Properties Of Trauma Memories

A psychoeducational handout that outlines the distinctive features of trauma memories, designed to enhance client understanding and support preparation for trauma-focused therapy.

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Professional version

Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.

Client version

Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.

Editable version (PPT)

An editable Microsoft PowerPoint version of the resource.

Overview

Trauma memories differ significantly from everyday memories, and these differences often contribute to a range of distressing symptoms. Survivors may struggle to understand why their memories feel fragmented, sensory-based, or emotionally intense. Gaining insight into these characteristics can help normalise the experience, reduce shame, and prepare clients for memory processing in trauma-focused therapy. This resource offers a clear and supportive guide for clinicians to use in psychoeducation with clients.

Why Use This Resource?

This resource can support trauma-informed practice by:

Helping clients recognise why their memory of a trauma may feel different from other memories.
Providing psychoeducational context for symptoms like flashbacks, intrusive images, and confusion.
Normalising trauma memory experiences.
Supports preparation for trauma-focused therapeutic interventions.

Key Benefits

Normalising

Helps clients understand that trauma memories often differ in structure and intensity.

Accessible

Uses clear language and a helpful visual format.

Flexible

Suitable for use across trauma-focused modalities or as part of psychoeducation.

Who is this for?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Particularly where memory symptoms are present.

Integrating it into your practice

Introduce

Use during assessment or psychoeducation to explore trauma memory features.

Discuss

Invite clients to reflect on how their trauma memories compare with the descriptions provided.

Normalize

Frame differences in trauma memory as a common response to overwhelming threat.

Prepare

Use to provide a rationale for memory processing or narrative-based trauma work.

Theoretical Background & Therapist Guidance

This handout draws on clinical and research-based understandings of how trauma can alter the encoding and retrieval of memory. Trauma memories are often characterised by heightened sensory detail, emotional intensity, fragmentation, and involuntary recall. These qualities are thought to arise from how the brain responds to threat — particularly the role of heightened arousal and stress hormones during encoding.

The resource reflects principles found in dual representation theory (Brewin et al., 1996) and other cognitive models, which propose that trauma memories may be stored differently than autobiographical memories and can be difficult to integrate into a coherent narrative. Understanding these differences can help clients make sense of symptoms such as flashbacks, avoidance, and confusion about what “really happened.”

This tool may be used alongside other trauma-informed resources or as part of psychoeducation in therapies involving memory processing e.g. EMDR or Trauma focused CBT.

What's inside

Detailed description of the unique properties of trauma memories.
Therapist guidance on how to introduce and explore these properties.
Client-focused explanations to support understanding and preparation for processing of trauma memories.

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FAQs

Trauma memories often feel more intense, fragmented, or vivid than everyday memories due to the brain’s stress response during encoding.

By understanding these properties, clients can normalize their experiences, reduce distress, and prepare for therapeutic interventions.

Yes. With the right support, therapy can help integrate fragmented memories into a more manageable and coherent narrative, reducing their emotional charge and intensity.

Use it in early sessions to explore how a client’s trauma memory may differ from everyday recall. It can support normalisation and preparation for memory-focused trauma therapy.

How This Resource Improves Clinical Outcomes

This tool enhances clinical work by:

Providing clients with a framework to understand distressing memory experiences.
Preparing clients for memory processing techniques in trauma-focused therapies.
Enabling the normalization of experiences, reducing stigma and shame.

References And Further Reading

Bedard-Gilligan, M., Zoellner, L. A., & Feeny, N. C. (2017). Is trauma memory special? Trauma narrative fragmentation in PTSD: Effects of treatment and response. Clinical Psychological Science, 5(2), 212–225. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702616663064
Birrer, E., Michael, T., & Munsch, S. (2007). Intrusive images in PTSD and in traumatised and non-traumatised depressed patients: A cross-sectional clinical study. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 45(9), 2053–2065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2007.02.006
Blix, I., Birkeland, M. S., & Thoresen, S. (2020). Vivid memories of distant trauma: Examining the characteristics of trauma memories and the relationship with the centrality of event and posttraumatic stress 26 years after trauma. Applied Cognitive Psychology, 34(3), 678–684. https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3632
Brewin, C. R. (2015). Re-experiencing traumatic events in PTSD: New avenues in research on intrusive memories and flashbacks. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 6(1), 27180. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v6.27180
Brewin, C. R. (2016). Coherence, disorganization, and fragmentation in traumatic memory reconsidered: A response to Rubin et al. (2016). Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(7), 1011–1017. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000184
Brewin, C. R., Gregory, J. D., Lipton, M., & Burgess, N. (2010). Intrusive images in psychological disorders: Characteristics, neural mechanisms, and treatment implications. Psychological Review, 117(1), 210–232. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018113
Ehlers, A., & Clark, D. M. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38(4), 319–345. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(99)00123-0
Ehlers, A., Hackmann, A., & Michael, T. (2004). Intrusive re-experiencing in post-traumatic stress disorder: Phenomenology, theory, and therapy. Memory, 12(4), 403–415. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658210444000025
Ehlers, A., & Steil, R. (1995). Maintenance of intrusive memories in posttraumatic stress disorder: A cognitive approach. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 23(3), 217–249. https://doi.org/10.1017/S135246580001585X
Macdonald, B., Salomons, T. V., Meteyard, L., & Whalley, M. G. (2018). Prevalence of pain flashbacks in posttraumatic stress disorder arising from exposure to multiple traumas or childhood traumatization. Canadian Journal of Pain, 2(1), 48–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/24740527.2018.1445441
McKinnon, A. C., Nixon, R. D., & Brewer, N. (2008). The influence of data-driven processing on perceptions of memory quality and intrusive symptoms in children following traumatic events. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46(6), 766–775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2008.02.003
Reynolds, M., & Brewin, C. R. (1998). Intrusive cognitions, coping strategies and emotional responses in depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and a non-clinical population. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 36(2), 135–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7967(98)00013-8
Rubin, D. C., Berntsen, D., Ogle, C. M., Deffler, S. A., & Beckham, J. C. (2016). Scientific evidence versus outdated beliefs: A response to Brewin (2016). Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(7), 1018–1021. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000187
van der Kolk, B. A., & Fisler, R. (1995). Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8(4), 505–525. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02102887
Wegner, D. M. (1994). Ironic processes of mental control. Psychological Review, 101(1), 34–52. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.101.1.34
Whalley, M. G., Farmer, E., & Brewin, C. R. (2007). Pain flashbacks following the July 7th 2005 London bombings. Pain, 132(3), 332–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pain.2007.01.003