Journal of

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The main aim of this study was to investigate the Overgenerality of Autobiographical Memory among the adolescent boys in Kermanshah,Iran . A   sample of 76 Kemanshahian adolescents   (25 non-depressed and 50 depressed adolescent boys,25 with substance abuse disorder and 25 without substance abuse disorder) were investigated. To evaluate autobiographical memory specificity, a standard AMT (Autobiographical Memory Test), developed by Williams and Broadbent (1986), was used. To analyze the data, the Mann-Whitney U test was used.  The results indicated that depressed adolescent boys without substance abuse disorder had high scores in Overgenerality of autobiographical memory than non-depressed group depressed adolescents with substance abuse disorder had high scores in Overgenerality of autobiographical memory than non-depressed group and depressed adolescents without substance abuse disorder had high scores in Over generality of autobiographical memory than depressed adolescents with substance abuse disorder.

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DSM-IV-TR recognized that it is possible for individuals to receive a PTSD diagnosis following experiencing life threatening illness including HIV/AIDS.  This development has raised some questions about the nature of the stressor, and psychiatric symptoms experienced such as memory performance. The current study examines PTSD symptoms and autobiographical memory performance among individuals who have experienced AIDS or HIV. Participants in this study included 30 individuals with AIDS, and were matched by sex, age, level of education, marital and socio- economic status with 30 healthy controls. Both groups were administered the Impact of Event Scale (IES-R), Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BDI), Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) and Autobiographical memory Test (AMT). The results indicated high PTSD symptoms, depression and anxiety among patient group. The findings also showed that the personal semantic memory scores were lower in childhood and early adult stages among HIV/AIDS survivors comparing with normal control subjects. The findings are discussed in terms of the role of the self and processes involved in non-specific retrieval of autobiographical material

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According to the last edition of APA (DSM-IV-TR), the cancer has been known as a traumatic stress that can affect on Psychological and cognitive health in spouses as a caregiver and might show the signs of PTSD. Attention to this aspect is very important for treatment in cancer patients. This study examined the effect of cancer (during treatment and after treatment) on the emotional performance (anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder) and cognitive performance (autobiographical memory) on their spouses. 120 individuals in 3 groups (spouses of cancer patients (during treatment), spouses of cancer patients (after treatment) and the healthy group), that have been matched in sex age and intelligence attend to the research. The instruments of the research include the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R), the Persian versions of the Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) and the Autobiographical Memory Inventory (AMI). Results indicated that no significant difference in depression was found between all three groups but the target group (during treatment) showed more psychological distress than the control group. Both of target groups indicated no significant difference in PTSD at all and control group showed higher levels of episodic specificity, episodic memory and autobiographical memory scores than the other groups. The findings are discussed in terms of the proposed theory about interaction of emotion and cognition, especially PTSD

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The present research has been conducted to study the diagnostic role of autobiographical memory, attachment and identity in the patients with the post-traumatic stress and generalized anxiety disorders. The selected samples in this causal-comparative study included 24 patients suffering from the post-traumatic stress disorder, 20 suffering from the generalized anxiety disorder and 32 normal people in similar ages and social conditions. They were tested and interviewed during two sessions after the researcher has explained them the necessary details and have got their consent. Beck’s depression inventory, Beck’s anxiety inventory, the revised event-effect scale, the attachment scale, the identity assessment scale, the autobiographical memory interview and the autobiographical memory test were used to achieve the goal of this research. The results revealed that healthy people’s performance was better than the performance of those suffering from PTSD in all the subscales of autobiographical memory in the three different periods of childhood, adulthood and the recent past and both in the semantic and episodic sections. Furthermore, the results of the autobiographical memory test indicated a reduction in PTSD suffering patients’ specific memory in comparison to the people in the normal group. Also GAD suffering people’s performance was better than that of PTSD suffering ones only in the subscale of adulthood events. The coupled comparison of the groups showed that the average secure attachment style in the healthy group was significantly higher than that of the people in the GAD group however, the average score is lower in this group than the other two patient ones in terms of insecure anxiety. The analytical-diagnostic results also showed that 69.7 percent of people in these three groups have been accurately placed in their groups.