Repressed Memories is a new concept that shocked me because I never know about this phenomenon. In USA, this memories long-time buried in unconsciousness made many people in prison related to childhood sexual abuse reported in the article written by Elizabeth F.Loftus (Loftus, 1993).
In the article, she mentioned about many cases of repressed memories. For example, a murdered case in California, Susan kay Nason was killed by George Franklin, Sr. Eileen, his 8-year-old daughter witnessed the fact. It took her more than 20 years to remember the story. According to the theory, she was so shocking when she saw the scene, and this feeling grabbed hold of the memory in inaccessible corner of unconscious. But many years later, she has recovered while she was playing with her children. Many researchers tried to proof the authenticity of repression but it did not have scientific evidence. Even there were a lot of criticisms, the number of cases of this memories has still gone up. It is difficult to ignore this fact. Therefore, People could sue for sexual abuse during childhood lawfully (Loftus, 1993).
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But it is difficult to evaluate these findings because it changed from a person to another and it also could be a lie of the person if there was no witness. Another important factor is the therapist who always raised the issue of sexual abuse or traumatic situation during the treatment, he maybe wanted to confirm his beliefs instead of providing the real memory. Thus, this treatment could create a “false memories” which did not exist in people’s life story. In conclusion, the repressed memory is very complex and controversial. People find more difficult to find out the root of this edge cutting issue (Loftus,
This is called “repressed memory”, a concept invented by Sigmund Freud, which Julia does not really trust as it is not scientifically proven: "There are still psychoanalytic schools saying repression is something we need to look for. So we've got universities teaching this nonsense to people" (Bryce, 2017, para.
The well-known author, Laurie Halse Anderson, is known for using sensitivity and humor in her writing to tackle tough subjects. A review from David Mowery states that “Laurie Halse Anderson masterfully gives voice to teen characters undergoing transformations in their lives through their honesty and perseverance while finding the courage to be true to themselves.” Her book, released in 2014, Impossible Knife of Memory, is no exception. Most of Anderson’s books center around a struggling character that has to deal with internal conflicts as well as their loved one’s issues. Another best seller, Chains, is about a young slave who has to decide whether she is willing to spy on her masters while still trying to take care of her sister.
She mentions that these “dangerous” memories are presented in legal cases and explains her part in two of which she was apart of. In the first case, the photos of Thomas Sohponow who was mistakenly identified as the murderer of a young woman during the identification process were arrayed simultaneously rather than sequentially giving witnesses an easier target. This practice is not reliable as it allows witnesses to easily be persuaded by their naïve “memories” of a person and unfortunately in his case resulted in four years in prison. The second case Michael Kliman who was an elementary school teacher was accused of molesting a 6th grade student based on “repressed memories”. After two decades the student who “recovered” her memories laid charges on Kliman, which makes the case questionable since it could be difficult to justify the validity of a “repressed memory”.
A: Exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence in (one or more) of the following: 1: Directly experiencing the traumatic event(S) 4: Experiencing repeated or exposure to aversive details of the traumatic event(S) B: Presence of one (or more) of the following intrusion symptoms associated with the traumatic event(S), beginning after the traumatic event(S) occurred: 1: Recurrent, involuntary, and intrusive distressing memories of the traumatic event(s) 3: Dissociative reactions in which individuals feels or acts as if the traumatic events were recurring C: Persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the traumatic event(S) occurred, as evidenced by one or both of the following: 1: Avoidance of or efforts to avoid distressing memories,
Additionally, Recovered Memory Therapy psychotherapy, a method used to reclaim lost memories, reveals itself as problematic where false memories are concerned.
The book A Hunger of Memory explores the education of Richard Rodriguez and his struggle to grow up in an American society that treats Mexican Americans differently. Rodriguez goes into depth about how bilingual education impacted him and his family’s lifestyle while going into great length to describe how language has impacted his life. As a bilingual American he struggles to balance his private language (That which is spoken with his family) and his public language. Although Rodriguez did learn English, he was against a bilingual education because it furthered him from the community he was immersed in and his family. As a result, Rodriguez confronts the fact that he is a product of alienation, which he sees with both acceptance and regret.
Richard Rodriguez’s autobiography, Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, depicts his transformation from a socioeconomically disadvantaged first generation child of Mexican-American immigrants to a successful author, academic, and intellectual. During his metamorphosis, however, Rodriguez goes through an arduous process of assimilation that grants him a mastery of the English language and an embrace of American culture at the expense of his cultural heritage. His struggle to find a balance between these two worlds is prevalent throughout his autobiography, demonstrating the complex nature of identity and the manner in which language and culture impact it. In the text, identity seems to be formed at times around perceived similarities,
Repressed memories are memories that our brains “hide” from us to help us avoid stress or trauma from a certain event that created the memory. Repressed memories usually happen because of a violent and traumatizing event such as sexual assault. Sometimes, these memories will come back many years later as flashbacks that are triggered by a certain situation. In this case, Eileen’s memory came back as flashbacks when she was looking at her daughter.
Once she woke from the coma, it was found that she had no memory of the attack. She was also unable to talk, read or walk. She eventually recovered, with a few remaining problems relating to her balance and loss of vision. As a result of the severe brain trauma, she still has no memory her attack or of the events up to an hour beforehand, nor does she recall much of her time in the
Moreover, “a behavioural syndrome results showing not only semantic-memory impairment but also particular difficulty remembering past events as personal happenings” (Tulving, 1989). Lastly, in Endel Tulving’s conclusion to his article he states “traditionally held views about the unity of memory are no longer tenable. A more appropriate view seems to be that of multiple memory systems. Remembering one’s past is a different, perhaps more advanced, achievement of the brain than simply knowing about it” ( Tulving,
In this essay I am going to look at Psychogenic Amnesia (PA) and Organic Amnesia (OA),
Intrusive, traumatic memories are of real social concern, especially for people struggling with clinical posttraumatic distress. The ability to remember specific events is not a problem in itself. Rather, it is the involuntary intrusion of these traumatic thoughts that is a serious issue. Research shows that a task can interfere with the memory of an event shortly after it happened by affecting the consolidation process. However, it is still unknown whether interfering with the reconsolidation process can reduce the frequency of intrusive memories of traumatic events without affecting the memories in themselves.
Functional or psychogenic amnesia is caused by an emotional shock such as being the victim of a brutal crime, sexual abuse and child abuse. Fundamentally, any unbearable life event that causes extreme psychological stress and internal dispute could be the cause of functional or psychogenic
One of the limitations is the construction of the memory. The gaining of trust on how much an individual can trust the memory of recollection. While one may not remember what happen in their daily day life, how can one trust this therapy to recollect the memory many years ago. The construction of memory may include good memories and memories which can worsen the client’s life as it can be painful one. The client can take drastic decision such as pulling the person to court after the memories have been recollected.
Looking on the Internet I came upon article that put a whole new light regarding repressed memories. Scholars like Sigmund Freud believed that repress memories have a detrimental effect on individuals’ lives. Sigmund Freud assumption of repressed memories can have a negative influence on behavior and mental health, but this article, from Time Magazine, discusses the benefits of repressed memories (Sifferlin, A, 2014). The article was based off a team effort of the MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit and University of Cambridge Behavioral and Clinical Neuroscience base out of Cambridge England did a study try to examine how suppression affect a memory’s unconscious influence people.