
It's important not to demonize perpetrators |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Develop appropriate treatment
Forensic psychology: helps in apprehending offenders |
|
|
Term
| How are the typologies or sex offenders developed? |
|
Definition
Using convicted, incarcerated offenders
May not capture full range of behavior and psychology
ONly a small fraction of offenders are ever incarcerated |
|
|
Term
| FBI typologies of child molesters |
|
Definition
Main distinction: situational vs. preferential
Categories were developed with male perpetrators
Developed for forensic purposes
Categorizing for therapeutic purposes might have different results |
|
|
Term
| FBI typology: situational perpetrator |
|
Definition
Predatory
Aroused to adults and children
Usually only a limited number of victims are reported
May victimize elderly, sick, or disabled, as well as children (opportunistic)
Four subtypes: Regressed, Morally Indiscriminate, Sexually Indiscriminate, and Inadequate |
|
|
Term
| "Regressed" subtype of situational perpetrators? |
|
Definition
| Unable to relate to peers, offense often triggered by stress (e.g. job loss), may be drunk or high when offending, victim availability is important (offends against whoever is available), may or may not use child pornography |
|
|
Term
| "Morally indiscriminate" subtype of situational perpetrators? |
|
Definition
| Antisocial (lie, cheat, steal), little to no empathy for victims, may have anti-social personality disorder, opportunistic, impulsive, reckless, may use violence; but may also lure victims with gifts, may co-occur with spouse abuse and/or non-sexual crime. |
|
|
Term
| "Sexually Indiscriminate" subtype of situational perpetrators? |
|
Definition
| Sexual experimenters, in search of new experiences (e.g., spouse swapping, sex with prostitutes, may have sex addiction or sexual paraphilia (e.g., exhibitionism, fetishes), most are law-abiding; tend to be high SES, most collect porn; sometimes vast collections of child porn |
|
|
Term
| "Inadequate" subtype of situational perpetrators? |
|
Definition
| typically has mental, developmental, or emotional problems, may have poor social skills & hygiene, may be depressed, tendency towards multiple victims, victim availability important (may look in playgrounds, school yards to find victims) |
|
|
Term
| Preferential Perpetrators? |
|
Definition
Exclusively aroused to children (this is their "preference" as opposed to a situational type.
More likely to be violent
May have large number of victims
Three subtypes: seductive, introverted, sadistic. |
|
|
Term
| "Seductive" subtype of preferential perpetrators? |
|
Definition
| grooms and targets children, courts and befriends children, getting emotionally close to them, gives attention and affection, targets children from dysfunctional homes, may have many simultaneous victims, victim disclosure tends to occur only during the termination phase, threats of harm sometimes used, usually to protect abuser’s identity. |
|
|
Term
| "Introverted" subtype of preferential perpetrators? |
|
Definition
| : does not have skills to maintain an adult intimate relationship, abuse incidents may include obscene phone calls or exhibitionism, may develop relationship w/woman who has children to have access to them, child pornography use often heavy, may use child prostitutes, not sadistic. |
|
|
Term
| "sadistic" subtype of perpetrator? |
|
Definition
| inflicting pain has become eroticized, arousal is dependent on physical or psychological pain of victim, may lure victims with gifts and/or overpower with force, empathy lacking; victims viewed as objects, most likely of three sub-types to kill a child, relatively rare. |
|
|
Term
| Typologies of Adult Rapists? |
|
Definition
Based on work by Groth, others also exist
Developed on convicted rapists may not fit into these typologies
Two main types: power and anger |
|
|
Term
| "power" typologies of adult rapists |
|
Definition
| seeks power and control over their victims, weapons, fore, threats, violence often used, victims may be tied up or imprisoned, usually pre-planned, behavior is compulsive and repetitive, but intent is not to hurt the victim. |
|
|
Term
| "anger" typology of adult rapists |
|
Definition
| expression of anger or hatred toward victim, other women or women in general, history of bad relationships with women, excessive physical force may be used (intent to hurt victim), sadistic attacks common, including verbal abuse and degradation, sexual satisfaction often absent. |
