Repressed memory

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Repressed memory is a significant memory, usually of a traumatic nature, that has become unavailable for recall. The term is used to describe memories that have been dissociated from awareness as well as those that have been repressed without dissociation. Although much debate exists in the media and public arena on the topic of repressed memories, studies consistently demonstrate that amnesia can occur in survivors of trauma.[1][2][3][4][5] Repressed memories may sometimes be recovered years or decades after the event, most often spontaneously, triggered by a particular smell, taste, or other identifier related to the lost memory, or via suggestion during psychotherapy.[6]

Contents

[edit] History

The concept was originated by Sigmund Freud in his 1896 essay Zur Ätiologie der Hysterie ("On the etiology of hysteria"), however Freud abandoned his theory between 1897 and 1905, replacing it during 1920-1923 with his impulse-based concept of Id, Super-ego, and Ego. Friedrich Nietzsche was the first to suggest an active, conscious thought management method in the second essay of his On the Genealogy of Morals as a necessary fundament of efficiency, responsibility, and maturity. Also called motivated forgetting in which a subject blocks out painful or traumatic times in one's life.

[edit] Research

Repressed memory syndrome, the clinical entity used to describe repressed memories, is often compared to psychogenic amnesia, and some sources compare the two as equivalent.[7][8] Some research indicates that memories of child sexual abuse and other traumatic incidents can be forgotten and that any study that has looked for evidence of traumatic or dissociative amnesia after child sexual abuse has found it.[9][10][11][12] Evidence of the spontaneous recovery of traumatic memories has been shown,[13][14][15] and recovered memories of traumatic childhood abuse have been corroborated.[16][17][18][12][19] Although the science of repressed memory is limited, studies suggest that memories of trauma that are forgotten and later recalled have a similar accuracy rate as trauma memories that had not been forgotten.[7] It has been speculated that repression may be one method used by individuals to cope with traumatic memories, by pushing them out of awareness[11] (perhaps as an adaptation via psychogenic amnesia) to allow a child to maintain attachment to a person on whom they are dependent for survival.[20] Researchers have proposed that repression can operate on a social level as well.[21]

The existence of repressed memories has not been completely accepted by mainstream psychology,[22][23][24][25] nor unequivocally proven to exist. One research report states that a distinction should be made between spontaneously recovered memories and memories recovered during suggestions in therapy. [26]

van der Kolk and Fisler's research shows that traumatic memories are retrieved, at least at first, in the form of mental imprints that are dissociated. These imprints are of the affective and sensory elements of the traumatic experience. Clients have reported the slow emergence of a personal narrative that can be considered explicit (conscious) memory. The level of emotional significance of a memory correlates directly with the memory's veracity. Studies of subjective reports of memory show that memories of highly significant events are unusually accurate and stable over time. The imprints of traumatic experiences appear to be qualitatively different from those of nontraumatic events. Traumatic memories may be coded differently than ordinary event memories, possibly because of alterations in attentional focusing or the fact that extreme emotional arousal interferes with the memory functions of the hippocampus.[27]

[edit] Legal issues

In a 1996 ruling, a US District Court allowed repressed memories entered into evidence in court cases.[28] Jennifer Freyd writes that Ross Cheit’s case of suddenly remembered sexual abuse is one of the most well-documented cases available for the public to see. Cheit prevailed in two lawsuits, located five additional victims and tape-recorded a confession.[15]

[edit] Recovered memory therapy

Main article: Recovered memory therapy

Recovered memory therapy (RMT) is a term coined by affiliates of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation[29][30][31] referring to what they described as a range of psychotherapy methods based on recalling memories of abuse that had previously been forgotten by the patient.[32] The term is not listed in DSM-IV or used by mainstream formal psychotherapy modality.[29] The idea that therapy can create false memories has also not been proven[33] though there is evidence that the use of extreme therapy techniques can create false memories.[34] Even when patients who decide their recovered memories are false and retract their claims, they can suffer posttraumatic stress disorder due to the trauma of illusory memories.[35] The number of reported retractions is small when compared to the large number of actual child sexual abuse cases.[36] Some have suggested that a child may retract their story of abuse due to guilt, a feeling of obligation to protect their family or may be reacting to the familial stress brought on by their allegations.[37]

[edit] Repressed memories in popular culture

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Repressed memories were a frequent topic among talk-show hosts in the 1990s and have frequently been portrayed in popular entertainment, especially as a plot device.

