Open Access

REVIEW

Cognitive Intervention on the Flashback of Traumatic Event: Based on the Dual Representation Theory of PTSD

Jing Liu¹, Xuelian Chen^1,*, Ming Wang², Lin Cheng³

1 School of Humanities, Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, Wuhan, 430065, China
2 Center for Mental Health Education, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, 430070, China
3 Prince of Wales Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine, the University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2502, Australia

* Corresponding Author: Xuelian Chen. Email:

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2018, 20(3), 75-82. https://doi.org/10.32604/IJMHP.2018.010857

Abstract

Flashback, related to the traumatic event, is a prominent symptom of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The dual representation theory (DRT) of PTSD emphasizes that the weakened contextual representation (C-rep), the enhanced sensory representation (S-rep) and the loss of connection between C-rep and S-rep play an important role in the formation and retrieval of flashback. DRT proposes that cognitive intervention tasks which inhibit S-rep or enhance C-rep can reduce flashbacks. And many studies have proved this theoretical hypothesis. In the future, simulation intervention studies should continue to strengthen, some clinical application studies should also be appropriately carried out. Besides, future researchers should innovate the ideas of intervention, focus on designing new cognitive intervention tasks.

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Citations