We’ve all seen in Hollywood movies – when a movie character will be living a good life unaware of some disconcerting event of their past. Until a bit of syrup drips onto the character’s cheek, and suddenly, they’re taken back into time within their mind when aliens kidnapped them. All of a sudden, they remember each and everything. But do repressed memories like this actually exist?
So buckle your seat up because today we’re going to find it out:
Well, it turns out that repressed memories were a prevalent notion in psychologists circled a few years ago. There are reported cases of people being kept in prison after they recover some disturbing memory from their childhood.
One study related to this was published in the Journal of the Association for Psychological Science by the University of California, Irvine, in the year 2013. It showed that approximately 60-90% of psychologists who are also clinicians believe that in some cases, repressed memory exists, though this is very rare. Further research shows, 40-80% psychologists found that repressed memory can be retrieved with the help of proper methods. Well, in sharp contrast, nearly 70% of psychologists don’t believe in a thing like a repressed memory. So, you must be wondering where all of this is going?
The study shows us that there is no convincing evidence that supports the concept of repression, despite it is one of the most accepted psychoanalytic theories.
Where is all this confusion coming up? The reason for this is psychological clinicians have more trust in their clinical experience, while researchers have more confidence in experimental research where there is solid proof. There are some cases reported of retrieving repressed memories, but at the same time, there is no credible evidence that exists to support it.
Here is your answer to the question of whether repressed memory actually exists or not. If you trust the research, then there’s no such thing as repressed memory, but if you believe psychological clinicians, there are some cases reported of repressed memory. Answers to this question depend on who you trust, whether researchers or psychological clinicians.