|
|
Term
| Mathews, Mathews, & Spelt 5 typologies of women offenders |
|
Definition
Teacher/lover ("i'll teach you about sex")
Predisposed (acting out from own abuse)
Male-coerced (offends only with male partner, abused by partner as well)
Experimenter/exploiter (confused about sexuality)
Psychologically disturbed (e.g., developmentally delayed, schizophrenics) |
|
|
Term
| Take away points from Rob's Lecture on Men, Masculinity, and Violence? |
|
Definition
Sex is biological, gender is economic, cultural, and social attributes associated with being male and female. We "do" gender. It is a social structure shaped by patriarchy (male dominant, identified, and structured). Males get privilege (unearned social granting of a route to cultural resources based on being male)
hegemonic masculinity: dominant masculinity emphasizes competition, wealth, aggression, and heterosexuality. Complicit, subordinated and marginalized masculinities. |
|
|
Term
| What is the Kimmel and Mahler (2003) study from Rob's presentation? |
|
Definition
Random school shootings from 1980-2001 in the US
Political and scientific commentary: violent video games and movies, rise of a gun culture, shooter psychopathology.
Missing a point: masculinity and race (all school shootings committed by boys)
28 studies from 1980-2001, all boys, 26 white, 27 rural/suburban, 24 conservative states or countries, nearly all were bullied, beat up, or "gay bashed"
Why do they do this?: Hegemonic masculinity, violent boy culture in US (violence and growing up are connected, sports are violent, "boys being boys", glorification of violence in movies, MMA/fighting
how does privilege take a role? |
|
|
Term
| Finkelhor (2009) (prevention of childhood sexual abuse) |
|
Definition
Review of strategies, evidence based. Sex crimes against children decreasing since early 1990s (crime in general has been declining since then)
Few cases of CSA are by strangers (26% family, 60% someone in social network, 15% someone they didn't know)
Offenders are diverse, most are not pedophiles, one third are juveniles, different solutions for different offenders. |
|
|
Term
| Strategy 1 from Finkelhor (2009): Offender management? |
|
Definition
Megan's law, Jessica's law, surveillance, punishment, community notification.
Increasingly used, pop with public, effectiveness not well studied.
Offender registration: all states have electronic sex offender registries - few studies, mixed results.
Community notification: door to door, phone, flyers - few studies, mixed results. Pop with public, less pop with law enforcement.
Mandatory background checks - no systematic research done
Residency restrictions: where they can live, pop with public, no studies on efficacy. Illogical because they don't necessarily offend where they live and usually isn't a stranger anyway.
Sentence lengthening and civil commitment (if someone is judged to still be a danger to society they are held even when their prison sentence is done)
Enhanced detection and arrest - no studies on sex crimes against children. Effective in other domains (E.g., DUI).
pattern: LACK OF RESEARCH
best strategy: mental health treatment. few experiments, non-experimental studies suggest that treatment is effective (especially cognitive-behavioral therapy). Stronger evidence for juveniles |
|
|
Term
| Strategy 2 from Finkelhor (2009): school based education programs? |
|
Definition
Teach skills to children
Studies on effectiveness:
Children learn concepts
Disclosure is promoted
Children's self-blame is reduced
Not clear whether victimization is decreased. |
|
|
Term
| (from Ella's lecture) What were some os the consequences of the Holocaust? |
|
Definition
Few jews do survive and survivors have to deal with adjustments and lack of meaning. They must mourn for their families and the world/life they lost. Survivors became unique cultural archetype in Israeli culture of not being quite right which is perpetuated by the media and discourses.
Deal with intrusions, anxiety, adjustment problems and mental disorders. Sometimes pass along the trauma generationally |
|
|
Term
| (from Ella's lecture) what is the Sagi-Schwartz et al, 2003 study? |
|
Definition
Study of mothers who survived the holocaust, their daughters, and their grandchildren (only about 50 pairs.
