Have you ever recovered a Repressed Memory?

[MiradorRyu]

Repression is a Freudian concept, and most of his theories have been disproved. Traumatic experiences are actually more likely to be remembered due to your amped up state.

Many therapists have been able to successfully 'plant' fake memories into people by using subtle suggestion and leading questions. Since memory isn't concrete but rather a mental construct, it's easy for it to be influenced by current emotions and outside motives.

If repression was a common mental defense, why do Holocaust survivors have vivid accounts of their experiences? Why do some still remember the pangs of hunger or the smell of burning flesh? And to those who say they have repressed memories in this thread, are you saying your little middle school heartbreak, silly suicidal phase, or desperate cries for attention are more traumatic than this?

Repression is not a common mental defence, infact it is very rare compared to other defence mechanisms people have, but that does not mean it is not real. The reason some people remember events well and some dont is simple. Everyone is different! Some people can cope with it, some can't. Some people experience a traumatic event and remember it with perfect clarity as it is etched into thier brains forever, some people can't remember anything as thier mind is not equiped to deal with it. It is all unique to the individual.

Another thing that can make a big difference it is the age of the person, the type of trauma, and what they did at the time. A young persons mental synapses are still forming and can be manipulated much easier than and older persons.

I repeatedly suffered extreme trauma as a child, my escape from the real world was to create a fantasy world in my head and 'hide' in that place during times of hightened stress or trauma. This was during my formative years, while my brain was still developing. As such i had no recollection of events from a very young age until my teens. Unfortunately when i was almost 20 a trigger event occurred which brought back some of the memories, and now (as i approach 30) i still have flashbacks from time to time of events i did not remember.

In responce to the OP, no you did not have a repressed memory, you just have a bad memory. A repressed memory is a blank spot in your mind which you can not recall at all without assistance such as hypnotherapy, psychological/psychiatric guidance, a trigger event or some other neurological stimulation beyond normal memory recall.

 

[Blade3dge]

Repression is a Freudian concept, and most of his theories have been disproved. Traumatic experiences are actually more likely to be remembered due to your amped up state.

Many therapists have been able to successfully 'plant' fake memories into people by using subtle suggestion and leading questions. Since memory isn't concrete but rather a mental construct, it's easy for it to be influenced by current emotions and outside motives.

If repression was a common mental defense, why do Holocaust survivors have vivid accounts of their experiences? Why do some still remember the pangs of hunger or the smell of burning flesh? And to those who say they have repressed memories in this thread, are you saying your little middle school heartbreak, silly suicidal phase, or desperate cries for attention are more traumatic than this?

That's the thing it's not common and when you are surrounded by reminders such as your entire family has been killed, your home stolen and you've woken up beaten on the side of a street. Unless people suffer actual memory loss they don't just wake up wondering "where am I?" there are some things you just can't forget. Different people have different responses and repression is one such response

And even then I can guarantee you will find people who remember very little of what happened having blocked out experiences and others who have vivid false memories of what happened constructed through putting stories together in our heads. False memories are EXTREMELY easy to implant, through subtle suggestion I've managed to do it in day to day conversation.

 

[Blade3dge]

In responce to the OP, no you did not have a repressed memory, you just have a bad memory. A repressed memory is a blank spot in your mind which you can not recall at all without assistance such as hypnotherapy, psychological/psychiatric guidance, a trigger event or some other neurological stimulation beyond normal memory recall.

Not necessarily blank. As I stated before if you've simply forgotten say for example the events of a single night a false memory may fill in the blank. You may remember driving home safely and going to sleep in your warm cosy bed where in actual fact you were involved in a car crash for example.

That said the false memory can fill the blank so you are in a sense correct.

 

[Drakmorg]

Nope, all my repressed memories (if I have any, can't be sure, after all they're repressed) have stayed safely locked up in the secret underground vault of my mind.

 

[quiet_samurai]

Not really repressed memories, but things I have completely forgotton or haven't thought about in ages. I remember when I moved a couple years ago I found a small plastic tote with a bunch of my ex-GFs clothes and stuff. I didn't remember what was in it at the time, but the second I opened it I could smell her. A whole plethora of memories and stuff washed over me, it was rather staggering and sudden. Those clothes were packed away for nearly five years and hadn't been touched by anyone since she stuck them in there... OK I'm done reminescing.

