mirror-epstein-docs/results/IMAGES003/DOJ-OGR-00006288.json

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  "document_metadata": {
    "page_number": "20",
    "document_number": "424-3",
    "date": "11/08/21",
    "document_type": "court document",
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  "full_text": "Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 424-3 Filed 11/08/21 Page 20 of 29\n114\nJ. Engle and W. O'Donohue\nbetween reports of childhood trauma and high levels of dissociation (e.g. Sanders & Giolas, 1991). Dissociation can occur either during the traumatic experience (peritraumatic dissociation) or afterward (posttraumatic dissociation). Peritraumatic dissociation is characterized by numbness, detachment, derealization, depersonalization, and reduced responsiveness during the traumatic event (Tichenor, Marmar, Weiss, Metzler, & Ronfeldt, 1996). A meta-analysis comparing the results of 35 empirical studies on the relationship between levels of peritraumatic dissociation and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) found that peritraumatic dissociation was a moderate predictor of PTSD (Breh & Seidler, 2009).\nSome psychologists have conceptualized dissociation as a coping mechanism in response to trauma-related stress (Gershuny & Thayer, 1999). However, others have argued that dissociation is a trait that precedes a traumatic experience and may contribute to psychological responses in trauma survivors (Tichenor et al., 1996). Whatever the case may be, dissociation has been shown in multiple studies to be related to memory fragmentation (Kindt, Van den Hout, & Buck, 2005; van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995) and to two prominent correlates: fantasy proneness (Merckelbach, Campo, Hardy, & Geisbrecht, 2005) and absentmindedness (Merckelbach, Muris, Rassin, & Horselenberg, 2000).\nIn one study (Candel et al., 2003), low and high dissociators were read stories of a traumatic nature and asked to freely recall the story. Even after controlling for fantasy proneness, high dissociators provided more errors of commission—that is, added false content—than low dissociators, though the two groups did not differ on errors of omission. In another study by Merckelbach and colleagues (Merckelbach, Horselenberg, & Schmidt, 2002), participants were read a story and asked to recall the content of the story. They were then asked several misleading questions meant to test suggestibility. As hypothesized, participants who were high dissociators were more likely to endorse story elements that were fabricated than low dissociators. Also, participants who were high dissociators were also more likely to have trait absentmindedness but were not more likely to have fantasy proneness. Similar studies have shown a small trend toward a relationship between fantasy proneness and memory commissions (Giesbrecht, Geraerts, & Merckelbach, 2007). The results of these studies indicate that dissociators are capable of “remembering” events that did not happen and that absentmindedness may be a mediator in the relationship between traumatic events and commission errors of memory. The results of these studies suggest that it may be important to consider the possibility that the memory of the event may include false details if the claimant has high levels of dissociation.\nA review of the literature on dissociation and memory (Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfild, & Merckbach, 2008) cited evidence that trait dissociation is likely to be associated with memory distortions. In an effort to align DOJ-OGR-00006288",
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      "content": "Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 424-3 Filed 11/08/21 Page 20 of 29",
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      "content": "114",
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    {
      "type": "printed",
      "content": "J. Engle and W. O'Donohue",
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      "content": "between reports of childhood trauma and high levels of dissociation (e.g. Sanders & Giolas, 1991). Dissociation can occur either during the traumatic experience (peritraumatic dissociation) or afterward (posttraumatic dissociation). Peritraumatic dissociation is characterized by numbness, detachment, derealization, depersonalization, and reduced responsiveness during the traumatic event (Tichenor, Marmar, Weiss, Metzler, & Ronfeldt, 1996). A meta-analysis comparing the results of 35 empirical studies on the relationship between levels of peritraumatic dissociation and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) found that peritraumatic dissociation was a moderate predictor of PTSD (Breh & Seidler, 2009).\nSome psychologists have conceptualized dissociation as a coping mechanism in response to trauma-related stress (Gershuny & Thayer, 1999). However, others have argued that dissociation is a trait that precedes a traumatic experience and may contribute to psychological responses in trauma survivors (Tichenor et al., 1996). Whatever the case may be, dissociation has been shown in multiple studies to be related to memory fragmentation (Kindt, Van den Hout, & Buck, 2005; van der Kolk & Fisler, 1995) and to two prominent correlates: fantasy proneness (Merckelbach, Campo, Hardy, & Geisbrecht, 2005) and absentmindedness (Merckelbach, Muris, Rassin, & Horselenberg, 2000).\nIn one study (Candel et al., 2003), low and high dissociators were read stories of a traumatic nature and asked to freely recall the story. Even after controlling for fantasy proneness, high dissociators provided more errors of commission—that is, added false content—than low dissociators, though the two groups did not differ on errors of omission. In another study by Merckelbach and colleagues (Merckelbach, Horselenberg, & Schmidt, 2002), participants were read a story and asked to recall the content of the story. They were then asked several misleading questions meant to test suggestibility. As hypothesized, participants who were high dissociators were more likely to endorse story elements that were fabricated than low dissociators. Also, participants who were high dissociators were also more likely to have trait absentmindedness but were not more likely to have fantasy proneness. Similar studies have shown a small trend toward a relationship between fantasy proneness and memory commissions (Giesbrecht, Geraerts, & Merckelbach, 2007). The results of these studies indicate that dissociators are capable of “remembering” events that did not happen and that absentmindedness may be a mediator in the relationship between traumatic events and commission errors of memory. The results of these studies suggest that it may be important to consider the possibility that the memory of the event may include false details if the claimant has high levels of dissociation.\nA review of the literature on dissociation and memory (Giesbrecht, Lynn, Lilienfild, & Merckbach, 2008) cited evidence that trait dissociation is likely to be associated with memory distortions. In an effort to align",
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  "entities": {
    "people": [
      "J. Engle",
      "W. O'Donohue",
      "Sanders",
      "Giolas",
      "Tichenor",
      "Marmar",
      "Weiss",
      "Metzler",
      "Ronfeldt",
      "Breh",
      "Seidler",
      "Gershuny",
      "Thayer",
      "Kindt",
      "Van den Hout",
      "Buck",
      "van der Kolk",
      "Fisler",
      "Merckelbach",
      "Campo",
      "Hardy",
      "Geisbrecht",
      "Muris",
      "Rassin",
      "Horselenberg",
      "Candel",
      "Geraerts",
      "Lynn",
      "Lilienfild"
    ],
    "organizations": [
      "DOJ"
    ],
    "locations": [],
    "dates": [
      "11/08/21",
      "1991",
      "1996",
      "2009",
      "1999",
      "2005",
      "1995",
      "2000",
      "2003",
      "2002",
      "2007",
      "2008"
    ],
    "reference_numbers": [
      "1:20-cr-00330-PAE",
      "424-3",
      "DOJ-OGR-00006288"
    ]
  },
  "additional_notes": "The document appears to be a court filing related to a criminal case, discussing the psychological concept of dissociation and its relation to memory and trauma. The text is well-formatted and free of significant damage or redactions."
}