Holocaust survivors experienced avoidance, intrusion, autonomic anxiety, cognitive worry, unusual beliefs, and unresolved state of mind.
Holocaust affected the lives of child survivors, even after more than 50 years
Daughters of Holocaust survivors did not differ from the comparison group in their attachment representations, anxiety, traumatic stress reactions, and maternal behavior toward their infants.
Daughters reported a similar degree of general well-being and integration into the community as their comparison subjects, and did not differ in the love and warmth athey found in their marital relationships. They also related in similar ways to their daughters as the comparison subjects did. |
|
|
Term
| (from Ella's lecture) Why was the holocaust a "different trauma"? |
|
Definition
Basic trust was not broken. Traumatic events were not created by their parents or other attachment figures but emerged from an almost anonymous destructive force.
Second, the child survivors in the Sagi-Schwartz et al study have experienced years of normal family life before the holocaust threw their lives into jeapordy. During these early years, basic trust in attachment figures may have developed, empowering child survivors after the war to cope with the challenges of adapting to normal family and social life and become attachment figures again themselves. |
|
|
Term
| (From Ella's lecture) Consequences of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? |
|
Definition
86% of the Palestinian men (N=235) and 44% (N=137) of the women had experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime.
Women show more symptoms of anxiety disorders, mood disorders, somatoform disorders, etc.
It is worse for children, in a different study 547 school-age children exposed to traumatic events. 63% were reported as having full PTS symptomatology and prevalence of attention problems, lack of concentration and hyperactivity, and sleep and speech problems. |
|
|
Term
| According to the Qouta (2004) study from Ella's lecture, what action indicated that the children could cope with the trauma? |
|
Definition
| raising the Palestinian flag in front of Israeli tanks indicated that they can cope with the trauma by maintaining a sense of identity and pride, despite fear and anxiety. |
|
|
Term
| (from Ella's lecture) what does the Baker (1990) study on 5-16 year old Palestinians experiencing the first Intifada in refugee camps, villages, and towns in the West Bank and Gaza strip suggest? |
|
Definition
| That active participation in the conflict may enhance self-esteem and protect children from the development of negative psychological symptomatology. |
|
|
Term
| From Ella's lecture, what does the Barber (2008) study about meaning attached to conflict suggest? |
|
Definition
| Youth's political activism, even when accompanied by violence, has important implications for positive identity and personal growth. |
|
|
Term
Adults abused as children are at increased risk for...?
what does "at risk" mean? |
|
Definition
crime perpetration, violent perpetration, pysical, sexual emotional abuse of children.
At risk means greater risk not certainty - most survivors do NOT become abusers, yet most abusers ARE themselves survivors |
|
|
Term
| What happened in Widom (2000)? |
|
Definition
Children with a court substantiated case of abuse or neglect '67-71
25 years later followed up with interview (prospective)
Careful matching strategy to produce control group
Final n = 1196 (big sample)
Main DVs=arrest record, including arrests fr violent behavior.
Matched controls had fewer arrests across the groups (juvenile arrest, adult arrest, any arrest, violent)
Neglect was a strong predictor for physical abuse
Some complexities for gender and race (no differences for white participants, findings stronger for female than male, further study useful) |
|
|
Term
| When compared with abuse victims who did NOT perpetrate, Abuse victims who DO perpetrate have... |
|
Definition
More gender rigidity
More emotional constriction
More homophobia |
|
|
Term
| Lisak & Bezterczey (2007) |
|
Definition
Qualitative analysis of social histories of death row inmate
All men, all convicted of murder. Social history is a document used in the sentencing phase. Defense argues life circumstances mitigate against death sentence.
Final n = 37 (very select group of people)
59% experienced sexual abuse, 95% physical abuse, 97% sexual or physical abuse, 100% neglect, 84% terrorized, 84% witnessed violence, 89% verbally abused.
