Abstract
Autobiographical memory plays an important part in psychotherapeutic treatments, but little is known about how client and treatment factors shape the features of autobiographical memory narratives shared in therapy. This study examined the effect of client attachment and depression, therapy type, and time on the frequency, specificity, emotional valence, and content of autobiographical memory narratives told by eight clients during psychoanalytic psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa. Multilevel analysis of autobiographical memory features indicated different autobiographical memory profiles over time depending on client attachment and therapy type. Higher levels of client depression predicted increased proportions of general memories and more discussion of eating-disorder-related events. The proportion of specific memory narratives increased across time in both therapy types, but the increase in memory specificity was not related to treatment outcome. Overall, the study indicates that the amount and kind of autobiographical memory material articulated by psychotherapy clients may differ with both client characteristics and therapy type and may change across the treatment process.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Narrative Inquiry |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 153-174 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| ISSN | 1387-6740 |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |