[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?’

[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!

[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

[giotto]

I have long doubted the Repressed Memory theory, but I too believe there are memories which can lay dormant for decades, wreaking havoc on the psyche, while the person is totally unaware of the underlying cause. My suspicion is that anything that happens to a child before he can articulate that experience verbally will be remembered, if at all, as nothing but a blur of impressions and feelings. The mind creates concepts and language to represent those concepts, so that they can be stored for future use, referenced, and communicated to other minds. An experience that has no corresponding stored "file" can not be retrieved. Any attempt to do so will unfortunately be inconclusive.

This is not to say that therapy can't help, though.