Repressed memories and Triggers

Are repressed memories a real thing?

I kind of believe they are and, I think I might have triggered some really bat crap crazy ones.

I don't want to believe it's real... if it is real.... I don't want any part of this world.

I bought a painting of a peacock. It's a quite beautiful painting actually,

It just triggered a memory from my childhood that is beyond disturbing and I never thought of it before

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

If you're having that kind of an emotional reaction it's worth exploring.

a reply to: tweetie

It's something

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

Yes they are.

If your child self could not handle something that happened, either that you saw / heard, or that you experienced, then the subconscious mind will wipe the memory.

Unfortunately it wipes the event memory but leaves in place the emotions, which now have nothing to hang on to.

I suggest that if you are this upset, then see someone and research PTSD. You may have it without being aware.

Are you able to share the memory?

It would help you to write down everything you can about the memory and add to it as things become clearer to you.

I had one slam me down once. I was looking at a dead person with open eyes, and I shot back 30 years to my self at ten years old. I was looking into the dead eyes of a childhood friend. Scary as all hell.

P

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

Everything is a trigger Mon, food, smells, Trump.

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

Do you know what an abreaction is? It's when a traumatic experience is relived with all of the same bodily/emotional/mental sensations present which initially occurred.

a reply to: pheonix358

I won't post it here but, I might send it privately.

I honestly don't know if I can do that just yet though

a reply to: tweetie

I completely believe it's true!

Never heard of it before but, I've absolutely experienced very recently.

originally posted by: MagesticEsoteric
a reply to: pheonix358

I won't post it here but, I might send it privately.

I honestly don't know if I can do that just yet though

Understood!

Write it down for yourself. ASAP please. It will help you enormously in the long term. It will likely bring out the whole thing including context. Context is important.

Additionally, while it is still clear, write down everything you can about the trigger event. Do that one first please.

By all means, send a U2U. I specialize in this area but you need to seek help of the one on one type. I am trying to give that person the best chance to help you.


P

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

Buying that peacock painting could have been a message from your subconscious that it's time to integrate the memory as ugly and painful as it is.

a reply to: pheonix358

Messaging isn't working on my end for some reason.

I appreciate your advice...truly.

Writing anything down is not necessary. It's so vivid in my mind.

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

it may be vivid now, but become less so as time goes by, just gently suggesting you might want to rethink that...but it is up to you......repressed memories are real triggers can be a smell, a texture, a sound, a taste.....you had a visceral reaction to that painting...repressed memories come forward when you are ready to remember

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

Repressed memories are very real and they are usually brought out by hypnosis, but my most explosive repressed memory was actually triggered by my cat MJ.

Triggers can and do occur in many forms and can be a result of trying to change behavior patterns as I wrote in another thread recently concerning 5 stages of grief and how they can be used to change said behavior patterns.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

When you reach the fifth stage of a change it will become a fore thought instead of an after thought, you will have reached a point where the behavior has actually changed. However, some of those behaviors have triggers and while going through the process of these stages it is important to make note of what those triggers are and have been in order to keep them from shooting off and derailing the process.

originally posted by: tweetie
a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

Buying that peacock painting could have been a message from your subconscious that it's time to integrate the memory as ugly and painful as it is.

Definitely not ready yet.

originally posted by: research100
a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

it may be vivid now, but become less so as time goes by, just gently suggesting you might want to rethink that...but it is up to you......repressed memories are real triggers can be a smell, a texture, a sound, a taste.....you had a visceral reaction to that painting...repressed memories come forward when you are ready to remember

I really don't feel ready for this to be honest.

But I will write it down.

originally posted by: MagesticEsoteric
Are repressed memories a real thing?

No, not really. Or that is to say, there is little scientific evidence for it. It is mostly therapists that push the idea of repressed memories, and time and time again, therapists have been proven to (unwittingly) manufacture false memories in their subjects, whereas the evidence for repressed memories is only anecdotal.

That is not to say, that you could not simply have forgotten about something.

Be aware, though, that memories are notoriously demonstrably incorrect when later recalled, and when you do recall them, you inadvertently change them, making them a bit more incorrect. You add to the memories, and subtract from the memories every time your brain accesses them - both your mood and your physical surroundings affect the changes made.

If you had an reaction to the painting, you now have memory of that reaction, and you can add to that the memories of a) wondering whether you have repressed memories, and of b) writing about it. Each of the subsequent memories that involves the recollection of the initial reaction to the painting affects the memory of that.

I am not at all saying that you are wrong about something disturbing having happened to you, but I am saying that there is a real risk that a memory that starts out a bit unclear, and later becomes more more clear, can be a false memory - even though it may end up feel uncomfortably real.

a reply to: MagesticEsoteric

I really don't feel ready for this to be honest.

Ready or not, here it comes. Repressed memories are like that.

But I will write it down.

Writing it down is a type of therapy, very useful at this stage. Vivid it will be, writing brings out more and more details. How many years ago and if I can ask, how old were you at the time.

P