‘Black Holes' in Memory: Autobiographical Memory Loss in Adult Survivors Child Sexual Abuse

Background and Purpose: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study by Edwards et al. (2001) examined the association between child sexual abuse (CSA) and autobiographical memory loss (AML). AML was examined in terms of the number of whole years of survivors’ lives that remained inaccessible to the survivors’ conscious awareness at the time of the study. The results of that study suggested that CSA survivors experienced significantly more AML than non-CSA survivors. The aim of this retrospective study was to examine which variables pertaining to child sexual abuse predicted AML.

Methods: After IRB approval was obtained, a retrospective online study was conducted by placing links to the SurveyMonkey study on adult survivor of child sexual abuse websites. A final sample of 297 adult survivors were anonymously surveyed about their abuse experiences and their memory loss. The CSA Subscale of the Computer Assisted Maltreatment Inventory (CAMI) was used to assess for child sexual abuse experiences (DiLillo et al., 2010). AML was measured as it was measured in the study by Edwards et al. (2001): Are there any large parts of your childhood after age 4 which you can’t remember? If yes, which age(s)?

Results: Univariate analyses showed that 59% of the survivors in this study experienced AML. Bivariate relationships between 18 independent variables (including demographics, aspects of dissociativity, and a number of features of the abuse experience) and AML were tested using Logistic Regressions, and of these, four relationships were significant. Felt betrayal showed a significant positive relationship (p < .05) with AML, and for each unit of increase in felt betrayal, participants were approximately 31% more likely to have AML. In addition, for every unit increase in trait dissociativity, there was a greater than 200 % increase in the likelihood of AML (p < .05).  Furthermore, for every unit increase in the duration of the abuse, there was a 9% increase in the likelihood of experiencing AML (p <.05). Finally, individuals with dissociative amnesia were 3.8 times more likely than individuals without dissociative amnesia to experience AML. 

Conclusions and Implications: The results of this study suggest that the majority of survivors in this study had AML, and four variables had a predictive relationship with memory loss (felt betrayal, trait dissociativity, duration of abuse, and dissociative amnesia). These results have direct practical implications for social workers in clinical settings, because autobiographical memories are a key component in helping survivors work through their traumagenic issues. Leary (1996) states that “virtually all therapists rely on their patients’ memories to understand how the self-that-was became the self-in-distress” (p. 62). Both the social worker and client can become predictably frustrated if the client’s memories are unavailable for use in the therapeutic process. Future research needs to examine whether standard interventions for CSA survivors are as effective for those with AML as they are for those without AML, and also whether the development of different interventions is indicated for those with these “black holes” in their autobiographical memories.