Self-Defining Memories and Identity in Schizophrenia: Preliminary Results.

Poster (2013, March 18)

The reciprocal relationship between autobiographical memory (AM) and identity is well known. In schizophrenia, there is evidence that both identity and AM are impaired. Indeed, identity has been described ... [more ▼]

The reciprocal relationship between autobiographical memory (AM) and identity is well known. In schizophrenia, there is evidence that both identity and AM are impaired. Indeed, identity has been described as fragmented, instable or still discontinuous in these patients (Boulanger et al., submitted; deBonis et al., 1995; Nieznanski, 2004). Further, schizophrenia patients’ (SCh) AM impairments were described as difficulties to retrieve specific memories (Cuervo-Lombard et al., 2007; D’argembeau et al., 2008; Neumann et al., 2007; Wood et al., 2006). SCh have specificity impairment for mill run autobiographical memories (AMs) and also, for AMs particularly important for construction and continuity to identity as self-defining memories (SDMs; Benounna-Greene, 2001; Raffard et al., 2009, 2010; Robinson and Taylor, 1998). SDMs have been particularly relevant in understanding the relationship between the identity and AM. Identity emerges during late adolescence and early adulthood period called “remimiscence bump period” because, it is characterized by a profusion of recalled memories in comparison to others periods of life span. Possibly, many memories from this period are of SDMs (Singer & Salovey, 1993) and have a powerful effect in binding the identity to a specific reality. Consequently, we supposed that identity impairments showed by SCch are related to SDMs deficits. 19 SCh and 19 healthy controls paired participated to this study. They were asked to give ten enduring “I am” statements that they felt “defined their identity.” Then, they selected the three statements among the ten, which are the “most personally significant to their sense of identity”. They were asked to recall three SDMs by each of three statements selected. Afterwards, they were asked to give: (1) their age for each statement when they felt it was a significant part of their identity, (2) their age at the time that the remembered event occurred. In parallel, the participants were completed neuropsychological measures, BDI-II, PANSS and, an identity stability measure. The results are discussed on the light of previous research [less ▲]

Is there a link between an unstable identity and autobiographical memory in schizophrenia ?

Poster (2011, September)

Une thérapie destinée aux patients schizophrènes - Self-Awareness Therapy (SAT): Résultats préliminaires

Poster (2011)

Objective: Autonoetic awareness enables to mentally relive personal events in memory to be aware of one’s own experiences across subjective time and so to have a feeling of individuality and self ... [more ▼]

Objective: Autonoetic awareness enables to mentally relive personal events in memory to be aware of one’s own experiences across subjective time and so to have a feeling of individuality and self-direction. It is intimately associated with our awareness of ourselves as persons with a past and a future. Autonoetic awareness thereof contributes to construction of our identity by the recovery of past events, particularly specific events, and the imagination of future events. According to Danion’s theoretical model (2001), autonoetic awareness impairment is at the heart of schizophrenia. This deficit should depend on defective associations between separate aspects of the events during the recall and therefore, it is associated with a reduction in accessing specific information in autobiographical memory (AM). This impairment should explain identity perturbation, cognitive deficits, negative and positive symptomatology present in schizophrenia. Supporting this model, the present study evaluates the effect of a cognitive and behavioural intervention called Self-Awareness Therapy (SAT) on autonoetic awareness, AM and the capacity to imagine oneself in the future, in schizophrenia patients. Method: Fifteen patients with schizophrenia participated to SAT and, 8 patients took part in the Integrative Program Therapy (IPT) of Brenner. Before and after therapy, patients were asked to complete questionnaires to evaluate the autonoetic awareness, AM, projection into the future as well as affective and symptomatology scales. Results: For SAT, the participants reported more specific past and future events after than before the remediation therapy. Furthermore, patients reported significantly less depressive and anxiety symptoms as well as less negative symptoms after compared before the SAT. For IPT, no significant differences emerged. Discussion: These results are in line with previous study (Blairy et al., 2008) and support the notion that, in schizophrenia the retrieving of past specifics memories and projection into the future can be improved. La conscience autonoétique (CA) nous permet de revivre mentalement des évènements personnellement vécus, d’en prendre conscience à travers un temps subjectif et de ressentir un sentiment d’individualité. Elle contribue à la construction de notre identité via la récupération d’évènements passés, particulièrement les évènements spécifiques, et l’imagination d’évènements futurs. Selon le modèle de Danion (2001), une perturbation au niveau de la CA serait au cœur de la schizophrénie. Celle-ci résulterait d’un relâchement des associations entre les différents éléments d’un évènement lors du rappel et dés lors, serait associée à une réduction de l’accès aux informations spécifiques en mémoire autobiographique. Cette perturbation pourrait expliquer les troubles de l’identité, les déficits cognitifs ainsi que la symptomatologie présents dans la schizophrénie. Afin de remédier à ces déficits, nous avons élaboré une intervention cognitive et comportementale, destinée à des patients schizophrènes, qui s’appuie sur ce modèle. Cette étude présente les résultats préliminaires de la SAT en la comparant au 1er module du programme IPT. [less ▲]

