Memory of Traumatic Stress

Extreme stress alters the coding of events in memory and may lead to disorders of the trauma spectrum, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In order to understand the physiological basis and the common thread underlying PTSD, the concept of memory as it is related to trauma must be understood. Autobiographic memory can be divided into cold memories, including knowledge about life-time periods and specific events and hot memories, comprising emotional and sensory memories. Cold memories (On September 18 at 20:30 I was still working in my office) are usually connected with hot sensory memories, (black-ma…