Emotional specificities of autobiographical memory after breast cancer diagnosis

Nastassja Morel; Jacques Dayan; Pascale Piolino; Armelle Viard; Djellila Allouache; Sabine Noal; Christelle Levy; Florence Joly; Francis Eustache; Bénédicte Giffard

doi:10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.016

Emotional specificities of autobiographical memory after breast cancer diagnosis

Conscious Cogn. 2015 Sep:35:42-52. doi: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.016. Epub 2015 May 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France.
² U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France; Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Guillaume Régnier University Hospital, Rennes, France.
³ University of Paris Descartes, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Psychology Institute, Memory and Cognition Lab, Boulogne Billancourt, France; INSERM U894, Psychiatry and Neuroscience Centre, University of Paris Descartes, Paris, France; Institut Universitaire de France, France.
⁴ Department of Medical Oncology, François Baclesse Centre, Caen, France.
⁵ Department of Medical Oncology, François Baclesse Centre, Caen, France; Caen University Hospital, Caen, France; "Cancers and Preventions" Joint Team (INSERM, U1086), Caen, France.
⁶ U1077, INSERM, Caen, France; U1077, University of Caen Lower Normandy, Caen, France; U1077, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Caen, France; U1077, Caen University Hospital, Caen, France. Electronic address: benedicte.giffard@unicaen.fr.

PMID: 25973772
DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2015.04.016

Abstract

Cancer involves stressful events. One aspect of cognition that is impacted by stress is episodic autobiographical memory (EAM). EAM is intimately linked to self-representation. Some studies have revealed impairment of EAM in patients with breast cancer in remission. Yet, these studies failed to differentiate between the influence of adjuvant treatments and that of psychosocial factors. We therefore assessed the psychological impact of breast cancer diagnosis on EAM and self-representation profiles prior to any adjuvant treatment. Patients newly diagnosed with breast cancer (n=31) and women without any history of cancer (n=49) were compared on state anxiety, EAM and its emotional characteristics, and self-representations. The most anxious patients retrieved fewer emotional details for memories than the controls, and had lower self-representation scores than the least anxious patients, who had no deficits in emotional detail retrieval. Our results revealed distinct EAM profiles for patients, reflecting two contrasting modes of coping with breast cancer.

Keywords: Autobiographical memory; Breast cancer; Period of diagnosis; Self-representations; State anxiety.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological*
Aged
Anxiety / psychology*
Breast Neoplasms / diagnosis
Breast Neoplasms / psychology*
Cognition
Emotions
Female
Humans
Life Change Events
Memory, Episodic*
Middle Aged
Self Concept