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Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly acknowledged to be associated with reduced specificity of autobiographical memory (AM). However, very few studies have assessed AM in the peritraumatic phase. The aim of the present study was to examine whether the AM impairment reported in PTSD is present a few days after a traumatic event. We assessed AM in 41 participants who had recently been exposed to trauma, and 34 controls who had never experienced a traumatic situation. The trauma-exposed participants also completed the Impact of Event Scale-R (IES-R), the Inventory of Peritraumatic Distress, and the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire. Results showed that autobiographical memories cued by negative words were significantly less specific in the group of trauma-exposed participants than in the control group (p = .008; d = 0.40). Thus, mild AM impairment was already present three days after trauma exposure, long before acute PTSD set in.

International audience; Introduction: 20-30% of depressed patients experience Treatment Resistant Depression (TRD). Electroconvulsive Therapy (ECT) remains the treatment of choice for TRD. However, the exact mechanism of ECT remains unclear. We aim to assess grey matter changes in patients with TRD undergoing bilateral ECT treatment at different points during and after treatment.Methods: Patients are recruited at the University Hospital of Toulouse. Eligibility criteria include a diagnosis of TRD and an age between 50 and 70 years old. Patients received clinical assessments (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale) and structural scans (MRI) at three points: baseline (within 48 h before the first ECT); V2 (after the first ECT considered effective); and V3 (within 1 week of completing ECT).Results: At baseline, controls had significantly higher cortical thickness than patients in the fusiform gyrus, the inferior, middle and superior temporal gyrus, the parahippocampal gyrus and the transverse temporal gyrus (respectively: t(35)=2.7, p = 0.02; t(35)=2.89, p = 0.017; t(35)=3.1, p = 0.015; t(35)=3.6, p = 0.009; t(35)=2.37, p = 0.031; t(35)=2.46, p = 0.03). This difference was no longer significant after ECT. We showed an increase in cortical thickness in superior temporal gyrus between (i) baseline and V3 (t(62)=-3.43 p = 0.009) and (ii) V2 and V3 (t(62)=-3.42 p = 0.009). We showed an increase in hippocampal volume between (i) baseline and V3 (t(62)=-5.23 p < 0.001) and (ii) V2 and V3 (t(62)=-5.3 p < 0.001).Conclusion: We highlight that there are grey matter changes during ECT treatment in a population with TRD compared to a healthy control population. These changes seem to occur after several rounds of ECT.

Although the health consequences of intimate partner violence (IPV) have been amply described, as of yet, no study has focused on autobiographical memory (AM), despite the fact that AM dysfunction has been shown to have an impact on everyday life. We assessed AM using a cue-word task in 25 female victims of IPV and 22 control women who had never been exposed to a traumatic event. The IPV group also completed measures of psychotraumatic symptoms. AM was impaired in the IPV victims. When the effect of cue-word valence was analyzed, decreased AM specificity was observed with negative cue-words. This exploratory study demonstrates AM dysfunction among female victims of IPV for the first time. The pattern is consistent with the AM impairment observed in victims of traumatic events.

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is commonly acknowledged to be associated with reduced specificity of autobiographical memory (AM). However, very few studies have assessed AM in the peritraumatic phase. The aim of the present study was to examine whether the AM impairment reported in PTSD is present a few days after a traumatic event. We assessed AM in 41 participants who had recently been exposed to trauma, and 34 controls who had never experienced a traumatic situation. The trauma-exposed participants also completed the Impact of Event Scale-R (IES-R), the Inventory of Peritraumatic Distress, and the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire. Results showed that autobiographical memories cued by negative words were significantly less specific in the group of trauma-exposed participants than in the control group (p = .008; d = 0.40). Thus, mild AM impairment was already present three days after trauma exposure, long before acute PTSD set in.

Resume Les schemas precoces inadaptes sont presents chez tous les individus. L’activation de ces schemas est souvent associee au developpement de troubles psychiques tels que les troubles anxieux. La pratique clinique constate, en effet, que ces schemas sont souvent actives chez des sujets anxieux. Ainsi, la presente etude cherche a examiner le lien entre l’activation des schemas, la flexibilite psychologique et les strategies de coping. Vingt-huit patients, en suivi therapeutique pour l’anxiete, ont ete sollicites afin de completer l’echelle de Depression de Beck (BDI-II), le questionnaire de coping (WCC-R), le questionnaire des schemas de Young (YSQ-L3) et le questionnaire d’acceptation et d’engagement (AAQ-II). Les resultats ont montre que le schema « ideaux exigeants » se correlait negativement au score de la BDI-II. Le versant positif des schemas precoces inadaptes reste donc une idee a approfondir.