Cognitive interference for trauma cues in sexuality abused adolescent girls with posttraumatic stress disorder

Investigated cognitive processing of fear-relevant information in sexually abused adolescent girls with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) using a m odified Stroop procedure (MSP). Participants were 20 sexually abused girls with PTSD, 13 sexually abused girls without PTSD, and 20 nonvictimized girl s who sewed as controls, 11 to 17 years old. Word conditions included abuse -related threat, developmentally relevant (related to the experience of sex ual abuse, e.g., trust, secrecy, and intimacy), general threat, positive, a nd neutral Girls with PTSD were expected to show cognitive interference for trauma-related words as well as for developmentally relevant words, relati ve to adolescents without PTSD. Overall color naming was significantly slow er in the PTSD group than in the nonabused controls. Contrary to expectatio n, all participants demonstrated cognitive interference for trauma-related words. Relevant theoretical and methodological issues are highlighted.