For those who study and practice psychology, there is a heated debate surrounding repressed memories. In particular, can or should they be recovered, and when recovered, are they actually accurate?

While somemental healthpractitioners such as psychologists find repressed memoriescanbe recovered, researchers tend to be less likely to believe in their veracity. To better understand the complexity of this debate, it is important to dig into repressed memories overall.

What is Psychological Repression?

Repression serves as adefensemechanism where a person unconsciously pushes away painful or traumatic thoughts and memories. It often allows a person to live a relatively normal life while being seemingly unaware of the existence of such painful experiences.

It is important to note that repression is an unconscious act, and happens without a person intending to push certain memories away. In instances where a person consciously drives away distressing thoughts, it’s called suppression.

A History of Repression in Psychology

Freud argued that symptoms of certain mental health disorders are actually repressed memories taking shape as a way of communicating a traumatic event without a person even realizing it. He used therapy to uncover a person’s repressed thoughts and feelings, believing it would help those memories leave the unconscious mind.

Here are common examples of repressed memories and how they potentially influence psychological functioning:

Unconsciously Forgetting Experiences

One of the reasons why repression is hotly contested in the psychology field is due to modern-day research, which findstraumacan actually be forgotten (not simply repressed). Although people are wired to automatically store experiences — good and bad — into a memory, brains can “wall off” memories of particularly harmful experiences as a kind of self-protection. Extreme trauma disrupts long-term memory storage and explains why it can be difficult to remember horrible events.

In instances of extreme trauma, a person can actuallyforgetthe experience altogether. In fact, multiple studies find people who live through extreme trauma sometimes forget the painful incident, but the memory of the experience can return later in life in the form of sensations oremotions.

In some more extreme cases, it can involve a “flashback” where you feel as though you are reliving the memory entirely. In more extreme instances, this act of forgetting can develop into a dissociative disorder, such as amnesia and dissociative identity disorder.

Are Recovered Memories Trustworthy?

Opponents of using therapy to uncover repressed memories argue it is better to focus on recovery from current symptoms related to trauma, rather than trying to dig up the hidden memories that may (or may not) have led to them. This group also acknowledges that emotionally traumatic experiences are more easily remembered than non-traumatic memories, and it is likely that a person would not be able to completely repress those events to begin with.

Experts on both sides of the debate do agree on one thing, however. They recognize that abuse and trauma occurring during critical emotional developmental periods creates physical changes in a person’sbrain, which can later develop into mental health disorders.

Inone study, traumatic experiences that happened as early as in-utero and infancy can create significant risk factors for compromised mental health, including a negative impact onself-esteemand a person’s ability to form trustingrelationshipslater on in life.

Treating Repressed or Traumatic Memories

Whether or not you believe in repressed memories and the ability to recover them, formal psychological treatments have been proven effective in handling forgotten, traumatic memories.

If you are seeking therapy for traumatic memories (whether recovered or not), a therapist’s role is to help individuals unpack long-term emotional issues and gain control over their day-to-day life. Many therapists specializing in recovering memories of abuse leverage trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, taking particular care to be respectful throughout the journey.

While in therapy, a person often seeks out ways to get relief from ongoinganxiety, lingering memories of abuse, nightmares,panic attacks, and intense fears. In some cases, a person may want to better understand past experiences and get rid of feelings of guilt — somethinglong-term psychotherapycan help support. While there is no silver bullet to overcoming trauma, there are certainly ways to manage its daily impact.

The debate surrounding repressed memories and whether they can or should be recovered continues, but the science behind treating symptoms of traumatic memories reinforces the value of therapy as a support.

As studies have shown, memories are complex and can unconsciously be forgotten if the experience is particularly harmful. They can also develop into mental health disorders if left untreated and ignored. If nothing else, it is easy to agree that traumatic memories have a far-reaching psychological impact, fueling professionals to continue to study them.

Our goal at Talkspace is to provide the most up-to-date, valuable, and objective information on mental health-related topics in order to help readers make informed decisions.

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