Incredibly traumatized population. Numbers don't capture the intensity of the abuse.
Multigenerational abuse also present
sexual - 24% of their parents
physical - 54% of their parents
substance abuse - 92% of their parents
Many punished for symptoms of abuse |
|
|
Term
| What happened in Oprah's Scared Silent film |
|
Definition
| Oprah interviews abuse parents about perpetration and their own vicitmizations. |
|
|
Term
| Qualities of perpetrators? |
|
Definition
More gender rigidity
More emotional constriction
More homophobia |
|
|
Term
| What happened in Egeland & Susman-Stillman study (!996) on mothers who were abused? |
|
Definition
Mothers who continued the cycle of violence:
Were less aware of their own childhood victimization
Rated higher on idealization, inconsistency, and escapism in the description of their childhood.
Scored higher on DES (dissociative events scale)
More dissociation
Thus, processing own abuse, telling the story of the abuse, developing a more coherent picture MAY make perpetrtaion less likely. |
|
|
Term
| Basic principles of treatment? |
|
Definition
Sense of relative safety and predictability is precondition
Must address 2 aspects of PTSD: deconditioning of anxiety, altering how survivor perceives self by reestablishing a feeling of personal integrity and control. |
|
|
Term
| In "phase-oriented treatment" what happens in the stabilization phase? (two things) |
|
Definition
Education: survivor and family may be confused by symptoms. Therapist provides cognitive frame - explains connection between symptoms and traumatic event. Helps survivor gain distance; feel more in control; gain that there is a time course to the experience/it eventually will help in some way.
Verbalizing emotional somatic states:
IN PTSD, emotions have lost their functionality; are out of proportion with reality. One goal of therapy is to name emotions and understand their meaning. |
|
|
Term
| In "phase-oriented" treatment what happens in the deconditioning of traumatic memories phase? |
|
Definition
Mere re-experiencing (a.g., in dreams or flashbacks) does not lead to recovery.
Goal is to construct an integrated an integrated memory --> translating nonverbal, dissociated, sensory memories into verbal narrative memories. |
|
|
Term
| In "phase-oriented" treatment what happens in the restructuring traumatic personal schemas phase? |
|
Definition
We all have schemas: about trust, power, competence, etc.
Trauma effects these schemas (may create new beliefs such as "the world is not safe")
Schemas may be implicit in re-victimization (current trauma may reactivate old dysfunctional schemas) |
|
|
Term
| In "phase-oriented" treatment what happens in the reestablishment of secure social connections phase? |
|
Definition
Want to reestablish secure social connections and interpersonal efficacy. Intervention focuses on emotional closeness and social support:
therapeutic bond itself
group therapy
developing strategies for increasing closeness in daily life |
|
|
Term
| In "phase-oriented" treatment what happens in the accumulation of positive emotional experiences phase? |
|
Definition
Eventually, the goal is to create a life in which positive and healing experiences happen.
Seek out experiences that will provide pleasure and/or sense of mastery: physical activities, connection with nature, art or music |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Used within CBT framework, helpful in dealing w/anxiety, originally developed for people w/phobias, gentle exposure to traumatic memories or stimuli, goal is to break link with anxiety and distress, several sub-types. |
|
|
Term
| systematic desensitization |
|
Definition
pair relaxation with either images of traumatic event or stimuli related to traumatic event
graduated approach, therapist monitors anxiety level. therapist monitors anxiety level. client provides input and feedback throughout. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
goal: produce feelings of anxiety by exposure to trauma
similar to feelings during flashbacks
but, experienced within safety of therapeutic environment
safety allows processing of experience and emotions. |
|
|
Term
| What are some specialized approaches to treatment? |
|
Definition
Body work/somatic experiencing
Experimental pharmacological treatments
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (we saw film about it -- relates to systematic desensitization) |
|
|
Term
| Main take-away points from Jenny's lecture? |
|
Definition
Social and political armed conflict: the root of the conflict comes from oppression/marginalization/inequalities. Guerilla group is a result of the inequalities. Solution to conflict is to make structural changes.
