Non-Idiographic Emotional Script-Driven Imagery in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: Impact of Priming of Episodic Recall and Self-Referential Processing

Abnormal emotional responses to standardized emotional stimuli in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) implicate problems in emotional processing less obviously linked to traumatic experiences. However, the personal meaningfulness and association of standardized emotional stimuli with specific episodic memories in PTSD participants has not been investigated. This paper takes the position that emotional processing of standardized stimuli cannot be divorced from the personal meaning these stimuli are ascribed, such as via the priming of episodic memory. Women with PTSD reported greater priming of episodic memories within the context of emotional imagery of standardized scripts, and episodic recall predicted emotional responses to script-driven imagery. Furthermore, greater priming of episodic recall during imagery of fear-anxiety scripts was associated with less response within the ventral medial prefrontal cortex. Clinical, theoretical, and methodological issues are discussed.