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A repressed memory, according to some theories of psychology, is a memory (often traumatic) of an event or environment which is stored by the unconscious mind but outside the awareness of the conscious mind. Some theorize that these memories may be recovered (that is, integrated into consciousness) years or decades after the event, often via therapy. The theory of dissociative amnesia makes the assumption that memory repression is possible. The repressed memory concept was popularized during the 1980s and partly the 1990s by the popular press, some feminist groups, and some psychological schools of thought, however it is suffering a retreat in popularity with professionals and the public during recent years after a series of scandals concerning it.

The concept was originated by Sigmund Freud in his 1896 essay Zur Ätiologie der Hysterie ("On the etiology of hysteria"), however Freud himself abandoned his theory between 1897-1905, and during 1920-1923 replaced it with his impulse-based concept of Id, Super-ego, and Ego. The theory of repressed memories must not be confused with the established psychological concept of repression in general which stresses impulses instead of memories.

Do repressed memories actually exist?

Repressed memories may or may not exist. Amnesia of traumatic events does appear to happen, as do false memories or pseudo-memories; however, the theory of repressed memories involves far more, as it theorizes not only that memories can become completely unavailable to the conscious mind (amnesia) but that those same memories could later be retrieved, and at the time of retrieval have the same (or greater) reliability as memories which were never unavailable to the conscious mind. Many theories of Amnesia, such as Dissociative Amnesia, involve recall.

However it remains true that one must distinguish general psychological repression, amnesia, false memories or pseudo-memories, and the theory of repressed memories. They all are different concepts, each building upon different theoretical conceptions.

There currently exists a great controversy among researchers, treating professionals, law professionals, and the general public as to whether repressed memories actually exist, and even more heated controversy over whether recovered memories are valid, especially in lieu of corroberatory evidence. This is particularly important as many controversial criminal cases have been based on witness testimony of recovered repressed memories, often of alleged childhood sexual abuse. Abuses of the Repressed Memory Theory and of controversial therapies like Recovered Memory Therapy often cause false memories to be formed.

Research and Theories Supporting Repressed Memories

One popular theory on how repressed memories originate is that traumatic memories are stored scattered about in the amygdala and hippocampus but not integrated into the neocortex. Also, it could be possible the right brain stores the memory but does not communicate it to the verbal left brain. This may mean that there is a continual active effort by the unconscious to repress memories, which can be dropped at a moment's notice should the unconscious decide to. For example, one possibility might be the anterior cingular actively inhibits the memory from reaching consciousness.

Another theory is that the cortisol, a chemical released during trauma, may induce forgetting. http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9808/19/stress.memory/ http://medschool.wustl.edu/~wumpa/news/newcomer.html Cortisol appears to have the ability to erase details and possibly induce amnesia. One anecdotal study done by ABC News showed military personnel who were put through an extremely traumatic situation were unable to properly identify details of the memories, even remembering the perpetrator as someone of a different sex or with a different skin color.

Some people believe that people just force themselves to forget. Some studies, structurally similar to the famed " lost in the mall" studies have shown that people can force themselves to forget non-traumatic facts. Other researchers say that this might be explained by normal forgetting and normal recall experienced with all memories. http://www.mtsu.edu/~sschmidt/Cognitive/forgetting/forgetting.html

Evidence of amnesia and forgetting has been found in numerous studies of trauma survivors. Jim Hopper, a harvard researcher, state that every study that has looked for amnesia of childhood sexual abuse has found it. In his review of current research, he has found that at least 10% of all survivors of sexual abuse experience complete amnesia following abuse, followed by recall. Some studies have found larger amounts of delayed, some higher than 50%, which calls into question the validity and methodology of those studies. http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/

Even Elizabeth Loftus, who does not believe in repressed memories and is regularly cited by the media, found that about 1 in 5 survivors have experienced periods of amnesia followed by recall. Loftus, E.F., Polonsky, S., & Fullilove, M. T. (1994). Memories of childhood sexual abuse: Remembering and repressing. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 67-845.

The Recovered Memory Project, ran by the Taubman Center for Public Policy & American Institutions at Brown University, has documented 101 corroberated cases of delayed memory recall in cases of sexual abuse. Almost all of the cases have been corroberated by multiple sources. Some are clinical case studies, some are legal proceedings, and some are confirmed by other witnesses or victims. http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem

Research and Theories Critical of the Theory of Repressed Memories

On the other hand, skeptics of theories of repressed memory suggest that the supposedly "recovered" memories are actually false memories, often based on subtle suggestions by the questioner. Recent research demonstrating the relative ease of deliberately implanting false memories has been cited as evidence for this hypothesis. Hundreds of people who went through therapy and were convinced that they had been abused by their family members have recanted and no longer believe they were abused.*

Repressed memories also may be mistaken for a normal form of amnesia of early childhood experienced by all humans. Memories before age 2 are almost always false or at least inaccurate, and few adults remember anything before age 3. This does not mean the individual was not abused, just that they do not have any memory of it and should not be expected to recall it.