Self-Awareness Therapy (SAT) for Schizophrenic Patients

Poster (2010)

Autobiographical memory and problem solving in bipolar disorder

Poster (2009, September)

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the abilities to remember specific past personal events as well as the abilities to generate specific future events in patients with bipolar ... [more ▼]

Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the abilities to remember specific past personal events as well as the abilities to generate specific future events in patients with bipolar disorders (BD). Moreover, the study investigated whether the abilities to generate specific events is related to the abilities to solve interpersonal problems which was measured using the Optional Thinking Test (OTT) (Platt & Spivack, 1977). Method: Nineteen patients with bipolar disorders and 17 healthy subjects completed validated French versions (Neumann & Philippot, 2006) of the AMT Williams & Broadbent (1986). Participants were instructed to generate specific past and future memories in response to cues words. For the OTT, they were asked to yield the most solutions as possible to daily problems. Results: For the past events task, the analysis revealed a significant group by memory interaction (F(2,68) = 4.0 ; p=.023) which indicates that the patients with BD recollected less specific events and more overgeneral events than controls. For the future events task, a significant group by memory interaction emerged (F(2,68) = 7.85 ; p<.001) which indicates that the patients with BD were less specific and yielded more overgeneral memories than the control group. Further, the numbers of specific past and future events were correlated to the numbers of solutions to interpersonal problems (r(36) = .57 ; p<.001, r(36) = .43 ; p=.009, respectively). Conclusion: the results are consistent with previous studies that have examined autobiographical memory (AM) specificity in patients with BD (Scott et al., 2000; Mansell & Lam, 2004). These results support the notion of impairments in imagining specific past and future events BD patients. The difficulty in imagining the future may contribute to relapse. Thus, AM remediation program could be an additional useful tool to develop in CBT for bipolar patients. [less ▲]

Past and future events specificity in bipolar disorders

Poster (2009)

Previous research has shown that the individuals suffering from emotional disorders have specificity of autobiographical memory (AM) deficits. This difficulty to remember specific personal past events ... [more ▼]

Previous research has shown that the individuals suffering from emotional disorders have specificity of autobiographical memory (AM) deficits. This difficulty to remember specific personal past events seems related to difficulty to project specific oneself into the future (D’Argembeau, Raffard & Van der Linden, 2008). The aim of this study was investigated these impairments in population with bipolar disorders (BD). Participants (19 patients with bipolar disorders and 17 healthy subjects) completed validated French versions (Neumann & Philippot, 2006) of the AMT Williams & Broadbent (1986). Participants were instructed to generate specific past and future memories in response to cues words. For past events, the analyses revealed a significant group by memory interaction (F(2,68) = 4.0 ; p=.023) which indicates that the patients with BD recollected less specific events and more overgeneral events than controls. In the same way, for the future events task, a significant group by memory interaction emerged (F(2,68) = 7.85 ; p<.001) which indicates that the patients with BD were less specific and yielded more overgeneral memories than the control group. Thereby the results are consistent with previous studies that have examined autobiographical memory specificity in patients with BD (Scott et al., 2000; Mansell & Lam, 2004). However, to ours knowledges, the present study is the first to investigate specificity of AM and the abilities to generate specific events for future in patients with bipolar disorders. [less ▲]

Consequences of cannabis use in schizophrenia patients

Poster (2007, October 26)

Previous research has shown that the ability to organize information for remembering in an intentional and strategic way is impaired in schizophrenia patients (Rizzo et al., 1996) and that the remembering ... [more ▼]

Previous research has shown that the ability to organize information for remembering in an intentional and strategic way is impaired in schizophrenia patients (Rizzo et al., 1996) and that the remembering is accompanied by a low level of autonoetic awareness (Danion et al., 1999). Chronic and heavy uses of cannabis induce cognitive impairments. These impairments persist while the user remains intoxicated, and may or may not be reversible after prolonged abstinence from cannabis (Lundqvist, 2005). The aim of the present study was to investigate whether past cannabis use may reduce more subtle deficits in neurocognitive functioning such as deficit of the specificity of autobiographical memories and the associated level of autonoetic awareness in a population of schizophrenia patients. The TEMPau (Piolino, 2000) was used to evaluate the autobiographic memory and the level of autonoetic consciousness. Participants were asked to generate 3 specific memories for four life periods (0-9 years old, 10-19 years old, after 20 years old and the last 12 months). Performances from 6 past cannabis use schizophrenia patients were compared to performances of 8 schizophrenia patients no users. Patients were not treated with benzodiazepines. The analysis revealed a significant group difference for the 10-19 years old period for the specificity of autobiographical memories ( t2,11 = 2.3 ; p = 0.041). Past cannabis users reported less specific events (m = 6.83 (1.94)) compared to the no users patients (m = 9.14 (1.67)). The implications of this result will be discussed. [less ▲]

Abus de substance et schizophrénie : Influence de la nicotine et du cannabis sur la mémoire autobiographique et la conscience autonoétique chez des individus atteints de schizophrénie

Master's dissertation (2007)