Explaining the Forgetting and Recovery of Abuse and Trauma Memories: Possible Mechanisms

Abstract

Much attention has been focused on memories of abuse that are allegedly forgotten or repressed then recovered. By retrospectively surveying more than 1,400 college women, the authors investigated (a) the frequency with which temporary forgetting is reported for child sexual abuse experiences as opposed to other childhood abuse and traumas and (b) exactly how victims characterize their forgetting experiences in terms of various competing cognitive mechanisms. Rates of forgetting were similar among victims who experienced sexual abuse, physical abuse, and multiple types of traumas. Victims of other types of childhood traumas (e.g., car accidents) reported less forgetting than victims of childhood sexual abuse or multiple types of trauma. Most victims' characterizations of their forgetting experiences were not indicative of repression in the classic Freudian sense but instead suggested other more common mechanisms, such as directed forgetting and relabeling. The implications of these findings for psychological theory, clinical practice, and law are discussed.

Directed forgetting of autobiographical events

“…The effect was seen a full week after the forget cue had been issued. This is the strongest support to date for the claim, previously based on list-learning studies and self-report, that deliberate forgetting explains the loss of at least some autobiographical memories (Anderson & Green, 2001;Epstein & Bottoms, 2002;Koutstaal & Schacter, 1997;Spinhoven et al, 1999). It is reasonable to assume that the effect observed here under experimental conditions, in which motivation to forget is induced externally by the experimenter and is minimal at best, generalizes to real-life situations in which much stronger internally generated motivations operate.…”

“…In addition, we and others (Anderson & Green, 2001;Barnier, Hung, & Conway, 2004) believe that deliberate, effortful processes play a role in targeting some memories to be remembered and others to be forgotten. Indeed, this type of explanation has been provided for the forgetting of even traumatic memories (Anderson & Green, 2001;Epstein & Bottoms, 2002;Koutstaal & Schacter, 1997;Spinhoven, Nijenhuis, & Van Dyck, 1999).…”

Trauma Severity and Defensive Emotion-Regulation Reactions as Predictors of Forgetting Childhood Trauma

“…Epstein and Bottoms (2002) found no differences in the prevalence of forgetting for childhood sexual and physical abuse, although victims of other types of childhood trauma (e.g., severe accidents) reported significantly less forgetting than victims of sexual abuse (see also Greenhoot, McCloskey, & Glisky, 2005;Melchert, 1999;Melchert & Parker, 1997). Thus, some trauma victims report temporary forgetting, whereas others do not.…”

The Association Between Childhood Maltreatment Subtypes and Current Suicide Risk Among Homeless Men and Women

“…We relied on self-reports which were not confirmed by external sources, and information on CM, mental health symptoms, and substance use may be under-or overreported. Retrospective CM self-reports may be affected by recall biases (Epstein & Bottoms, 2002) and may under-or overestimate the actual occurrence in the sample. On the other hand, CM experiences may be more salient for individuals who are currently suicidal; thus, they may be more likely to report such experiences than individuals with no suicide risk, and the associations of maltreatment with suicide risk may be overestimated.…”