  • The film Tommy: the title character is coerced into forgetting that he has witnessed the killing of his father.
  • The film The Machinist: Christian Bale's character represses the memory of killing a child in a hit-and-run car accident.
  • The film Nurse Betty: Betty also witnesses a murder and as a result of the trauma forgets her entire reality for a time, deluded into being a character in her favourite soap opera.
  • The film The Butterfly Effect: Evan has blackouts throughout his childhood when in traumatic situations. As a college student, he attempts to recover these memories and finds that he can change the past.
  • The film Spellbound: a horrible childhood memory has been suppressed and causes nightmares for years afterwards.
  • The film Mysterious Skin: two teenage boys repress memories of sexual abuse by their Little League coach.
  • The video game Final Fantasy VII: the protagonist Cloud Strife carries false memories of his service in SOLDIER, the real memories suppressed after his Mako treatment.
  • The anime/manga Elfen Lied: one of the main characters, Kouta, suppressed the majority of his childhood after seeing his father and his little sister being murdered.
  • The anime/manga Fruits Basket: the supporting character, Hatori Sohma had to suppress the memories of his love, Kana, after Akito Sohma blinded Hatori's left eye by throwing a vase at him and blamed Hatori's injury on Kana. The guilt from the accident drove her into madness and Hatori was forced to suppress her memories so that she could once again smile. Hatori has also had to suppress the memories of Yuki Sohma's friends, and Momiji Sohma's mother.
  • The anime/manga His and Her Circumstances: When Arima visits his girlfriend, Yukino's house for the first time he realizes he doesn't have a deep bond with his adoptive parents and is confronted with repressed memories of abuse and abandonment from his real parents.
  • The novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower: Charlie is confronted with repressed memories of being sexually abused by his aunt in the end of the novel after being upset and confused by sexual contact with his crush/friend, Sam.
  • The protagonist of the video game Silent Hill 2, James Sunderland, repressed his memory of murdering his wife prior to the game's events.
  • In the movie Total Recall, set in the year 2084, a man travels to Mars for a virtual vacation that implants memories of the trip in his mind, to recall those memories in exact detail. During his trip he recalls the truth about himself.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Widom, Cathy Spatz; Shepard, Robin L. (December 1996). "Accuracy of adult recollections of childhood victimization : Part 1. Childhood physical abuse". Psychological Assessment 8 (4): 412-21. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association. ISSN 1040-3590. EJ542113. 
  2. ^ Widom, Cathy Spatz; Morris, Suzanne (March 1997). "Accuracy of Adult Recollections of Childhood Victimization: Part 2. Childhood Sexual Abuse.". Psychological Assessment 9 (1): 34-46. Washington, DC, US: American Psychological Association. ISSN 1040-3590. EJ545434. 
  3. ^ Sheflin, Alan W; Brown, Daniel (1996). "Repressed Memory or Dissociative Amnesia: What the Science Says.". Journal of Psychiatry & Law 24 (Summer): 143-88. ISSN 0093-1853. 
  4. ^ Herman, Judith Lewis (1997). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence from domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books, p119-122. ISBN 0465087302. 
  5. ^ Julia M. Whealin, Ph.D. and Laurie Slone, Ph.D.. Complex PTSD. National Center for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. United States Department of Veteran Affairs.
  6. ^ Albach, Francine; Peter Paul Moormann, Bob Bermond (Dec-1996). "Memory recovery of childhood sexual abuse". Dissociation Vol. 9, No. 4, p. 261-273. ISSN 0896-2863. 
  7. ^ a b Scheflin, A (1999-11-01). "Ground lost: The false memory/recovered memory therapy debate". Psychiatric Times 16 (11). 
  8. ^ Fink, P (2005). Press Release by the Leadership Council: Recovered Memories: True or False?. The Leadership Council. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
  9. ^ Williams LM (1994). "Recall of childhood trauma: a prospective study of women's memories of child sexual abuse". J Consult Clin Psychol 62 (6): 1167–76. PMID 7860814. 
  10. ^ Cheit, RE (2005-07-01). The Archive: 101 Corroborated Cases of Recovered Memory. The Recovered Memory Project. Retrieved on 2008-02-07.
