Cognitive processes in post-traumatic stress disorder

Authors

  • Gamze Yıldırımlı Uludağ Üniversitesi Mediko Sosyal ve Gençlik Danışma Merkezi
  • Ahmet Tosun Okan Üniversitesi Psikoloji Bölümü Akfırat Kampüsü, Tuzla, İstanbul

Keywords:

Trauma, anxiety, information processing, cognition, attention, memory, dissociation

Abstract

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) consists of a pattern of symptoms that include cognitive, affective, sensory and behavioral systems. In PTSD, the individual experiences disturbing emotions and sensations such as anxiety, panic, depression, anger, tension, high startle response and hyper-vigilance as a result of re-experiencing traumatic memories, flashbacks, attention difficulties, memory loss, nightmares and intrusive thoughts. To get rid of these emotions, he avoids all stimuli that remind the traumatic event. The cognitive approach asserts that cognitions play a triggering and maintaining role for these symptoms and tries to explain them with the information processing framework. According to this approach, the traumatic event that is experienced is processed differently from daily, ordinary events. This different information processing strategy stands out in attention, memory, dissociation, cognitive beliefs, cognition-affect processes and coping strategies. In the present paper, research on how these constructs that are parts of the information processing in cognitive systems function in PTSD will be reviewed.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Metrics

Metrics Loading ...

Author Biographies

Gamze Yıldırımlı, Uludağ Üniversitesi Mediko Sosyal ve Gençlik Danışma Merkezi

Gamze Yıldırımlı was born in 1985 in Erzurum. She finished Bursa Anatolian High School in 2003 and completed her bachelor degree in Hacettepe University Psychology Department in 2007. She started Okan University Adultomorphic Clinical Psychology Master Programme in 2008 and during the master programme she managed individual psychotheraphy sessions for adults, in company with supervision in Okan University Clinical Psychology Department. In the second year of the programme, she served as assistant of Prof.Dr.Perin Yolaç, Adultomorphic Clinical Psychology Master Programme Coordinator. As of July 2010, she works in Uludağ University Medico Social Health Sports and Psychological Counseling Center.

Ahmet Tosun, Okan Üniversitesi Psikoloji Bölümü Akfırat Kampüsü, Tuzla, İstanbul

Psikoloji Bölümü

Yrd.Doç.Dr.

References

Amerikan Psikiyatri Birliği - APB. (2005). DSM-IV-TR Tanı Ölçütleri Başvuru Elkitabı (2.Baskı). (E. Köroğlu, Çev.). Ankara: Hekimler Yayın Birliği. (Orijinal çalışma basım tarihi 2000).

Altaylı, B. (2000). Travma sonrası stres bozukluğunda dissosiyatif belirtiler. Türk Psikoloji Bülteni, 6, 64-68.

Altaylı, B. (2009). Dissosiyatif bozukluklarda bilgi işleme süreçleri. M. Irak, (Ed.), Psikopatolojilerde bilgi işleme süreçleri (s. 209-225). Ankara: HYB Basım Yayın.

Beck, A.T., & Clark, D.A. (1997). An information processing model of anxiety: Automatic and strategic process. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35, 49-58.

Bremner, J.D., Vermetten, E., Vythilingam, M., Afzal, N., Schmahl, C., Elzinga, B., et al. (2004). Neural correlates of classic color and emotional Stroop in women with abuse-related posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 55, 612-620.

Brewin, C.R. (2001). A cognitive neuroscience account of posttraumatic stress disorder and its treatment. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 373-393.

Brewin, C.R., & Holmes, E.A. (2003). Psychological theories of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Review, 103, 670-686.

Brewin, C.R., Andrews, B., & Rose, S. (2000). Fear, helplessness, and horror in posttraumatic stress disorder: Investigating DSM-IV criterion A2 in victims of violent crime. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 13, 499-509.

Bryant, R.A., & Guthrie, R.M. (2005). Maladaptive appraisals as a risk factor for posttraumatic stress: A study of trainee firefighters. Psychological Science, 16, 749-752.

Bryant, R.A. (2007). Does dissociation further our understanding of PTSD. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 21, 183-191.

Diseth, T.H. (2005). Dissociation in children and adolescents as reaction to trauma-an overview of conceptual issues and neurobiological factors. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 59, 79-71.

Dunmore, E., Clark, D.M., & Ehlers, A. (1999). Cognitive factors involved in the onset and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after physical or sexual assault. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 809-829.

Dunmore, E., Clark, D. M., & Ehlers, A. (2001). A prospective investigation of the role of cognitive factors in persistent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after physical or sexual assault. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 39, 1063-1084.

Ehlers, A., Mayou, R.A., & Bryant, B. (1998). Psychological predictors of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder after motor vehicle accidents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 508-519.

Feiring, C., & Taksa, L.S. (2005). The persistence of shame following sexual abuse: A longitudinal look at risk and recovery. Child Maltreatment, 10 (4), 337-349.

