Cognitive distortions in recovered burn patients: the emotional Stroop task and autobiographical memory test

The aim of the study was to explore cognitive distortions in recovered burn patients. Previous studies in trauma patients have shown trauma-specific attentional bias, long response latencies, and deficits in memory specificity. Eighteen former patients, burn injured 5-19 years ago and 18 matched controls performed the emotional Stroop task, including burn and general trauma-related words, and the autobiographical memory test (AMT). In addition, verbal fluency, life events, and current mood were assessed. Regarding the Stroop task, the recovered patients had longer response latencies to burn words than to neutral and trauma words, a difference not seen in the control subjects. Regarding the AMT, the memory specificity did not differ between the groups. Overall, the former patients had longer latencies than the controls and poorer verbal fluency. The present study showed that recovered burn patients display a moderate Stroop effect, i.e. an attentional bias, in spite of the fact that the injury occurred several years before the testing. This may imply that the recovered burn patients consider the burn an important issue in life. The post-burn patients also presented signs of a slight cognitive slowness as compared to the controls. This finding deserves further attention in the rehabilitation of burn patients.