  11. ^ a b Research on the Effect of Trauma on Memory. The Leadership Council (2005). Retrieved on 2008-02-07.
  12. ^ a b Bowman, E.S. (1996). "Delayed memories of child abuse: Part I: An overview of research findings on forgetting, remembering, and corroborating trauma". Dissociation 9: 221-231. ; lay summary Corroboration of child abuse memories. About.com (2006-02-20). Retrieved on 2008-01-06.
  13. ^ Chu, J; Frey L, Ganzel B, Matthews J (May 1999). "Memories of childhood abuse: dissociation, amnesia, and corroboration.". American Journal of Psychiatry 156 (5): 749-55. PMID 10327909. 
  14. ^ Duggal, S.; Sroufe, L. A. (April 1998). "Recovered memory of childhood sexual trauma: A documented case from a longitudinal study.". Journal of Traumatic Stress 11 (2): 301-321. 
  15. ^ a b Freyd, Jennifer J. (1996). Betrayal Trauma - The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-06805-x. 
  16. ^ Cheit, Ross E. (1998). "Consider This, Skeptics of Recovered Memory". ETHICS & BEHAVIOR 8 (2): 141 - 160. doi:10.1207/s15327019eb0802_4. 
  17. ^ Corwin, D.; Olafson E. (1997). "Videotaped Discovery of a Reportedly Unrecallable Memory of Child Sexual Abuse: Comparison with a Childhood Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before". Child Maltreatment 2 (2): 91-112. doi:10.1177/1077559597002002001. 
  18. ^ Leadership Council on Child Abuse & Interpersonal Violence: Summary of Research Examining the Prevalence of Full or Partial Dissociative Amnesia for Traumatic Events
  19. ^ Hopper, Jim. "Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources". Retrieved on 2007-12-15. 
  20. ^ Freyd, J. (1994). "Betrayal trauma: traumatic amnesia as an adaptive response to childhood abuse.". Ethics & Behavior 4 (4): 307-330. 
  21. ^ Freyd, Jennifer J. (2007). "Archiving Dissociation as a Precaution Against Dissociating Dissociation". Journal of Trauma & Dissociation 8 (3). 
  22. ^ McNally, R.J. (2004). "The Science and Folklore of Traumatic Amnesia". Clinical Psychology Science and Practice 11 (1): 29-33. doi:10.1093/clipsy.bph056. 
  23. ^ McNally RJ (2007). "Dispelling confusion about traumatic dissociative amnesia". Mayo Clin. Proc. 82 (9): 1083–90. PMID 17803876. 
  24. ^ McNally RJ (2004). "Is traumatic amnesia nothing but psychiatric folklore?". Cogn Behav Ther 33 (2): 97–101; discussion 102–4, 109–11. PMID 15279316. 
  25. ^ McNally RJ (2005). "Debunking myths about trauma and memory". Can J Psychiatry 50 (13): 817–22. PMID 16483114. 
  26. ^ Geraerts, E.; Schooler, J.W.; Merckelbach, H.; Jelicic, M.; Hauer, B.J.A.; Ambadar, Z. (2007). "The Reality of Recovered Memories: Corroborating Continuous and Discontinuous Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse". Psychological Science 18 (7): 564-568. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2007.01940.x. 
  27. ^ van der Kolk BA, Fisler R (1995). "Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: overview and exploratory study". J Trauma Stress 8 (4): 505-25. PMID 8564271. 
  28. ^ 923 Federal Supplement 286 (D. Mass. 1996); CIVIL ACTION NO.: 92-12139-EFH MEMORANDUM AND ORDER; May 8, 1996
  29. ^ a b Whitfield, Charles L.; Joyanna L. Silberg, Paul Jay Fink (2001). Misinformation Concerning Child Sexual Abuse and Adult Survivors. Haworth Press, p56. ISBN 0789019019. 
  30. ^ Salter, Stephanie. "Feminist Treason and Intellectual Fascism" (reprint), San Francisco Examiner, 1993-04-07. Retrieved on 2007-12-15. 
  31. ^ Underwager, Ralph; Hollida Wakefield (1994). Return of the Furies: An Investigation into Recovered Memory Therapy. Open Court Pub Co, 360. ISBN 978-0812692716. 
  32. ^ Lief, Harold I (November 1999). "Patients Versus Therapists: Legal Actions Over Recovered Memory Therapy". Psychiatric Times XVI (11). 
  33. ^ Hammond, D. Corydon; Brown, Daniel P.; Scheflin, Alan W. (1998). Memory, trauma treatment, and the law. New York: W.W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-70254-5. 
  34. ^ Brandon S, Boakes J, Glaser D, Green R (1998). "Recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. Implications for clinical practice". Br J Psychiatry 172: 296–307. PMID 9722329. 
  35. ^ Lambert, K; Lilienfeld SO (2007-10-01). Brain Stains. Scientific American. Retrieved on 2008-01-25.
  36. ^ Whitfield M.D., Charles L. (1995). Memory and Abuse - Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications, Inc, 375. ISBN 1-55874-320-0. 
  37. ^ Summit, R. (1983). "The child sexual abuse accommodation syndrome.". Child Abuse & Neglect 7: 177-193. 

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