A common explanation among proponents of the existence of repressed memories for the widespread skepticism and controversy is that the skeptics are denying their own traumatic experiences and/or they are perpetrators themselves. Both suggestions are found offensive by many, whether they are personally accused or not.*

False memories, confabulations and screen memories can be implanted/confabulated, as for example, in past life regression and alien abductions.

Recovered Memory Therapy

History
The recovered memory therapy (RMT) movement peaked in the mid-1990s with tens of thousands of patients annually reporting new so-called recovered memories. Thousands of patients’ families were torn asunder by allegations of abuse produced in therapy. The recovered memory movement was ultimately decimated by a wave of successful malpractice lawsuits. The first multi-million dollar verdict against a recovered memory therapist was the 1995 case of Hamanne v. Humenansky case in the U.S. Associated Press, Doctor Loses ($2.5 Million) False-memory Suit, Chicago Tribune, Wed. Aug. 2, 1995, Sec. 1, pg. 12. The final crushing blow to the RMT movement came in 1997 with a $10.6 million legal award to the Burgus family.Belluck, P. Memory Therapy Leads to a Lawsuit and Big Settlement Million, The New York Times, Page 1, Column 1, Nov. 6, 1997. "The next thing I think there will be is legislation to require informed consent from psychiatric patients for such so-called 'treatments'," said Dr. R. Christopher Barden, a psychologist and lawyer the plaintiff, "This (case) is the death knell for recovered memory therapy."

World-wide attention on the Burgus case exposed the glaring scientific, methodological and ethical errors inherent in recovered memory therapy and the underlying theory of so-called repressed memories. Following a series of high profile litigation losses, many of the professional leaders of the RMT movement suffered licensing prosecutions, license revocations, disciplinary actions and even criminal prosecutions. The leading journal in the field, Dissociation, ceased publication. By 2000, the "memory wars" were largely over and it is rare in 2005 to find a therapist who will admit conducting any form of therapy to recover so-called repressed memories. International experts in memory, research procedures and ethics continue to document how and why such an odd form of quackery became so widespread. The definitive work on the subject to date is "Remembering Trauma" by Prof. Richard McNally, Harvard University Press (2003). Prof. McNally summaries the relevant scientific research and concludes that the notion of repressed memory is nothing more than psychiatric "folklore".

RMT Supporters

The Courage to Heal is a book that actively encourages memory recovery techniques to uncover hidden repressed memories of childhood abuse and is often cited by supporters of the theory. It is controversial in that the authors have no psychological training, and base their opinions on their own experiences, rather than studies of the population at large. The newer addition of The Courage to Heal attempts to address these issues, although not thorougly enough for many people who were hurt by the book. The current consensus of those who conduct psychotherapy is that books like The Courage to Heal should only be used by survivors who have continious memories of sexual abuse.

RMT Critics

The Royal College of Psychiatrists summarized their position as:

"Psychiatrists are advised to avoid engaging in any "memory recovery techniques" which are based upon the expectation of past sexual abuse of which the patient has no memory. Such...techniques may include drug-mediated interviews serum", hypnosis, regression therapies, guided imagery, "body memories," literal dream interpretation, and journaling. There is no evidence that the use of consciousness-altering techniques, such as drug-mediated interviews or hypnosis, can reveal or accurately elaborate factual information about any past experiences, including sexual abuse."

Critics of recovered memory therapy, like Richard Ofshe and Ethan Watters (Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, And Sexual Hysteria), view the practice of "recovering" memories as fraudulent and dangerous. They base this assertion on several claims:

  • Traumatic experiences which obviously have happened, such as war time experiences, are not "repressed"—they are either forgotten or remembered clearly in spite of attempts to suppress them.
  • The "memories" recovered in RMT are highly detailed. According to RMT literature, the human brain stores very vivid memories which can be recalled in detail, like a video tape. This belief contradicts virtually all research on the way memories work.
  • The patient is given very extensive lists of "symptoms" including sleeplessness, headaches, the feeling of being different from others etc. If several of these symptoms are found, the therapist suggests to the patient that they were probably sexually abused. If the patient rejects this suggestion, they are "in denial" and require more extensive therapy. This is a form of catch-22.
  • During the questioning, patients are openly encouraged to ignore their own feelings and memories and to assume that the abuse has happened. They then explore together with this therapist, over a prolonged period of many months or even years, how the abuse happened. The possibility that the abuse has not happened at all is usually not considered.

