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Self-defining memories in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients.
Journal article

Self-defining memories in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients.

  • Cuervo-Lombard C Department of Psychiatry, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France; Department of Psychology, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherche en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé EA 7411 (CERPPS), Toulouse 2 Jean Jaurès University, Toulouse, France. Electronic address: ccuervo@chu-reims.fr.
  • Raucher-Chéné D Department of Psychiatry, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France; Cognition Santé Socialisation Laboratory, EA 6291, Reims Champagne-Ardenne University, Reims, France.
  • Barrière S Department of Psychiatry, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France.
  • Van der Linden M Department of Cognitive Psychopathology, University of Geneva, Switzerland.
  • Kaladjian A Department of Psychiatry, Reims University Hospital, Reims, France; Cognition Santé Socialisation Laboratory, EA 6291, Reims Champagne-Ardenne University, Reims, France.
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  • 2016-11-09
Published in:
  • Psychiatry research. - 2016
Alcohol dependence
Autobiographical memory
Self
Self-defining memories
Adult
Alcohol Abstinence
Alcoholism
Emotions
Female
Humans
Male
Memory, Episodic
Mental Recall
Middle Aged
Self Concept
English Patients with alcohol dependence have been shown to be impaired in recalling specific autobiographical events, yet little is known on how changes in the memory of these events may impact their self-representation. In this study, we examined Self-Defining Memories (SDMs), a specific type of autobiographical memory that plays a key role in the construction of personal identity, in 25 patients with alcohol dependence, abstinent from alcohol from 10 days to 6 months, compared to 28 control subjects. We observed that SDMs in patients were significantly less specific and included more reference to alcohol than those of controls. Patients also reported more SDMs with negative emotional valence and higher emotional intensity. These results suggest that recently abstinent alcohol-dependent patients may be prone to define themselves by negative events referring to alcohol consumption, which may contribute to an unfavorable perception of their self and subsequently of their ability to remain abstinent. These findings should be taken into account to optimize psychological approaches in the treatment of alcohol-dependence.
Language
  • English
Open access status
closed
Identifiers
Persistent URL
https://sonar.rero.ch/global/documents/69946
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