Introduction
Recent debates between differing schools of scientific thought, fueled by the
media and by lay organizations with varied political agendas, have left the
public confused and misinformed regarding the nature of
traumatic memories. This
confusion is causing great distress to many people who are
survivors of child
abuse and those who care about them.
The purpose of this article is to reach beyond the hype of popular media and
the rhetoric of single-purpose organizations to clarify the issues and to
discuss the body of knowledge agreed upon by most mental health professionals
about
traumatic memories and their retrieval.
There is strong documentation to prove the high incidence of child abuse in
the general population. Sexual abuse of children and adolescents is known to
cause severe psychological and emotional consequences. Adults who were sexually
abused in childhood are at higher risk for developing a variety of psychiatric
disorders, including
dissociative disorders (such as
dissociative identity
disorder/multiple personality disorder),
anxiety disorders (panic attacks,
etc.), personality disorders (borderline personality disorder, etc.), mood
disorders (such as depression),
PTSD, and
addictions.
In order to understand the essential issues about traumatic memory, one must
first understand the human mind's response to a traumatic event.
What is trauma, and how do people cope with it?
Psychological "trauma" is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as
"an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury,
or a threat to the physical integrity of self or others." Examples include
military combat, violent personal attack, natural or manmade disasters, and
torture. For children, sexually traumatic events may include age inappropriate
sexual experiences without violence or injury. (DSM IV, p. 424)
Like adults who experience trauma, children and adolescents who have been
abused cope by using a variety of psychological mechanisms. One of the most
effective ways people cope with overwhelming trauma is called "dissociation."
Dissociation is a complex mental process during which there is a change in a
person's consciousness which disturbs the normally connected functions of
identity, memory, thoughts, feelings and experiences (daydreaming during a
boring lecture is a good example).
How does trauma affect memory?
People may use their natural ability to dissociate to avoid conscious
awareness of a traumatic experience while the trauma is occurring, and for an
indefinite time following it. For some people, conscious thoughts and feelings,
or "memories," about the overwhelming traumatic circumstance may emerge at a
later date. This delayed retrieval of traumatic memories has been written about
for nearly 100 years in clinical literature on military veterans who have
survived combat.
In fact, in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), a psychiatric diagnosis
common among people who have survived horrific events, the defining diagnostic
features are memory distortions. People with PTSD inevitably experience extremes
of recall regarding traumatic circumstances: intrusive memories of the event
(hypernesia) or avoidance of thoughts and feelings about the event (amnesia).
Some people say they are "haunted" by memories of traumatic experiences which
intrude on and disrupt their daily lives. They often can't get the "pictures" of
the trauma out of their heads. They may have recurring nightmares, "flashbacks,"
or they may even relive the trauma as if it was happening in present time.
It is also common for traumatized people to make deliberate efforts to avoid
thoughts or feelings about the traumatic event and to avoid activities or
situations which may remind them of the event. In some severe cases, avoidance
of reminders of the trauma may cause a person to have "dissociative amnesia," or
memory blanks for important aspects of the trauma.
Why do some people undergoing extreme stress have continuous memory and
others have amnesia for all or part of their experience?
There are several factors which influence whether a traumatic experience is
remembered or dissociated. The nature and frequency of the traumatic events and
the age of the victim seem to be the most important. Single-event traumas
(assault, rape, witnessing a murder, etc.) are more likely to be remembered, but
repetitive traumas (repeated domestic violence or incest, political torture,
prolonged front-line combat, etc.) often result in memory disturbance. The
extremely stressful experiences caused by natural or accidental disasters
(earthquakes, plane crashes, violent weather, etc.) are more likely to be
remembered than traumatic events deliberately caused by humans (i.e. incest,
torture, war crimes). People who are adults when they experience traumatic
events are less likely to dissociate conscious memories of the events than
children who experience trauma. Research shows that the younger the child is at
a time of the trauma, the less likely the event will be remembered.
continue: Controversy of Traumatic Memories
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Reviewed: 04/2006
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