Do Alexithymia and Maladaptive Cognitive Processes Influence Meta-Awareness of Trauma-Related Memories?

Research has shown that trauma-exposed individuals can lack (meta-)awareness of trauma-related thoughts and memories. Nevertheless, we do not fully understand the factors underlying this phenomenon. This study examined the potential role of alexithymia, thought suppression, and rumination on meta-awareness in individuals who had experienced a range of negative events, including experiences capable of causing posttraumatic stress disorder. Participants (N = 161) completed questionnaires and a meta-awareness task online. The task appeared as a reading task, during which participants received intermittent probes checking if they were thinking about their negative event and level of awareness of their mental content. At higher levels of posttrauma-like symptoms, individuals who tended to ruminate about their traumatic event were more aware of their intrusions. Alexithymia, trait rumination, and thought suppression did not moderate the relationship between posttrauma symptoms severity and meta-awareness. The negative experience type did not influence meta-awareness. Although alexithymia did not moderate the relationships as expected, we suggest that ruminating over traumatic events may increase meta-awareness of intrusions. The role of thought suppression merits further examination due to demonstrated trends in expected directions while acknowledging formal significance was not observed. Further research is needed to test the potential causal nature of the relationship between meta-awareness and thought suppression/trauma-specific rumination. Limitations were discussed with an implication of our methodology.