Re-experiencing traumatic events in PTSD: new avenues in research on intrusive memories and flashbacks
Open accessAbstract
Posttraumatic flashbacks, consisting of the intrusive re-experiencing of traumatic experiences in the present, have been more clearly defined for the first time in DSM-5 and have been identified as a unique symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder in the proposed ICD-11 diagnostic criteria. Relatively little research into flashbacks has been conducted, however, and new research efforts are required to understand the cognitive and biological basis of this important symptom. In addition, there is considerable scope for research into how flashbacks should be assessed and into flashbacks occurring in different contexts, such as psychosis or intensive care.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Patients reporting more flashbacks appear to have reduced brain volume in areas of the visual ventral stream.
“Patients reporting more flashbacks also appear to have reduced brain volume in areas of the visual ventral stream.”
From Memory and Forgetting (2018) · cites this paper as [38]
Neuroimaging studies have found flashbacks to be associated with increased activation in sensory and motor areas including the insula, precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, and mid-occipital cortex, but with decreased activation in the parahippocampal gyrus.
“As previously summarized [38], neuroimaging studies have found flashbacks to be associated with increased activation in sensory and motor areas including the insula, precentral gyrus, supplementary motor area, and mid-occipital cortex, but with decreased activation in a medial temporal area, the parahippocampal gyrus.”
From Memory and Forgetting (2018) · cites this paper as [38]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
A feature-integration theory of attention.
Treisman, A. M., & Gelade, G. (1980) · Cognitive Psychology · doi:10.1016/0010-0285(80)90005-5 · Cited by 12,366 · see citing works
A dual representation theory of posttraumatic stress disorder.
Brewin, C. R., Dalgleish, T., & Joseph, S. (1996) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.4.670 · Cited by 1,696 · see citing works
Self-citationBrewin, C. R., Gregory, J. D., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0018113 · Cited by 1,226 · see citing works
Self-citationDiagnosis and classification of disorders specifically associated with stress: proposals for ICD-11
Maercker, A., Brewin, C. R., Bryant, R. A., Cloitre, M., van Ommeren, M., Jones, L. M., Humayan, A., Kagee, A., Llosa, A. E., Rousseau, C., et al. (2013) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20057 · Cited by 762 · see citing works
Self-citationPierre Janet and the breakdown of adaptation in psychological trauma
(1989) · American Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1176/ajp.146.12.1530 · Cited by 658 · see citing works
Intrusive re‐experiencing in post‐traumatic stress disorder: Phenomenology, theory, and therapy
Ehlers, A., Hackmann, A., & Michael, T. (2004) · Memory · doi:10.1080/09658210444000025 · Cited by 645 · see citing works
Rubin, D. C., Berntsen, D., & Bohni, M. K. (2008) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/a0013397 · Cited by 494 · see citing works
Brewin, C. R. (2014) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0033722 · Cited by 492 · cited 4× · see citing works
“…evidence suggests that if the ICD-11 proposals were implemented, PTSD prevalence would remain largely unchanged (Morina, Van Emmerik, Andrews, & Brewin, 2014; Stein et al., 2014; Van Emmerik & Kamphuis, 2011) although one study of accident survivors found a lower rate of PTSD under ICD-11…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationCharacteristics and content of intrusive memories in PTSD and their changes with treatment
Hackmann, A., Ehlers, A., Speckens, A., & Clark, D. M. (2004) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1023/b:jots.0000029266.88369.fd · Cited by 407 · see citing works
Reformulating PTSD for<i>DSM‐V</i>: Life after Criterion A
Brewin, C. R., Lanius, R. A., Novac, A., Schnyder, U., & Galea, S. (2009) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.20443 · Cited by 370 · see citing works
Self-citationUnwanted memories of assault: what intrusion characteristics are associated with PTSD?
Michael, T., Ehlers, A., Halligan, S. L., & Clark, D. M. (2004) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2004.04.006 · Cited by 337 · see citing works
Stein, D. J., McLaughlin, K. A., Koenen, K. C., Atwoli, L., Friedman, M. J., Hill, E. D., Maercker, A., Petukhova, M., Shahly, V., van Ommeren, M., et al. (2014) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22279 · Cited by 221 · see citing works
Early predictors of chronic post-traumatic stress disorder in assault survivors
KLEIM, B., EHLERS, A., & GLUCKSMAN, E. (2007) · Psychological Medicine · doi:10.1017/s0033291707001006 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Osuch, E. A., Benson, B., Geraci, M., Podell, D., Herscovitch, P., McCann, U. D., & Post, R. M. (2001) · Biological Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/s0006-3223(01)01107-6 · Cited by 204 · see citing works
Reynolds, M., & Brewin, C. R. (1998) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(98)00013-8 · Cited by 177 · see citing works
Self-citationVisual memory for novel shapes: Implicit coding without attention.