Plan Colombia --> military plan that Clinton signed that said we would give Colombian military more training, weapons, and money to fight the drug cartels
Free Trade Agreements: now they are having to compete and more people are getting displaced.
Guerillas and State both perpetrate but victims of guerillas have backing by the state so they have support.
There are limitations with the diagnosis PTSD - individualizes, dehumanizes, deligitimizes a normal response to trauma
trauma is the result of inhumane relations and highlights the mediating relationship between individual and society. People look at social context after trauma to make meaning of their experience.
State has silencing strategies (manipulate facts, not accepting judicial findings, relationship with perpetrators, violence to ensure silence, extraditions)
Empowerment through social action lessens emotional impacts of trauma, rebuilds social relationships, and transforms traumagenic structures |
|
|
Term
| Stage one of group therapy? (Herman) |
|
Definition
| Group work usually not appropriate immediately, wait 6 months to a year. Earlier groups may be appropriate if one event affects many simultaneously. |
|
|
Term
| Stage two of group therapy? (Herman) |
|
Definition
Focus on story-telling and narratives, focus on trauma.
Time limited, focus on specific personal goals, requires active leadership.
Outcome: improvement in how survivor feels about self, but not necessarily in relationships with others. |
|
|
Term
| Stage 3 of group therapy (Herman) |
|
Definition
| Reconnection -Focus is now on present and future, not on past. Structure is more like that of a normal or traditional group. So group process and transference may be important. Homogeneity of membership not required. |
|
|
Term
| Hanscom Community-Based Approach? |
|
Definition
ESPERA (HEARTS) program
H : listening to history
E : focusing on emotions and reactions
A : asking about symptoms
R : explaining the reason for symptoms
T : teaching relaxation and coping skills
S : helping with self-change |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Mass societal violence requires societal-level approaches to healing and reconciliation
National leaders and jurists shape policies, NGOs work with community groups, Journalists and Media, and Individuals need psychological healing and transformation. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Need for perpetrators and bystanders to heal.
Defenses (due to guilt and shame) will be strong
Hearing stories of survivors often helpful - develops empathy
Commemorate altruistic members of perpetrator group |
|
|
Term
| What are the general findings from retrospective studies on memory? |
|
Definition
Ask people who now remember childhood sexual abuse if there was ever a period when they did not remember
Virtually all find some percentage of people who claim amnesia at some point or another. |
|
|
Term
| What happened in the Elliott 1997 prevalence study on child sexual abuse? |
|
Definition
Came from a community sample (not just people in therapy).
23% reported child sexual abuse. Of that group, 17% reported partial amnesia, and 15% reported total amnesia at one time.
What triggered the memory:
57% media presentation
37% experience similar to original trauma
17% sexual experience
14% psychotherapy (rare) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| We forget what is too painful to remember. Argues that we forget in order to protect an important attachment bond. Evolutionary argument. |
|
|
Term
| What is the function of pain and how does this relate to the idea of cheater detection? |
|
Definition
Function of pain: to change your behavior to improve survival chances. Usually, pain leads to action (pull hand away form hot thing). Sometimes it leads to inaction (bedrest when sick)
Suppressing Response:Pain gets suppressed when it gets in the way of survival (bedrest when sick but then a lion attacks). Should apply to psychological as well as physical pain.
Cheater detection is a type of psychological pain: pain from being cheated or betrayed. Cosmides argues we have "cheater detectors" to recognize when this happens. When it does, we get angry (psychological pain) and take action. |
|
|
Term
| What is the catch-22 for an abused child? |
|
Definition
Noticing the betrayal/abuse will trigger cheater-detector mechanisms: anger and pulling away. If this breaks the attachment bond with the caregiver, it may be dangerous.
