When people experience a traumatic event, they may experience memory loss about all or part of the event. That memory loss may last for days, weeks, months or even years. There are several reasons for traumatic memory loss: some are psychological in nature while others have to do with the way our brains process trauma. While most people will not forget traumatic events, a significant number of people will. The type of trauma experienced, the age at which you experience it, and the duration of the trauma will all factor into whether the memory is lost or obscured. Help is available for people who struggle with memory loss due to trauma.
How Traumatic Events are Stored in the Brain
Traumatic memories are processed differently than ordinary memories. During a traumatic experience, our brain is firing off signals that tell our body it's time for "fight, flight or freeze," the three ways in which we instinctively respond to a threat. To put it simply, our brain experiences an overload of chemicals. According to an article in the August 2006 "International Journal of Neuropsychiatric Medicine," "This results in a failure to organize the traumatic event into a coherent, verbally represented narrative." Traumatic memories can be intrusive---we might be unable to quit thinking about them. Or we might forget all or part of the traumatic event, at least for a period of time.
When it's Safer to Forget
Some scientists, such as Dr. Jennifer Freyd, theorize people forget traumatic events because it's safer for them to do so. Freyd, who teaches psychology at the University of Oregon and is the editor of the "Journal of Trauma and Dissociation," has stated that people are especially likely to repress memories of abuse perpetrated by someone on whom they depend for their survival. When the victim is a child, her choices are certainly limited as to escape an abusive situation: Forgetting becomes a survival mechanism. As Freyd states, "Betrayal trauma theory posits that there is a social utility in remaining unaware of abuse when the perpetrator is a caregiver."
Examples: Sexual Assault
Sexual assault, especially when it occurs during childhood, might result in repressed memories of the event. Case studies from the Recovered Memory Project tell the story of many victims who "forgot" all or part of the details about their assault for a period of time, even in cases where there was corroborating evidence of the crimes, such as medical evaluations, testimony from other victims and even confessions from the perpetrator. Memories of sexual assault are more likely to be repressed if the victim is very young at onset or if the crime is particularly violent.
Examples: Holocaust Survivors
According to an article from the "International Journal of Psychoanalysis," Issue 49, "Most former inmates of Nazi concentration camps could not remember anything of the first days of imprisonment because perception of reality was so overwhelming that it would lead to a mental chaos which implies a certain death." Indeed, the events of the Holocaust were so traumatic that some child captives who survived the camps were later unable to recall entire years of their childhoods, even many decades after they were released.
Help for Memory Loss Due to Trauma
People who've experienced other traumatic events, such as car accidents, combat, or even life in the inner city, where they might frequently witness acts of violence, can also experience memory loss. There is help available for people suffering from traumatic memory loss. Qualified professionals---psychiatrists and therapists---can help patients recall and process traumatic events through a combination of techniques including talk therapy, hypnosis and medication.
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