According to these critics, RMT techniques used for "reincarnation therapy" or "alien abduction therapy" are comparable to the techniques used in Satanic Ritual Abuse therapy. To verify the false memory hypothesis, researchers like Elizabeth Loftus have successfully produced false memories of various childhood incidents in test subjects. This is viewed as further evidence that comprehensive false memories can be produced in therapy.

Body Memory

A form of repressed memory is supposed to be Body memory. Body memory is a claim that the body itself (rather than the brain) remembers something - typically abuse. This is characterised by a pain in a body part where there appears to be no present day physical reason for the pain, so this is seen as evidence of the body remembering a past pain, similar to phantom limb syndrome.

Some Psychologists and Social Workers use the term Body Memory to refer to physical symptoms that accompany trauma. Studies have shown that survivors of trauma, specifically with PTSD, have a predisposition to illness and injuries. Stress headaches would also be an example of a "body memory" when you use this definition. However, these symptoms are not only trauma induced and do not prove or dissprove memories or trauma.

There currently is no scientific evidence of body memory corresponding with either of these two definitions.

Freud on Repressed Memory

Freud abandoned his theory of repressed memory not "during his later years in life" and not due to social pressure, as some feminist schools of thought claim today. Some sources do not even mention Freud's decision of abandonment at all (for example Bass and Davis 1988, Herman 1992). Freud encountered facts in his psychoanalytical practice that contradicted his initial theory of repressed memories of traumatic sexual experiences during early childhood (mostly referred to as Freud's Seduction theory). These were

  • a.) that he increasingly came upon evidences in individual cases logically outruling any possibility the 'recovered' events could have occurred,

  • b.) that, to a degree, he found himself able to direct his more suggestible patients into any recollection of memory he wanted to (especially while they were undergoing hypnosis), even more so in an entirely boundless manner when he turned to sexual matters, and

  • c.) linked aspects (to repressed memories timewise, spatially, and/or causally) that in contrary had not been repressed or that had always been manifest to the conscious mind of his patients in a transformed appearance (see defence mechanism) were not perceived by his patients as alarming or frightening on themselves. If negative trauma was the cause for the repression Freud observed, they should hence be perceived as negative. In fact these linked aspects frequently were connoted with positive emotions, partly even very intensely so, that the patients themselves could not explain.

Freud deduced from a.) and b.) that the unconscious mind actually knows no distinction between memories and imagination and therefore easily becomes subject to manipulation of memories and imagination, and by combining this analysis with c.), he concluded that it is personal desires and fantasies that are getting repressed instead as demanded according to social taboo.

This theory of repressed impulse in fact was the fundament of Freud's psychology, and it was essentially much more provocative and controversial than his initial theory of repressed memory had been already. First advancements after abandoning his initial theory of repressed memory can be seen in his Oedipus complex concept developed 1897-1905 (by his 1905 Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality, it had completely replaced his initial theory), however it would take until the years 1920-1923 that Freud would introduce Id, Super-ego, and Ego.

One might say that by the recent disillusionment concerning sensationalist Recovered Memory Therapy during the past few years, mainstream scientific research is currently undergoing the acknowledgement of Freud's stages of a.) and b.). Whether scientists and even the public will aknowledge c.) and accept Freud's conclusions is a matter that only time can tell.

Famous trials involving repressed/recovered memories

  • George Franklin, charge: murder, accuser: Eileen, daughter crime: 1969, convicted 1995 time in jail: 6 years, duration of memory suppression: 20 years
  • accuser: Nicole Taus, charge: abuse, duration of suppression: 11 years
  • In some of the cases of Catholic priests accused of fondling or sexually assaulting juvenile-turned-adult parishioners ; also in the case of Joseph Cardinal Bernardin.

Repressed memories in popular entertainment

Repressed memories were a frequent topic among talk-show hosts in the 1990's .

Repressed memories 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 murder of his father.
  • 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 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 little sister being murdered by the protagonist Lucy.
  • 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 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.
  • In the movie Serenity, the character River is made mentally whole after a repressed traumatic memory has been brought to the surface.

Notes

See also

External links

Freudian psychology | Jungian psychology | Memory

Regresión | Represja

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Repressed memory".

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