Essay On Repressed Memories

Repressed vs. false memories has been a critical debate in criminal cases and daily life problems. Throughout the years many people has claimed to recover repressed memories with the simplest triggers varying from a gaze to hypnosis. However, a large number of repressed memories claimed are considered as false memories because the images were induced through hypnosis and recalled during a therapy sesion. In the film “divided memories” the main intention was to inform the audience the importance of repressed memories and how those memories can change the lives of the people involved, whether the memory was considered repressed or false. It shows different cases of women being victims of sexual abuse in childhood and how they had those memories repressed. Additionally, the film

tries to show both sides of the story by discussing the methodology used in therapy, and how to differentiate repressed memories from false memories.
Repressed memories are images that were blocked by our brain from our conscious and subconscious mind to avoid remembering unpleasant feelings, such as being sexually assaulted during childhood or being involved in a strong accident. However, many psychologist are skeptic of the people that claim to have regained those memories back. The film previously discussed presented a case that can be assumed to be a repressed memory because of the background information presented in the victim. The victim Jane Sanders was sexually assaulted during her childhood and the parents were aware of the incident, especially since the father was the perpetuator and admitted the act. The parents tried to hide the issue from her daughter, but when the mother started to see psychological problems raising up, she consulted a therapist and decided to tell Jane about the incident which Jane Sanders remembered immediately after her mother’s confession.
Furthermore, false memories are images presented in the brain that helps the mind to fill in a gap when there is information missing, and to make sense of our memories. This type of memory is extremely tricky because there is not an actual reliable method of determining if the memory is false or real since false memories can be as vividly and clear as a flashbulb memory. Despite the case mentioned where the repressed memory was true, there were cases in the film which it could be deduced as a false memory due to the environment that the victim was found. For example, the last case discussed is presumed to be a false memory because of the social pressure created by the therapist which reinforced the mental imagery of the victim Holly Ramona. Additionally, the therapist suggested that the cause of her bulimia was sexual abuse before reviewing Holly’s historical background to avoid creating misleading information. Holly claimed to be sexually abused by her father and the incident caused the father to lose his job and his family. He was certain that he did not committed those incidents and demanded the therapist for malpractice. This case makes the audience reflect that false memories are extremely powerful because they harm the innocence of other people and influence the mind of the victim.
The use of hypnosis is often seen in repressed memories cases. Hypnosis is one of the major problems in the methodology used to recover lost memories. It is often used to help patients in recovering memories, or to focus on a particular emotion suggested by the person that is hypnotizing the victim. However, hypnosis is not reliable as it can mislead the patient to create false memories if the psychologist does the hypnosis wrong. Peter and Jan (1984) Asserted that “Hypnosis appears to provide subjects with a context for response in which they are easily influenced by the suggestions that they receive” (p. 48). The person hypnotizing can manipulate the patient to mix memories and to modify already existing memories. Hypnosis not only creates false memories, it also makes the person more confident in their memories and to not hesitate in changing their answers even if the memories are not accurate.
Additionally, the use of repressed memories can affect the life of an innocent person if the repressed memory turns out to be false. For example, in the film divided memories, the first case discusses how the father was accused of murdered by his daughter Aileen due to a repressed memory, but, as Dr. Elizabeth Loftus (1995) stated:
It was in the public domain that little Suzie was hit on the head twice with a rock and that her ring was crushed, and there was a mattress found near her body, those kinds of details are a matter of public knowledge, and other facts in Aileen’s story, uncheckable.
This case can be seen as a false memory example due to the lack of evidence and the fact that the information presented was public, the victim may have mixed a memory with the false memory of the objects described in her testimony.
Additionally, one method used to help in determining if the memory is repressed or false is the behavior of the person, if the person grew up to have psychological problems such as mood disorders, the memory will be more likely to be repressed. On the other hand, if the patient had a constant behavior throughout his or her life, and the memories presented were a product of hypnosis, the story may be considered as a false memory. For instance, in the film Dr. David Spiegel (1995) discussed:
There are several things concerned about the credibility for recollection, first is that dissociative memories are out of sight but not out of mind, so even if you can’t consciously remember it, there should be some evidence if you had this memory of its influence, and yet there was very little change in her behavior subsequent to the loss of her friend, and her relationship with her father.
Furthermore, several cases where hysteria was presented were also analyzed to be false memories. However, despite all the studies and data recollected to determine the veracity of a memory, there is plenty of exceptions that makes difficult to differentiate a false memory with a repressed memory.
Personally, there are a lot of factors to take into consideration before accepting the memory as repressed or false.

I believe that having a false memory is more likely to occur because if our real memories change over time the story, arguing that a repressed memory stays intact after years of being blocked, is illogical. Most of the cases, the repressed memory came back because it was forced by external factors that may have altered the veracity of the memory, which makes repressed memories unreliable as testimonies. I believe that there is truth in both topics, however, the cases presented in the film, and how the victims reacted to the memories gives the viewer a sign that most of the cases were under the influence of false memories.
Repressed vs. False memory is a debate that will be hard to get rid of. There is plenty of evidence supporting both sides. However, the majority of the cases presented in the film can be considered as false memories instead of repressed memories because of the way the victims reacted to the situation. Analyzing the methodology such as therapy and hypnosis, and how they may have affected the memory is a good start to have a more accurate testimony of the

cases.