DeSchepper, B. G., & Treisman, A. (1996) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Learning Memory and Cognition · doi:10.1037/0278-7393.22.1.27 · Cited by 171 · see citing works
A comparison of flashbacks and ordinary autobiographical memories of trauma: content and language
Hellawell, S. J., & Brewin, C. R. (2004) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(03)00088-3 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
Self-citationO'Donnell, M. L., Alkemade, N., Nickerson, A., Creamer, M., McFarlane, A. C., Silove, D., Bryant, R. A., & Forbes, D. (2014) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.113.135285 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
Berry, K., Ford, S., Jellicoe-Jones, L., & Haddock, G. (2013) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2013.01.011 · Cited by 128 · see citing works
Birrer, E., Michael, T., & Munsch, S. (2007) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2007.03.005 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Wade, D. M., Brewin, C. R., Howell, D. C. J., White, E., Mythen, M. G., & Weinman, J. A. (2015) · British Journal of Health Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjhp.12109 · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Self-citationAn fMRI investigation of posttraumatic flashbacks
Whalley, M. G., Kroes, M. C. W., Huntley, Z., Rugg, M. D., Davis, S. W., & Brewin, C. R. (2013) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2012.10.002 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Self-citationHellawell, S. J., & Brewin, C. R. (2002) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/s0005-7967(01)00080-8 · Cited by 105 · see citing works
Self-citationChanges in intrusive memories associated with imaginal reliving in posttraumatic stress disorder
Speckens, A. E. M., Ehlers, A., Hackmann, A., & Clark, D. M. (2005) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2005.02.004 · Cited by 100 · see citing works
Posttraumatic intrusive symptoms across psychiatric disorders
Bryant, R. A., O’Donnell, M. L., Creamer, M., McFarlane, A. C., & Silove, D. (2011) · Journal of Psychiatric Research · doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.11.012 · Cited by 85 · see citing works
Meiser-Stedman, R., Dalgleish, T., Smith, P., Yule, W., & Glucksman, E. (2007) · Journal of Abnormal Psychology · doi:10.1037/0021-843x.116.1.65 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Pain Flashbacks in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
Salomons, T. V., Osterman, J. E., Gagliese, L., & Katz, J. D. (2004) · Clinical Journal of Pain · doi:10.1097/00002508-200403000-00004 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
Pain flashbacks following the July 7th 2005 London bombings
Whalley, M. G., Farmer, E., & Brewin, C. R. (2007) · Pain · doi:10.1016/j.pain.2007.08.011 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Self-citationKvavilashvili, L. (2013) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/a0034677 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Meyer, T., Smeets, T., Giesbrecht, T., Quaedflieg, C. W. E. M., & Merckelbach, H. (2013) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.3402/ejpt.v4i0.19854 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Association between flashbacks and structural brain abnormalities in posttraumatic stress disorder
Kroes, M. C. W., Whalley, M. G., Rugg, M. D., & Brewin, C. R. (2011) · European Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.eurpsy.2011.03.002 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Self-citationPriebe, K., Kleindienst, N., Zimmer, J., Koudela-Hamila, S., Ebner‐Priemer, U., & Bohus, M. (2013) · Psychological Assessment · doi:10.1037/a0033816 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
McKinnon, A. C., Nixon, R. D. V., & Brewer, N. (2008) · Behaviour Research and Therapy · doi:10.1016/j.brat.2008.02.008 · Cited by 39 · see citing works
Nijdam, M. J., Baas, M. A. M., Olff, M., & Gersons, B. P. R. (2013) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.21771 · Cited by 36 · see citing works
Impaired allocentric spatial processing in posttraumatic stress disorder
Smith, K. V., Burgess, N., Brewin, C. R., & King, J. A. (2015) · Neurobiology of Learning and Memory · doi:10.1016/j.nlm.2015.01.007 · Cited by 34 · see citing works
Self-citationSource memory errors associated with reports of posttraumatic flashbacks: A proof of concept study
