Trauma & PTSD
Does matching the distraction type help reduce trauma memories?
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
Distracting tasks decreased the emotional distress of trauma memories, but matching the distraction type to the memory's sensory modality did not provide any extra benefit.
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Does matching the distraction type help reduce trauma memories?
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30 patients
Although data from 36 patients were collected, for the auditory memory, data from only 30 patients ( M = 38.93, SD = 12.09) were included into the analysis and for the visual memory this was the case for 31 patients ( M = 39.58, SD = 12.09).
5 min
The memories were then recalled approximately 30 min each, while being exposed to each condition (VT, AT, and CC) twice for 5 min.
Key findings
For both visual and auditory memories, distress levels dropped significantly from before to after the tasks. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference between the eye-movement task, the counting task, or even the control task of staring at a static dot. This means that matching the type of distraction to the sensory modality of the memory did not make the intervention more effective.
Methodology
The study analyzed data from 30 patients for auditory memories and 31 patients for visual memories. Participants recalled these memories while performing a visual task (eye movements), an auditory task (counting), or a control task (staring at a static dot). Before and after each 5-minute task, participants rated their distress on a scale from 0 to 10.
Limitations
The study cannot rule out that simply focusing on any external stimulus, including a static dot, acts as a cognitive distraction that reduces memory distress. Because there was no true passive control group where participants did nothing, it is unclear if the distress reduction was due to working memory depletion or simply the passage of time and repeated recall. Additionally, the small sample sizes of 30 and 31 participants limit the statistical power to detect subtle differences between conditions, and many participants' distress dropped to 0 before completing all test conditions.
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