For those suffering from emotional disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression aspects of the personal past can dominate conscious experience in tenacious and toxic ways. For example, memories of distressing autobiographical experiences can intrude into awareness as thoughts or images, as flashbacks or nightmares, each laden with unwanted and painful affect. This special issue of Memory focuses on two broad themes. The first is the nature of autobiographical remembering of the personal past what are the characteristics of such memories? And to what extent...