What are repressed memories? They are memories that the brain has put into the subconscious of the survivor. The incidents of abuse were too difficult to deal with and rather than keep them in the conscious of the survivor, the brain basically hides them in a part of the brain that isn‘t often called upon. They are hidden because they are too painful for the survivor to remember. It’s basically a psychological coping mechanism for the survivor of childhood abuse, whatever the form of abuse.
Can a survivor of child abuse or childhood sexual abuse have repressed memories? While I am obviously not an expert on this topic, I do believe that they can. I understand that repressed memories are highly debatable; however, I do believe it can happen. You see, when a person has endured any form of abuse, they might not be able to deal with it and their brain blocks the memories from surfacing. Again, it seems to me that it is a psychological coping mechanism. The child that suffers from the abuse might not be able to confront what is happening to them, and understandably so. They may be tremendously afraid to remember or think about what happened to them. Therefore, the memories are put into their subconscious. It isn’t something the survivor thinks about or focuses on. It is as though it never happened. The person’s mind shuts it down.
When do the repressed memories start to surface? It is my understanding that the memories begin to surface at different times for different people. Sometimes, out of nowhere, the memories start to surface. For other people, they surface when beginning therapy. When the person is talking to a professional counselor about various emotions, the memories that were stuffed down or hidden may start to come back into the person’s conscious, causing them to remember what happened many years earlier.
I believe that people can indeed have repressed memories. I also believe that the only way to work through those terrifying memories is to talk to a professional. Talking to someone about the memories can truly help the survivor to feel safe in talking about it. Healing happens when the survivor talks about the memories and when they allow themselves to feel the emotions that surface with the memories.
3 comments on Repressed Memories
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No doubt the mind shuts down when a traumatic event occurs. Accident victims rarely can remember the accident that may have left them severely injured.
I have had repressed memories and have experienced the resurfacing of those memories. It's amazing, when I think about it, that repressed memories are even repressed in different ways/levels/forms...gee, it's hard to explain when I'm trying to put it into words. There are the ones that are completely "forgotten", there are those that are partly "forgotten" so that bits and pieces are not forgotten but there are missing pieces that seem to cause misconnections, and then there are the "unforgotten" memories but the true meaning/measure/impact of the memories are what gets repressed.
Resurfacing is different with everybody...mine started on it's own at a time when other emotional events were going on, making it difficult to see them because they were "buried" under the problems at hand. Realization came later on, although the other emotional problems were still going on, so there were two things that suddenly had to be dealt with...neither one more or less important than the other. They had to be taken care of together, collectively, and also separately. Counseling helped other repressed memories surface...it was like the mind suddenly felt it had found a safe haven to "let it all go", so the trickle of memories gradually became a stream and then a rushing waterfall.
It's unknown to me why I still have some "missing" periods of my life...some say it's because I was rather oblivious to things while my mind (and body) were buried under more pressing issues so I was never really paying attention to other certain things during those periods, some say that everybody doesn't remember everything anyway so those may be things/times I wouldn't necessarily have remembered anyway, and others say that those things or times just were not important enough to make any kind of a lasting impression. (There are a few who believe that there may still be some repressed memories there....although the memories resurfaced, fragments may have remained "tucked away" because nothing so far has "triggered" them.)
Wow..powerful comment. You said a number of things that I could understand. I also believe healing happens as a process because there are so many levels to the abuse endured and the memories to deal with. You said that you thought the mind felt safe enough to remember certain memories. I also agree with you there. During therapy one can feel safe enough to allow what is repressed to surface. Lastly, I think that it isn't about what is not important enough to be remembered, but perhaps what is most painful for the mind and spirit to reveal.