Trauma Memory and Narrative Structure in Post-traumatic Distress

How individuals make sense of and manage emotionally traumatic events depend on the events' impact on personal memory. This project examines important scientific questions about the nature of personal memory for events with high emotional impact. It will be the largest and most comprehensive examination of adults recounting of a single event traumatic experience. It investigates trauma language structure and its lexicon, and how well memories for the trauma are integrated with other personal memories in participants with and without serious post-trauma difficulties. The main outcome is enhanced knowledge of the structure and nature of personal trauma memoires and their link to psychological adjustment after emotionally traumatic events.