Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Alejandro Iglesias Essays - Memory Disorders, Psychiatry, Psychology

Alejandro Iglesias Psychology Dr. Mi Na Ahn April 16, 2017 Repressed Memories Repressed memories are memories that are involuntarily unable to be recalled. These are largely due to trauma which is what we will be discussing in this essay. Memories involved in trauma are very severe and so, as a defense mechanism, the brain will "tune out" these memories from consciousness in order to protect itself. By evading any thoughts of the negative memory the brain is trying to avoid further damage of the trauma by not thinking about it. The main problem that arises with repressed memories is that they are not completely forgotten, and conflict between conscious and consciousness states of mind seem to have an interference in the brain that has negative effects on one who has traumatic experiences, whether they remember the experiences or not. In psychology, the mind is largely considered to be like an iceberg. Conscious awareness is like the tip of the iceberg, meanwhile unconscious awareness and memory is the vast majority of the iceberg, Unconscious memory affects all of our lives. When you see the face of an acquaintance on the street, although you were not currently thinking about that person, you recognized them and naturally brought up a brief synapsis about your relationship towards that person (in order to respond appropriately to seeing them). This is proof of how the subconscious mind is always at work Some of the conditions associated by the effects of repressed memories include eating disorders, dissociative amnesia and dissociative disorders. Dissociative disorders involve a break, or dissociation, in consciousness memory or persons sense of identity. In dissociative amnesia, the individual cannot remember personal information such as one's own name or specific personal events - the kind of information contained in long term memory,. Dissociative amnesia mat sound like retrograde amnesia but it differs in its cause. While retrograde amnesia is caused by physical trauma, Dissociative amnesia is caused by emotional trauma. In conclusion, repressed memories sit within a large spectrum of unconscious thoughts that are partially responsible for governing our behaviors and actions. There is much controversy related to retrieving false memories. Many say that a therapist conducted session with the intent of uncovering suppressed memories, may only lead to implementation of flase memories to the patient rather than uncovering genuine memories. These memories can be falsely distorted due to a variety of factors and there is no reliable evidence to show that therapies to retrieve suppressed memories are completely effective. There will have to be more research done into repressed memories and their mechanisms for scientists and psychologists to have a better understanding of the way that repressed memories based on traumatic experience work, and how to accurately retrieve them.