Remembering traumatic events: experiences and emotional reactions during the 2000 flood in Italy

The current study aimed to investigate how people remember traumatic events and stressful experiences. A semi-structured questionnaire was completed by 145 subjects (78 females, 67 males, age 18-80 years), residents of an Italian community which was flooded during the fall 2000. Three years after the flood, respondents were asked to recall the disaster and to describe their personal experiences concerning the event. Emotional reactions to the flood were also assessed using a series of specific fixed-response questions. The results showed that subjects displayed a clear tendency to recall experiences which occurred during the most critical phases of the disaster. The emotions most strongly experienced by respondents were sadness, fear, and surprise, which were associated with specific patterns of appraisal. Interestingly, the amount of memories regarding the flood experience was not correlated with disaster exposure or intensity of emotional reactions.