Massazza, Alessandro;
Joffe, Helene;
Parrott, Elinor;
Brewin, Chris R;
(2022)
Remembering the earthquake: intrusive memories of disaster in a rural Italian community.
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
, 13
(1)
, Article 2068909. 10.1080/20008198.2022.2068909.
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Abstract
Background: Disasters can have long-lasting impacts on mental health. Intrusive memories have been found to be common and persistent in the aftermath of earthquakes. / Objective: To explore, using diaries, intrusive memories’ presence, content, characteristics, and relationship with probable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in a small rural community exposed to mass destruction and loss of life. / Methods: Survivors of the 2016–2017 Central Italy earthquakes (N = 104) were first interviewed to investigate the presence of intrusive memories of the disaster. Those that reported intrusive memories were subsequently asked to complete a 7-day paper-and-pen diary tracking their spontaneous memories of the earthquake events. / Results: Twenty months after the earthquakes, 49% (n = 51) of the sample reported having experienced intrusive memories post-earthquake and 38% (n = 39) reported at least one intrusive memory in their diaries. Memories were rated as being distressing, vivid, and experienced as a mixture of images and thoughts. The content of intrusive memories generally focused on sensations and experiences during the earthquake. Other common categories of content were the material environment and physical objects as well as human loss & death. Several memories had a social focus. A minority of memories contained more positive content as well as content from before and after the earthquake. Some participants (28%) experienced repeated intrusive memories of the same content. Memories of participants with and without probable PTSD did not significantly differ on characteristics or content. / Conclusions: Intrusive memories can be common, distressing, and persistent occurrences following disasters, even in survivors not suffering from probable PTSD.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Remembering the earthquake: intrusive memories of disaster in a rural Italian community |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1080/20008198.2022.2068909 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2022.2068909 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
| Keywords: | Intrusive memories, PTSD, disaster, diary, 2016–2017 Central Italy earthquakes |
| UCL classification: | 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 > Clinical, Edu and Hlth Psychology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL 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/10148627 |
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