Table 3.

Correlations between characteristics of negative and positive experiences of dental treatment (AMQ items), fear of dental treatment (DFS), and symptoms of posttraumatic stress (PCL-C)

AMQ item	DFS		PCL-C
	NEG (r) coefficient	POS (r) coefficient	NEG (r) coefficient	POS (r) coefficient
Physical reaction (e.g., beatingheart, tension, tears, laughter)*	0.936**	−0.169	0.878**	0.077
Change in mood*	0.940**	0.052	0.866**	0.225
Feels like travelling back in time	0.944**	0.100	0.881**	−0.075
Vivid and clear†	0.936**	−0.065	0.855**	0.119
See what happened†	0.941**	0.237*	0.875**	−0.190
Hear the sounds†	0.911**	0.164	0.873**	0.082
Smell and taste sensations†	0.917**	0.242*	0.872**	0.114
Remember the physical surroundings‡	0.828**	0.270*	0.800**	−0.135
Re-experience it all again†	0.917**	-0.022	0.882**	-0.188
Emotional intensity*	0.935**	0.182	0.871**	0.027
Appears as bits and pieces	0.059	0.191	0.039	0.005
Comes to me in words§	0.277*	0.172	0.236*	0.113
Appeared spontaneously§	0.905**	0.219	0.842**	0.037
Consequences for my life*	0.179	0.119	0.179	−0.248*
Forms a coherent story‡	0.328**	0.222	0.280*	−0.056
I’ve spoken about it§	0.052	0.044	0.035	0.096
I’ve thought about it on purpose (e.g., voluntarily)§	0.036	0.050	0.015	0.077
Visual perspective	0.212	0.064	0.173	0.050
Emotional valence	−0.509**	−0.079	−0.493**	-0.198
I believe it really happened this way‡	0.174	−0.062	0.152	0.317**
Age during event	0.044	−0.202	0.091	−0.197

AMQ=Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire; DFS=Dental Fear Survey; PCL-C=Post-traumatic Check List; NEG=most negative memory of dental treatment; POS=most positive memory of dental treatment. *Impact item, ^†Reliving item, ^§Rehearsal item, ^‡Belief item, Statistically significant (P<0.05) correlations are marked in bold