Not noticing (denying, repressing) the abuse means it is likely to continue. This could also be dangerous, and almost surely result in psychological and/or physical harm.
Psychological and biochemical bases of attachment are very strong. Evolutionary function of attachment is highly important. Need for attachment with caregiver usually trumps all else. Better to be abused and alive than abandoned and dead (in the child's view).
Need to find a way to stop psychological processes associated with being victim of betrayal. May consciously halt actions(feel angry, but don't do anything about it, carefully plan an escape) --> easier for adults than kids! So they dissociate. |
|
|
Term
| What is the role of repression/amnesia for victims (especially children)? |
|
Definition
Dissociate and forget about/don't notice the abuse. Attachment bond is preserved.
Important: memory impairment associated with closeness with the perpetrator (betrayal trauma theory!). Memory impairment not (or weakly) associated with pain, terror, or fear in trauma. |
|
|
Term
| What happened in Freyd, Deprine, Zurbriggen 2011 on memory impairment? |
|
Definition
Asked whether memory impairment is greater for abuse by caregivers? Studied 202 college students. Results hold even when adjusting for age at first abuse and duration of abuse.
Results: Memory impairment of caretaker being a sexual abuse perpetrator is exponentially higher than physical and emotional abuse. Memory impairment much greater for victims who were physically, emotionally, and sexually abused by caretaker as compared to abuse by non-caregiver. |
|
|
Term
| What happened in DePrince & Freyd 1999 study on basic attention and memory processes? |
|
Definition
Stroop attention task (name the color of the ink as quickly and accurately as possible). Congruent and incongruent tasks. Also emotional task (trauma-related words).
Looked at differences between people exhibiting high and low dissociation (DES)
Two conditions: selective attention (stroop), divided attention (stroop and memorize words)
Results: high dissociation were slower at selective and faster at dual-tasking. low dissociation were faster at selective and slower at dual-tasking. High dissociation recalled less charged words. Low dissociation much better at recalling charged words.
Trauma can lead to cognitive deficits. Trauma victims might be better at some cognitive tasks, though.
Higher DES have better performance under divided attention or dual-task conditions and may be better at multi-tasking. |
|
|
Term
| What are the role of hormones in terms of stress and memory? |
|
Definition
Glucocorticoids are steroids released during stress, and prolonged exposure causes damage to the hippocampus, which results in memory modulation and degeneration. The hippocampus is also responsible for integrating stimuli into coherent memory.
Dissociation may indicate hippocampal damage at the time of stress. |
|
|
Term
| What is the background of propanol? |
|
Definition
| Amygdala is a fear center of the brain, and releases the hormones that make horrifying images stick in your mind. These hormones can be inhibited by taking propanol. |
|
|
Term
| What are the arguments about the use of propanol to remove memories? |
|
Definition
Scientists who are trying to create this pill want to use it to prevent PTSD. THey want to use it to help survivors of rape, terrorist attacks, and for soldiers so they are not left shattered by what they have seen and done in service.
Against: will essentially allow soldiers to commit acts of violence without feeling remorse. People may use the Nuremberg plea, "I was just taking orders" to argue that they had no conscience due to these pharmaceuticals.
Also regret and shame and sorrow should not simply be forgotten, but may help in making the most worthwhile recovery.
