Woodward, Elizabeth;
(2020)
Affect Without Recollection in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.
Doctoral thesis (D.Clin.Psy), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Re-experiencing symptoms in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) include an affective or physiological response to a reminder of the trauma, not identifiable by the patient as a trauma memory. This has been termed ‘Affect without recollection’ (AWR; Ehlers & Clark, 2000). AWR has been anecdotally reported, but never formally defined or investigated. Part 1 of the thesis provides a conceptual introduction to AWR in PTSD. Theoretical frameworks of reexperiencing in PTSD are reviewed, including cognitive (Ehlers & Clark, 2000) and neurobiological (Brewin, Dalgleish, & Joseph, 1996; Brewin, Gregory, Lipton, & Burgess, 2010) models of PTSD. From this, a possible definition of AWR and its theoretical underpinnings are proposed. Part 2 of the thesis presents a novel empirical study of AWR, designed to investigate four key research questions: 1) Does affect without recollection exist in PTSD?; 2) What is the nature (phenomenology) of affect without recollection? 3) What predicts affect without recollection in PTSD? 4) Is affect without recollection improved with PTSD treatment? The results showed that AWR exists and is associated with cognitive behavioural responses. Cognitive processes such as dissociation, unhelpful response to intrusions, and negative appraisals predicted AWR, which was improved with PTSD treatment. The results have clinical and theoretical implications for understanding and treating reexperiencing symptoms in PTSD.
Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
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Qualification: | D.Clin.Psy |
Title: | Affect Without Recollection in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder |
Event: | UCL (University College London) |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2020. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10111776 |
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