@article{ref1,
title="Delayed recall of childhood sexual abuse memories and the awakening rise and diurnal pattern of cortisol",
journal="Psychiatry research",
year="2007",
author="Smeets, Tom and Geraerts, Elke and Jelicic, Marko and Merckelbach, Harald",
volume="152",
number="2-3",
pages="197-204",
abstract="Traumatic stress associated with childhood sexual abuse (CSA) may result in chronic alterations of stress-sensitive neurochemical systems (e.g., the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and sympathetic-adrenal medullary activity). Some authors have suggested that these alterations might help explain why some individuals, after a period of inability to remember, demonstrate delayed recall of CSA memories (i.e., &quot;recovered&quot; memories). The present study is the first study that explored morning cortisol responses and circadian cortisol profiles among women with recovered (n=7), repressed (n=8), or continuous (n=6) memories of CSA and women without a history of CSA (n=9). Although there were group differences in current depression and post-traumatic stress symptoms, we found no differences in cortisol awakening response or daytime profile between women reporting recovered, repressed, or continuous memories of CSA as compared to women without a history of CSA. Implications for neurobiological models intended to explain the delayed recall of CSA are discussed.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0165-1781",
doi="10.1016/j.psychres.2006.07.008",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2006.07.008"
}