Also perpetrators can get a hold of it for no self-reflection or remorse. |
|
|
Term
| What was the Meehan reading about? |
|
Definition
| Veteran suicides and the struggle of the mind after killing. Meehan said how he felt that he did not deserve life as he took life from someone else. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| Theory has found that soldiers with PTSD are not dealing with fear, but rather survivor's guilt and feeling betrayed by military leaders and/or government. |
|
|
Term
| Does the fear model do a good job of explaining PTSD in veterans? If not, what is missing? |
|
Definition
| Fear does not seem to be what the soldiers thought or talked about to psychologists and does not explain why soldiers suffer. Guilt and shame and the things soldiers must do in war seem to be the leading cause of PTSD, substance abuse, and suicide in the military. |
|
|
Term
| Maguen's studies on the role of killing in later PTSD? |
|
Definition
| Killing in combat doubled risk of suicidal thinking and is one of the strongest predictors for PTSD. Also killing predicted marital problems, PTSD, and anger-management issues. |
|
|
Term
| What is the nature and design of the Lisak and Beszterczey (2007) study? What is the main finding? |
|
Definition
Qualitative analysis of social histories of death row inmates, called "consensual qualitative research"
Found: Almost all inmates had history of abuse, found to be a terrorized population. Discussed 8 risk factors: sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect, substance abuse, family history of abuse, family history of substance abuse, and history of mental illness. |
|
|
Term
| Berserk stage - description and triggers. |
|
Definition
Special state of mind, body, and social disconnection at the time of his memorable deeds. Being like god or an animal, neither of which is being human. Beastlike, godlike, crazy, enraged, cruel, insatiable, devoid of fear, inattentive to safety, distractible, reckless, cold, insensible, suspicious of friends. Disconnection from human community.
Triggers: Grief, See someone being killed that you care about, betrayal of moral code. Losing all mercy. Unexpected deliverance from certain death. Humiliation by a leader, being overrun, surrounded, or trapped, seeing dead comrades who have been mutilated by the enemy.
Outcome: soldier's maiming or death in battle most frequently - or life long psychological and physiological injury if he survives. |
|
|
Term
| Clinical importance in the honoring or dishonoring of the enemy? |
|
Definition
| restoring honor to the enemy is an essential step in recovery from combat PTSD. Ideology that debases the enemy endangers the lives of soldiers while they fight. |
|
|
Term
| Why should we use the term "delayed memory" instead of false memory? |
|
Definition
| Descriptive and does not imply that memories are wholly true or false or that memories can be neatly categorized as those that are completely forgotten or entirely remembered. |
|
|
Term
| What is Loftus position in the false memory debate? |
|
Definition
| Believes that therapists often engage in suggestive practice that supports devleopment of false memoreis adn the wrongful accusation of innocent parents. |
|
|
Term
| How does Freyd view delayed memory? |
|
Definition
| As one of the coping skills or cognitive mechanisms that individuals use to survive child sexual abuse. |
|
|
Term
| What is feminist/therapist position in the false memory debate? |
|
Definition
Denial of abuse is much more important problem than the false accusations about the abuse.
feminist opinion: some therapists practice therapy in ways that are harmful to clients but they disagree about the extent to which therapists use suggestive techniques and the frequency with which clients develop false memories. |
|
|
Term
| Social context of the false memory debate? |
|
Definition
| Freud --> child sexual abuse attention in 60s and 70s by feminists --> switch to adult survivors of incest --> false memory syndrome foundation founded 1992 (parents who identified themselves as falsely accused of child sexual abuse) spread word that therapists were implanting memories --> growth and proliferation of the "recovery movement" in 80s and 90s climate of victimhood |
|
|
Term
| christina sommers argument in the false memory debate? |
|
Definition
| misguided feminists have exaggerated the magnitude of violence against women and the problems experienced by adolescent women. Argued that young boys and men are the true victims. Opposes many educational efforts to prevent violence and help young men adopt nonviolent problem-solving skills. Believes self-esteem training is harmful rather than helpful and that repression may be associated with higher levels of emotional health. |
|
|
Term
| what is the "rehearsal effect" in terms of memory? |
|
Definition
| people tend to talk in later days about what they were doing that day of a stressful event, which led to a strengthening of memory. Can actually lead to distortions in memory in that you rehearse incorrect memories over again. |
|
|
Term
| Norepinephrine and epinephrine do what with memory? |
|
Definition
| strengthen laying down memories, acting at the level of the hippocampus and other brain regions involved in memory, whereas cortisol can inhibit the laying down of memories. |
|
|
