Since there are so many unanswered questions and contradictions around repressed memories, it would only be prudent to be cautious about the idea of repressed memories until further research establishes otherwise. So, the claims that people suddenly remembered such events many years later remain a contested ground. The fact that scientists have trouble verifying facts may not be reason enough to brush off motivated forgetting as non-existent. However, it should be noted that research suggests that victims of traumatic events remember the event more often and in too much detail. Though the woman believed that these were repressed memories of real events, they weren’t. However, later medical examination revealed that the woman was still a virgin and had never been pregnant. One instance was a famous case when a Missouri woman recalled repressed memories of her father raping her, which resulted in two pregnancies that her father forced her to abort. In addition, in many cases recovered repressed memories have turned out to be false and others have most likely not happened at all. So, when a memory of a non-traumatic event could be so distorted, there is no reason to believe that repressed memories are not. Each one of us would have experienced a time when we discussed a past event with a friend, only to realize that both of us have a different recollection of the event. There are still many unanswered questions and contradictions around repressed memories.(Image: wan wei/Shutterstock)Īnother reason to be hesitant to accept claims with respect to repressed memories is that they need not be accurate. Further, even if a traumatic incident really happened, researchers have not been able to establish if the episode was merely a forgotten one or repressed. For instance, if someone claims of having undergone a traumatic event when young, there is no way to prove if the memory is real. It has been extremely difficult to study repressed memories as it is impossible to verify if a recovered memory is actually the real memory. Learn more about do people have psychic abilities? The Controversy over Repressed Memories While psychotherapists claim that their patients repressed their traumatic memories for years and retrieved it from their subconscious minds, there are lingering problems associated with the idea of repressed memories, for lack of scientific evidence. ‘Repressed memories’ refer to a psychological phenomenon where the person involved actively works towards repressing memories, especially the ones which are traumatic and disturbing.
In motivated forgetting, people forget certain events that they want to forget. But this is not an example of motivated forgetting or repression because in this case you don’t forget that you have to undergo the procedure. It is only natural for humans to distract themselves from such upsetting thoughts.
Several important events in our life may linger in our memory, some may be pleasant and others not so pleasant. For instance, you might have to undergo a root canal procedure next week but you try to actively push the painful process out of your mind. However, there are other explanations to forgetting, which are more contentious. Several important events in our life may linger in our memory, some pleasant, while others not so pleasant.įorgetting is usually a failure to encode information, and memory seems to decay with time and other memories can interfere with the retrieval process. However, many researchers share a different point of view, making the concept of these memories controversial. Both types of memories are significant from the perspectives of clinical practitioners and the judicial system. There are others, called flashbulb memories, which are detailed recollections of learning something shocking or surprising that leaves a strong memory of the context in which people learned the event. By Mark Leary, Ph.D., Duke University Some experiences are so disturbing that people actively work to repress those memories.
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