 

[MiradorRyu]

Ok, blank was a bad choice of words. Perhaps, void or inconsistancy would have been better. I could/can remember things of my childhood, but they were not real. Unless dragons, talking animals and my ability to fly were all real until the early ninties. I couldn't however remember what actually happened, therefore i called it a 'blank' spot in my memory. I remember a lot of it now, but in the grand scheme of things it is only a small percentage, the rest is still a void. Which i am happy for it to remain.

 

[Livianicen]

After reading this thread, I've realised I don't know anything and that my memories are probably all fake.

What an excellent opportunity to start all over again.

 

[silverdragon9]

I once had a bad fall when I went down a hill and pressed the front brakes instead. That was 4 years ago.

I still can't remember what happened immediately afterwards. I was conscious but I kept repeating questions.

that's not memory repression that's a concussion. instead of hiding a memory in your subconscious you had it quite literally beaten out of your head.

 

[dwightsteel]

Repression is a defence mechanism when the brain can't handle something. I could go way into it, but I won't. It's a psychological term, where what you experienced was "remembering something you haven't thought about in a long time".

You spelled "defense" wrong, just to point out.

Secondly, your last sentence makes little sense, and doesn't actually describe repression. It's been mentioned several times above, that the basic idea is one undergoes something so traumatic that the only way the mind can deal is by locking it away so that your conscious mind can't retrieve it. It's why hypnotism is supposed to be so effective in bringing such memories to the surface.

That being said, repression is an incredibly rare psychological event. So rare, in fact, that many of the people who believe themselves to have repressed memories, do not. They end up surfacing a bad dream or fantasy that they in turn believe is an actual memory. So unreliable is the idea of an actual repressed memory, that when used in a legal setting, it almost never hold up as valid testimony.

I believe I repressed a memory where I molested myself. It was devastating.

It's already been pointed out, but I spelled defence right. And I know what repression is, what I was saying, if you re-read what I posted was: you did not experience a recovery of repressed memories, you experienced "memory".

I already conceded on the defense/defence point. And you're last sentence confused me a bit, but re-reading it helped. As for everything after that, it wasn't aimed at you, so much as my own bit thrown in on my idea of repression. I've made a habit, as of late, commenting before I recheck, and then putting my foot in my mouth. So for that, I apologize.

 

[Angerwing]

Repression is a defence mechanism when the brain can't handle something. I could go way into it, but I won't. It's a psychological term, where what you experienced was "remembering something you haven't thought about in a long time".

You spelled "defense" wrong, just to point out.

Secondly, your last sentence makes little sense, and doesn't actually describe repression. It's been mentioned several times above, that the basic idea is one undergoes something so traumatic that the only way the mind can deal is by locking it away so that your conscious mind can't retrieve it. It's why hypnotism is supposed to be so effective in bringing such memories to the surface.

That being said, repression is an incredibly rare psychological event. So rare, in fact, that many of the people who believe themselves to have repressed memories, do not. They end up surfacing a bad dream or fantasy that they in turn believe is an actual memory. So unreliable is the idea of an actual repressed memory, that when used in a legal setting, it almost never hold up as valid testimony.

I believe I repressed a memory where I molested myself. It was devastating.

It's already been pointed out, but I spelled defence right. And I know what repression is, what I was saying, if you re-read what I posted was: you did not experience a recovery of repressed memories, you experienced "memory".

I already conceded on the defense/defence point. And you're last sentence confused me a bit, but re-reading it helped. As for everything after that, it wasn't aimed at you, so much as my own bit thrown in on my idea of repression. I've made a habit, as of late, commenting before I recheck, and then putting my foot in my mouth. So for that, I apologize.

It's all good.

 

[Timotei]

I tend to recover a lot of repressed memories when certain discussion are brought p here. Like when I saw a kid plunge to his death when I was in kindergaten. At school.

Now the image of a todddler splayed out againt the pavement with a cracked head seemingly refuses to leave my mind at certain moments.

 

[Ambi]

I had tried to repress memories of regretted things. It didn't work.

Although, I did manage to deal with it by convincing myself it wasn't that bad. After all, I was just a little kid.