Psychology RootsRepress Trauma – Sign, Symptoms, and Treatment
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When you’ve been through a traumatic situation, your memory may be affected. Is it possible to erase the memories of trauma? Those who believe in the hypothesis of suppressed memories argue for the possibility that a person may not recall a terrible incident for years or even decades after it happened.
Saba Harouni Lurie, a professional marital and family therapist, licensed art therapist, and founder of Take Root Therapy in Los Angeles, explains that repressed memories are those that can’t be accessed consciously. Psychologist Pauline Peck, Ph.D., states that recalling a repressed memory “may begin with dream-like experiences.” An uncoherent story” is what it seems to be. A strong “sense” or “memory fragments” may be all you have to go on.
Repress Trauma – Sign, Symptoms, and Treatment
A straight tale is not how trauma is retained; it is stored as pieces. There are times when the only thing you need is curiosity and a little help from others in order to discover what’s hiding in plain sight.
History of Repressed Trauma
Sigmund Freud is credited with coining the term “repressed memory” for his theories on the unconscious and subconscious minds of humans. During his work with psychoanalysis, Freud established the concept of repression. It was thought by Freud that the protective mechanism of suppression was used in the face of traumatic events.
Repression vs. Suppression
The repression hypothesis of Sigmund Freud hysteria was initially considered of as a reaction to traumatic stress, while repression was originally conceived of as a response to traumatic stress. According to Sigmund Freud, this might happen even if the situation was neither life-threatening or traumatizing in the traditional sense.
Many people confuse the terms “repression” with “suppression.”
Experiential trauma, especially on a big scale, is associated with repression. Suppression, on the other hand, is usually associated with more transient feelings and ideas, such as anger or worry. Intentionally suppressing memories may be done on purpose, but it can also happen spontaneously in persons who do it often.
However, Freud’s theory of repression is highly controversial and remains unproven. The idea of repressed memories has been disputed since the 1970s. A 2019 survey of the literature cites Peck as an authority on the “memory wars,” a long-running debate on the nature of memory.
According to some, “placed memories,” a therapist (or in other situations a legal prosecution) may offer lost recollections that have been planted by the therapist or prosecutor.
But what if it’s not repressed trauma?
When it comes to suppressed memories and trauma, experts are divided. The brain, however, has several methods of protecting itself, including storing memories in ways that may not always be fully recalled.
As described by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5), dissociative amnesia is the inability to recollect one’s own life story.
Those are the findings of the DSM-5, according to which:
- traumatic or stressful
- inconsistent with ordinary forgetting
- successfully stored
- involves a period of time when the patient is unable to recall the experience
- is not caused by a substance or neurological condition, and
- always has the potential of being reversed
Why memories may be repressed
Post-traumatic stress disorder is more likely to develop in people who open up about their trauma and are confronted with negative reactions, according to Peck (PTSD). Repressed memories are more likely to surface as a result of this.
When it comes to sexual abuse in general, “I believe it’s difficult for people to think about because of the trauma symptoms that it provokes,” Peck adds. To better deal with trauma, people need to be in a secure therapeutic setting and acquire appropriate coping strategies.
Repressed memories, according to Lurie, have the potential to affect our relationships since our bodies are designed to survive. A person’s body responds to trauma in various ways, Lurie adds. This may be done by “repressing” memories of things that were particularly upsetting for us in the short term in order to keep ourselves alive.
What are the signs of trauma?
Lurie says that when we’ve been hurt, our bodies may react as if they remember things that we might not remember well.
When a person is reminded of a traumatic event by a trigger, their body may react in one of three ways: “fight, flight, or freeze.” This could make the body feel:
- the urge to escape (flight)
- increased heart rate
- muscle tension
- increased breathing
She says, “There are things that maybe make us a little uncomfortable or that we avoid, but we don’t always know why.” “And that’s where memories that have been pushed down may start to surface.”
“Even if our mind doesn’t have access to that memory, our body does, and it’s doing whatever it can to keep us safe,” says Lurie. “That could mean both putting the memory out of our minds and staying away from certain things or situations.”
Healing and Processing
Lurie says that writing in a journal can help you calm down when you’re dealing with traumatic memories, especially if they’ve just come back to you. Lurie says, “The kind of journaling I’m talking about is more like stream-of-consciousness journaling.” “So you don’t care about spelling or about what would happen if you read this to someone and they didn’t understand it?”
Peck says that if you need clinical help, you should talk to a professional who has a lot of experience working with trauma and the different ways it can show up. “It takes a lot of training to be a trauma-informed clinician. Peck says, “I wouldn’t recommend that someone who hasn’t worked with these kinds of traumas before start treating them without the right training, supervision, or consultation.”
“Somatic modalities that involve the body in some way are the most helpful because they deal with the effects of trauma on the whole person,” she says.
Other ways to deal with and work through traumatic and repressed memories are:
- individual therapy modalities, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy or cognitive processing therapy (CPT)
- group therapy
- yoga
- meditation
- art as therapy or expression
Summary
Psychologist Pauline Peck, Ph.D., states that recalling a repressed memory “may begin with dream-like experiences”. Sigmund Freud is credited with coining the term “repressed memory” for his theories on the unconscious and subconscious minds of humans. The idea of repressed memories has been disputed since the 1970s. The brain stores memories in ways that may not always be fully remembered. Dissociative amnesia is the inability to recollect one’s own life story, according to the DSM-5.
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is more likely to develop in people who open up about their trauma. When a person is reminded of a traumatic event by a trigger, their body may react in one of three ways: “fight, flight, or freeze”. Lurie says that writing in a journal can help you calm down. Other ways to deal with and work through traumatic and repressed memories are individual therapy modalities, such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR).
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