Research Finds Repressed Memories Don't Exist

ABC ^ | Karen Berkman

[LukeL]

So you mean there is no chance of me forgetting the past two years?

[nickcarraway]

Maybe the researchers forgot their findings.

[Ancient Drive]

touche

[ansel12]

That period was one of the worst witch-hunt periods in American history.

[monocle]

Looks like a large number of psychologists will be eating at the soup kitchens.

[antceecee]

How many families and lives were ruined by this B.S.? They should be held accountable.

[fhayek]

Professor Grant Devilly

C'mon. This is a made-up name, right?

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

But Professor McNally says some abuse victims do suffer when they reassess childhood experiences much later.

"Seeing the event through the eyes of adult, they realise what has happened to them and now they experience the emotional turmoil of trauma," he said.

Someone who agrees but ascribes the trauma of non-forced encounters to the abuse of therapists and imposition of societal judgements: The Trauma Myth by Susan A. Clancy, Ph.D.

[ransomnote]

I don’t know if all repressed memories are false. I supervised an employee who seemed to struggle with something. She always wrung her hands or ‘washed’ them (referring to the motion of smoothing one cupped hand over the other, in turn)while speaking to me. She had a worried look on her face and tension - really tightly wrapped. She actually stressed me out with her tone of voice, facial expression and gestures. She started going to a therapist. She starts unearthing buried memories - father raped her. She conflicts with her family in the present over this issue and their behavior doesn’t seem normal (if he was innocent, of course they would be appalled and angry but they were just plain WEIRD about it). This possible rape explains some of her mothers focused hostility toward her (unlike behavior toward her siblings), perhaps. After ‘facing’ the childhood rape etc. she becomes...well..normal. No more nervous stress, no more ‘hand washing’ gestures, great deal of peace and calm. So does this mean just ‘venting’ on any imagined abuse works or does it mean there really was something she was fighting to keep hidden from herself to avoid ‘rocking the boat’?
And something that strikes me about this research is that, unlike studies and experiments that contribute to a body of research - this study is taken as the ‘final’ answer or the ‘true’ study. This seems a little unusual. Was the study so large and so complete that no further investigation is necessary? The truth is known? Like global warming’s inconvenient truth? ‘Scientists now agree?’

[himno hero]

So they average down on their “ill gotten” income....

[Carry_Okie]

My own personal experience suggests that one may re-act the experience while simultaneously suppressing recall of the original event. Eventually, I recalled the original trauma and released it (it was child rape). Once found, the symptoms were gone for good. It was all done without the aid of a therapist or any source of external suggestion. I even know the first name of the perp and have since found he did the same to others. They too appear to have somewhat related problems.

[Islander7]

I vaguely remember the 60s.

[Razzz42]

Interesting. Like you can recall/see the event but not feel the emotion or you can recall the feeling but not see the event. Getting the two together at the same time would stimulate closure if you understood it wasn’t your fault or even the perpetrator’s fault since loonies are hard to hold accountable even in the courts while obviously acting far from normal.

Glad people can find closure with or without assistance.

So far they haven’t discovered a pain center in the body to measure. Can’t be proven if you are in pain or not.

[skr]

Only some researchers came to the post’s conclusion. With the human brain, anything is possible, including compartmentalizing to the point of repressing a memory. IMHO, of course.

Your poor friend!

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I vaguely remember the 60s.

But were they traumatic?

[skr]

I’m so sorry. May God bless you and the other victims.

[gusopol3]

And something that strikes me about this research is that, unlike studies and experiments that contribute to a body of research - this study is taken as the ‘final’ answer or the ‘true’ study. This seems a little unusual. Was the study so large and so complete that no further investigation is necessary? The truth is known? Like global warming’s inconvenient truth? ‘Scientists now agree?’

excellent point

[cva66snipe]

"We're now getting, at the end of between 8 and 12 sessions, 90 to 92 per cent of people no longer meet the criteria for PTSD," he said.

PTSD can take YEARS to get over especially when it is complicated by other disorders which can trigger it. If a person is rid of PTSD in 8-12 sessions it would be a miracle.

I would tend more to thing in some mental traumas the brain does for self preservation sake hide it if the event can not be handled at that time. It may come out later by a triggering event.

I shy away from mental health put it all in one box this is fact thinking. Doing so has prevented many person from getting the proper help they needed because the shrink said something doesn't work that way when in fact for a different cause it will.

I've had General Anxiety Disorder PTSD and OCB all at the same time and hit me all at the same time. The OCB went away when I medically retired. It was a over compensation method my brain was using to deal with another problem which effected memory and concentration. It took me several years to get rid of the PTSD. Makes sense to me because the events over several years of my life lead to me developing in and not one event all in itself.

With General Anxiety Disorder some persons can be cured some people can not. A traumatized person will have good results many times with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I can not. With me it would be torture and avoidance or limited exposures to what triggers my attacks is a medical necessity as it is a neurological impairment causing it.

Antidepressants are often used for G.A.D. Antidepressants for someone like me are real bad news. It can cause a Serotonin migration. This is because there are several causes including but not limited to traumatic events and Sensory Processing Disorders. Each requires a very different treatment plan both medication wise and for any effective therapy. Meaning in my case a dysfunctional sight or sound or both can trigger anxiety attacks even to the point of seizures like me. I am not scared of the events they agiatate me.

I was told by several psychiatrist it did not work like that LOL. Funny thing a Neurologist made the connection of Vestibular Disorders causing anxiety in the mid 1970's. A search of Vestibular Disorders +Anxiety turns up a bunch of hits in Vestibular web sites but very few if any in mental health sites. I got rid of two of the three and it took several years.

My wife had a traumatic childhood and much of her memory is repressed. Some of it finally started surfacing and it took a lot of patience and time to put some of the pieces together. She has PTSD and will likely never be over it.

[count-your-change]

Thank goodness! I can ignore that letter trying to make me recall a repressed memory of an unpaid bill.
I’m impressed that my repressed and depressed memory need not be expressed.