Repressed Memories Essay

When it comes to repressed memories, I am sure we have all experienced them at one point or another. Repressed memories are memories that have been unconsciously blocked due to some sort of traumatic, or high stress experience. There is a mechanism in our brains that protect us from traumatic experiences (Serendip, 2005). The Recovered Memory movement began in between the mid 1980's and lasted until the 1990's. (Serendip, 2005). The False Memory Movement believes that our brains can suppress and block memories. (Serendip, 2005). The False Memory Movement also believed that due to weaknesses of memory, our minds could create false memories as well. (Serendip, 2005).

I find the recovered memory movement the most compelling, if the therapist assisting the client recover his/her memories is competent, objective and does not influence the memories in any way. I do believe that memory suppression is a defense mechanism that occurs unconsciously to protect ourselves from having to consciously remember and think about traumatic experiences (Serendip, 2005). There are two types of

Many research studies have been conducted to show the validity of repressed memories (Serendip, 2005). A study was conducted by Linda Williams, where 129 women had been sexually abused in the 1970’s (Serendip, 2005). The study showed that 20 years after the traumatic event occurred, “38% of the women did not remember being admitted into the hospital, 12% do not remember the actual abuse, and 16% claimed that for a period of time they did not remember the abuse, however they recalled the memory at a later date” (2005, paragraph 3). The results proved the validity of memory repression in which traumatic events, such as sexual abuse, cause memory loss for the specific period or for the entire event (Serendip,