Pergamon Jonrnalof Aaxiety Disorders. Vol. 9, No. 6, pp. 515-530.1995 Copyright 0 1995Elsevier Seieace L.&i Printedin theUSA. All rights reserved 0887-6185/95 $9.50+ .GO 0887-6185(95)ooo28-3 Selective Processing of Trauma-Relevant Words in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder SCOTT R. VRANA Department of Psychological Sciences, Punlue University ALLISON ROODMAN Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Durham, NC JEAN C. BECKHAM Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Durham, NC; Duke University Medical Center; Department of Psychiatry Durham, NC Abstract - This study investigated Stroop color-naming of trauma-related words in male Vietnam combat veterans with (n = 42) and without (n = 15) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The anxiety connotations of the words were either very specific to the Vietnam experience (point, lead), general but still Vietnam-related (medevac, bodybags), or general and not specifically related to Vietnam (crash, griefi. All three categories of words slowed color-naming compared to neutral control words. This was true for all subjects, but the effect was more pronounced in veterans with PTSD. The generally negative but still Vietnam-related words caused more interference in color- naming than did the other categories of words, which was attributed to their ability to accessVietnam combat memories more efficiently. There was a free recall and recogni- tion memory advantage for the emotion words, suggesting that the Stroop interference effect was mediated by an attentional bias towards the anxiety-related material rather than avoidance of it. Veterans with PTSD were slower in color-naming overall, an effect that could not be attributed to group differences in psychiatric medication, depression, or anxiety. The authors thank Richard McNally for supplying Vretnam-related words with stress ratings by Vietnam veterans with PTSD. The authors also appreciate the assistanceof Michael A. Hertzberg, MD, in providing psychiatric diagnoses. We also wish to thank the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, MS, for preparing the Stroop stimuli used in this study. Requests for reprints should be. sent to Scott Vrana, Department of Psychological Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907. 515