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- Hoppe, Johanna M., et al.
(författare)
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Hotspots in the immediate aftermath of trauma : Mental imagery of worst moments highlighting time, space and motion
- 2022
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Ingår i: Consciousness and Cognition. - : Elsevier. - 1053-8100 .- 1090-2376. ; 99
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Intrusive memories of trauma (memories that enter consciousness involuntarily) highjack cognitive processing, cause emotional distress, and represent a core symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder. Intrusive memories often contain the worst moment/s (‘hotspots’) of the trauma memory. Little is known about hotspots shortly after they are formed, i.e., in the first hours after trauma. We investigated the features of hotspots in trauma-exposed individuals (n = 21) within 72 h post-trauma, using linguistic analysis and qualitative coding. On average, participants reported three hotspots per traumatic event (M = 7.8 words/hotspot). Hotspots primarily contained words related to time, space, motion, and sensory processing. Most hotspots contained sensory features (97%) and motion (59%). Few cognitions and no emotion words were identified. Results indicate that hotspots collected shortly post-trauma are expressed as motion-rich sensory-perceptual experiences (mental imagery) with little detail about emotion/cognition. Findings are discussed in terms of the function of hotspots (e.g., preparedness for action) and clinical implications.
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| 2. |
- Hoppe, Johanna M., et al.
(författare)
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Imaginal extinction and the vividness of mental imagery : Exploring the reduction of fear within the mind’s eye
- 2022
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Ingår i: Behavioural Brain Research. - : Elsevier. - 0166-4328 .- 1872-7549. ; 418
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Patients are encouraged to produce vivid mental imagery during imaginal exposure, as it is assumed to promote fear reduction. Nevertheless, the link between fear reduction and imagery vividness is unclear. We investigated the impact of vividness on fear responses using an experimental analogue of imaginal exposure - imaginal extinction - in which conditioned fear, measured with skin conductance, is reduced through exposure to mental imagery of the conditioned stimulus. We examined (1) if task-specific vividness (high vs low) of the conditioned stimulus during imaginal extinction moderated the reduction of fear responses, and (2) if task-specific vividness influenced remaining fear responses 24 h later. Findings suggest that high vividness may be advantageous for fear reduction during imaginal extinction, but it may not influence fear responses in the longer term. A possible clinical implication is that high imagery vividness during imaginal exposure may not be vital for overall treatment outcome. As high vividness is associated with increased levels of distress, a future direction would be to explore whether similar fear reduction can be obtained with less vivid imaginal exposure and thereby make treatment tolerable for more patients.
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