Memory Accuracy and the Ability to Recall Psychological Distress and Behavior Over Time

Download or read book Memory Accuracy and the Ability to Recall Psychological Distress and Behavior Over Time written by Megan Jean Murphy and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The current study examined the accuracy/consistency of recollections of pre-therapy distress, problems, and episodic details, with an emphasis on understanding the degree to which memories of past emotions, distress, and behaviors are accurate/consistent, and the sources and direction of bias when they are inaccurate. Study participants (N = 20) recalled some types of psychological distress better than others and tended to overestimate their previous psychological distress. Increased current psychological distress was strongly correlated with decreased accuracy recalling interpersonal relationships. Regarding recall of previous problems, study participants endorsed a wide range of life problems and the number of problems endorsed was strongly correlated with the level of current psychological distress. Accuracy of recalling previous problems was strongly correlated with accuracy recalling pervious psychological distress. Memory accuracy for episodic details varied considerably and there was a strong relationship between increased time and reduced accuracy. Despite a small sample, the current study has potentially wide-reaching implications for medical and mental health professionals, as well as researchers who may all rely upon recall of symptom and behavioral information for diagnosis, clinical outcome evaluation, clinical research, and criminal responsibility evaluations. This study replicates previous findings related to recall of previous psychological distress, establishes future research priorities, and provides suggestions for future symptom recall research design.