Foa, E.B., Fekse, U., Murdock, T.B., Kozak, M.J., & McCarthy, P.R. (1991). Processing of threat-related information in rape victims. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100, 156-162.

Grey, N., Holmes, E., & Brewin, C.R. (2001). Peri-traumatic emotional ‘hotspot’ in traumatic memory: A case series of patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 29, 367-372.

Grey, N., & Holmes, E. (2008). ‘Hotspots’ in trauma memories in the treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: A replication. Memory, 16 (7), 788-796.

Herman, J.L., & Harvey, M.R. (1997). Adult memories of childhood trauma: A naturalistic Clinical Study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 557-571.

Hetzel, M.D., & McCanne, T.R. (2005). The roles of peri-traumatic dissociation, child physical abuse, and child sexual abuse in the development of posttraumatic stress disorder and adult victimization. Child Abuse & Neglect, 29, 915-930.

Holmes, E.A., Grey, N., & Young, A.D. (2005). Intrusive images and ‘hotspots’ of trauma memories in posttraumatic stress disorder: Emotions and cognitive themes. Journal of Behaviour Therapy, 36, 3-17.

Holman, E.A., & Silver, R.C. (1998). Getting ‘stuck’ in the past: Temporal orientation and coping with trauma. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1146-1163.

Işıklı, S. (2009). Travma sonrası stres bozukluğunda bilgi işleme süreçleri. M. Irak, (Ed.), Psikopatolojilerde bilgi işleme süreçleri (s. 179-208). Ankara: HYB Basım Yayın.

Janoff-Bulman, R. (1985). The aftermath of victimization: Rebuilding shattered assumptions. Ed. C. R. Figley. Trauma and its wake (15-36). Library of Congress Cataloging In Publication Data.

Megias, J.L., Ryan, E., Vaquera, M.M.J., & Frese, B. (2007). Comparisons of traumatic and positive memories in people with and without PTSD profile. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 21, 117-130.

Morris, M.K., Kaysen, D., & Resick, P.A. (2005). Peri-traumatic responses and their relationship to perceptions of threat in female crime victims. Violent Against Women, 11(12), 1515-1535.

Murray, J., Ehlers, A., & Mayou, R.A. (2002). Dissociation and posttraumatic stress disorder: Two prospective studies of road traffic accident survivors. The British Journal of Psychiatry, 180, 363-368.

Reynold, M., & Brewin, C.R. (1999). Intrusive memories in depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 37, 201-215.

Rubin, D.C., Berntsen, D., & Bohni, M.L. (2008). A memory based model of posttraumatic stress disorder: Evaluating basic assumptions underlying the PTSD diagnosis, Psychological Review, 115 (4), 985-1011.

Shalev, A.Y., Peri, T., Canetti, L., & Schreiber, S. (1996). Predictors of PTSD in injured trauma survivors: A prospective study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 219-225.

Steil, R., & Ehlers, A. (2000). Dysfunctional meaning of posttraumatic intrusions in chronic PTSD. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38, 537-558.

Taylor S. (2006). Clinician’s Guide to PTSD : A cognitive behavioral approach. New York: Guildford Publications.

Trasher, S.M., Dalgleish, T., & Yule, W. (1994). Information processing in post traumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 5, 3-25.

Van der Hart, O., Nijenhuis, E., Steele, K., & Brown, D. (2004). Trauma-related dissociation: conceptual clarity lost and found. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 38, 906-914.

Van der Kolk, B.A., Van der Hart, O., & Marmar, C.R. (1996). Dissociation and information processing in posttraumatic stress disorder. Ed. B. A. Van Der Kolk, A. C. McFarlane, ve L. Weisaeth. Traumatic Stress. The effect of overwhelming experience on mind, body and society. New York: Guildford Press.

Van der Kolk, B.A. (1998). Trauma and memory. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 52, 97-109.

Wenzlaff R.M., & Wegner D.M. (2000). Thought suppression. Annual Review of Psychology, 51, 59-91.

Zoelner, L.A., Alverez-Conrad, J., & Foa, E.B. (2002). Peritraumatic dissociative experiences, trauma narratives, and trauma pathology. Journal of Traumatic Stres, 15, 49-57.

Downloads

Published

2012-11-01

How to Cite

Yıldırımlı, G., & Tosun, A. (2012). Cognitive processes in post-traumatic stress disorder. Journal of Human Sciences, 9(2), 1429–1442. Retrieved from https://j-humansciences.com/ojs/index.php/IJHS/article/view/1847

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 2 (2012)

Section

Psychology

License

Uluslararası İnsan Bilimleri Dergisi ISSN:1303-5134
International Journal of Human Sciences ISSN:2458-9489
 
is an "Open Access Journal" that uses a funding model that does not charge readers or their institutions for access. From the BOAI definition of open access, users take the right of read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of these articles.

Authors can retain copyright, while granting the journal right of first publication. Alternatively, authors can transfer copyright to the journal, which then permits authors non-commercial use of the work, including the right to place it in an open access archive. In addition, Creative Commons can be consulted for flexible copyright licenses.

©1999 Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.