Betrayal trauma theory of dissociative experiences: stroop and directed forgetting findings
Abstract
According to betrayal trauma theory, many survivors of childhood sexual abuse learn to compartmentalize (i.e., dissociate) their traumatic experiences from conscious awareness by dividing attention. This theory predicts that those who dissociate extensively should be at an advantage during dual tasks. Using a modified Stroop task in Experiment 1 and a direct forgetting task in Experiment 2, we tried to replicate Freyd and colleagues’ finding that high-dissociative people perform better under dual task conditions. However, in Experiment 1 we found that, relative to low-dissociative people, high-dissociative people exhibit a slowing of their Stroop reaction times that is independent of valence and attentional context. In Experiment 2, performance on a directed forgetting task was found to be unrelated to dissociation. Our 2 studies provide no evidence for the betrayal trauma theory, nor do they support other theories assuming that dissociation is the manifestation of an automatic defense mechanism.
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These findings were not replicated in subsequent studies.
“These findings were not replicated in subsequent studies, however (Devilly et al., 2007;Giesbrecht and Merckelbach, 2009).”
From A review of the relation between dissociation, memory, executive functioning and social cognition in military members and civilians with neuropsychiatric conditions (2016) · cites this paper as Giesbrecht and Merckelbach, 2009
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Self-citation
- Authors
- GIESBRECHT, T., & MERCKELBACH, H.
- Affiliations
- Maastricht University (NL)
- Venue
- The American Journal of Psychology
- Publisher
- University of Illinois Press
- Published
- 2009-10-01
- Volume
- 122
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 337-348
- ISSN
- 0002-9556 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-8298
- OpenAlex
- W2256875592
- Cited by
- 23
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 2 · 2014: 1 · 2013: 1 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 1.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The American Journal of Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (publishedVersion)
- Research Publications (Maastricht University) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Psychosomatic Disorders and Their Treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child Abuse and Trauma
- Keywords
- betrayal trauma theory, dissociation, child sexual abuse, compartmentalization, dual-task performance, Stroop task, directed forgetting, reaction time, trauma survivors
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Attention, Awareness, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Color Perception, Defense Mechanisms, Discrimination, Psychological, Dissociative Disorders, Female, Humans, Male, Psychological Theory, Reaction Time, Mental Recall, Semantics, Young Adult
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