Brewin, C. R., Huntley, Z., & Whalley, M. G. (2012) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2012.05.002 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Self-citationNexhmedin Morina, B., van Emmerik, A., Andrews, B., & Brewin, C. R. (2014) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.21969 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Self-citationvan Emmerik, A. A. P., & Kamphuis, J. H. (2011) · Journal of Traumatic Stress · doi:10.1002/jts.20630 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Hinton, D. E., Hofmann, S. G., Orr, S. P., Pitman, R. K., Pollack, M. H., & Pole, N. (2010) · Psychological Trauma Theory Research Practice and Policy · doi:10.1037/a0018978 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
Fear of memories: the nature of panic in posttraumatic stress disorder
Joscelyne, A., McLean, S., Drobny, J., & Bryant, R. A. (2012) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.3402/ejpt.v3i0.19084 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Chou C.-Y La Marca R Steptoe A Brewin C. R Cardiovascular and psychological responses to the voluntary recall of trauma in PTSD Manuscript submitted for publication PMC5990938 29887977
- Gracie A Hardy A Brewin C. R Fornells-Ambrojo M Narrowing the focus on the assessment of psychosis-related PTSD: A methodologically-focussed systematic review (Manuscript submitted for publication) PMC5040819 27679976
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Van Dam, N. T., van Vugt, M. K., Vago, D. R., Schmalzl, L., Saron, C. D., Olendzki, A., Meissner, T., Lazar, S. W., Kerr, C. E., Gorchov, J., et al. (2018) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691617709589 · Cited by 1,506 · see citing works
A review of current evidence regarding the ICD-11 proposals for diagnosing PTSD and complex PTSD
Brewin, C. R., Cloitre, M., Hyland, P., Shevlin, M., Maercker, A., Bryant, R. A., Humayun, A., Jones, L. M., Kagee, A., Rousseau, C., et al. (2017) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2017.09.001 · Cited by 678 · see citing works
Self-citationImagery rescripting as a clinical intervention for aversive memories: A meta-analysis
Morina, N., Lancee, J., & Arntz, A. (2017) · Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.jbtep.2016.11.003 · Cited by 282 · see citing works
Lanius, R. A., Terpou, B. A., & McKinnon, M. C. (2020) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008198.2020.1807703 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Predictive processing and the varieties of psychological trauma
Wilkinson, S., Dodgson, G., & Meares, K. (2017) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01840 · Cited by 91 · see citing works
Brewin, C. R. (2018) · Current Psychiatry Reports · doi:10.1007/s11920-018-0950-7 · Cited by 70 · see citing works
Self-citationHagenaars, M. A., Holmes, E. A., Klaassen, F., & Elzinga, B. (2017) · European Journal of Psychotraumatology · doi:10.1080/20008198.2017.1386959 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Kearney, B. E., Terpou, B. A., Densmore, M., Shaw, S. B., Théberge, J., Jetly, R., McKinnon, M. C., & Lanius, R. A. (2023) · NeuroImage: Clinical · doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103426 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Moyes, E., Nutman, G., & Mirman, J. H. (2022) · Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma · doi:10.1007/s40653-022-00454-5 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
“…processes (Goyal et al., 2014); variability in intervention style (Shonin et al., 2013); and concern regarding the potential for participants to experience adverse effects when undertaking MBIs, such as re-experiencing traumatic memories (Brewin, 2015; Lomas et al., 2015; Van Dam et al., 2018).”
BackgroundCentrality of event and mental health outcomes in child and adolescent natural disaster survivors
Mordeno, I. G., Galela, D. S., Nalipay, M. J. N., & Cue, M. P. (2018) · The Spanish Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1017/sjp.2018.58 · Cited by 13 · see citing works
- Authors
- Brewin, C. R.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Brewin, Chris R.
- ORCID
- Brewin, Chris R.
- Venue
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-05-19
- Volume
- 6
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 27180-27180
- ISSN
- 2000-8066 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4439411
- OpenAlex
- W1518645587
- Cited by
- 181
- References
- 40
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 15.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- European Journal of Psychotraumatology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- UCL Discovery (University College London) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Figshare (cc-by)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- post-traumatic stress disorder, intrusive memories, DSM-5 diagnostic criteria, ICD-11 diagnostic criteria, psychosis, intensive care
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
