Characteristics of Memories for Traumatic and Nontraumatic Birth

Evidence for memory characteristic differences between trauma and other memories in non-clinical samples is inconsistent. However, trauma is frequently confounded with the event recalled. This study compares trauma and nontrauma memories for the "same event," childbirth, in a non-clinical sample of 285 women 4-6 weeks after birth. None of the women met diagnostic criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic birth, defined by the DSM-5 event criterion, was reported by 100 women. The ratings of some memory characteristics did not differ between memories for traumatic and nontraumatic birth: All were rated highly coherent and central to women's lives, with moderate sensory memory. However, women who experienced traumatic births reported more involuntary recall, reliving, and negative/mixed emotions. Thus, trauma memories differed from nontrauma memories. In this non-clinical sample, this is likely to be due to "encoding" during trauma rather than the distinctive memory profile for memories retrieved by those experiencing trauma symptoms.