The Effect Of Memory Specificity Training On The Deficits In Emotional Processing And Rumination In Cancer Patients With PTSD Symptoms

Impairments in emotional processing and rumination associated with a traumatic event such as cancer are important factors that may influence the development and maintenance of PTSD symptoms. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effect of memory specificity training on deficits in emotional processing and rumination in cancer patients with PTSD symptoms.

This research was of experimental type (pre-test-post-test with control group). The statistical population of this research included all patients with a definite diagnosis of cancer and PTSD symptoms who referred to hospitals and medical centers in Tehran in 1402. 30 cancer patients with PTSD symptoms were selected as a sample by available sampling and randomly replaced in two experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups. The experimental group underwent memory specificity training one day a week during 6 sessions of 90 minutes, but no intervention was done for the control group. Both groups (control and experimental) before and after the intervention answered the questionnaires of the emotional processing scale-revised Baker et al.'s (2010) and the rumination response scale of Nolen-Hoeksema (1991). To analyze the data, the method of multivariate analysis of covariance was used using SPSS version 28 software.

There was a significant difference between the average post-test scores of the intervention group and the control group, so that the memory specificity training significantly led to a reduction in the deficits in emotional processing and rumination in the intervention group (P<0.05).

Memory specificity training to reduce cognitive and emotional symptoms in cancer patients with PTSD symptoms is a short-term and cost-effective treatment that reduces cognitive and emotional symptoms by increasing memory specificity. Therefore, it is recommended as an effective intervention to reduce cognitive and emotional problems of cancer patients with PTSD symptoms.