Intrusive memories of childhood abuse during depressive episodes.

A sample of adult women with major depression who reported childhood sexual or physical abuse completed a measure of the extent to which they were experiencing intrusive memories of the abuse and their efforts to avoid these memories. The majority of women in the sample reported high levels of disturbing intrusive memories, and high levels of avoidance. Those abused women with particularly high levels of intrusions and more avoidance were also more severely depressed than both non-abused women and abused women with low levels of intrusions and avoidance. Higher levels of intrusions and avoidance were also associated with repeated childhood abuse, sexual abuse involving intercourse and sexual abuse involving a primary caregiver.