repressed memory
Forgotten traumatic experience
A repressed memory is a recollection of trauma supposedly pushed into the unconscious mind, inaccessible to ordinary recall.
The concept became prominent in the 1980s and 1990s when therapists claimed to help patients recover memories of childhood abuse.
The validity of repressed memories remains contested—many psychologists argue that therapeutic techniques can create false memories rather than uncover real ones.
She claimed to have recovered repressed memories of abuse during hypnotherapy.
Not awake or aware
- defense mechanismUnconscious self-protective mental process
- psychoanalysisTreatment via unconscious exploration
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
- FreudFounder of psychoanalysis
psychodynamic · ego · id · superego · resistance · neurosis · conversion · displacement
Readiness to accept influence
- confabulationInvented memories believed true
- satanic panicMoral terror about devil worship
- retractorTool exposing surgical field
- corroborationEvidence confirming another account
scientific skepticism · forensic psychology · eyewitness testimony
Curative mental treatment
- integrationCombining into a whole
- healingRestoration of health
- breakthroughSudden important advance
- processingSystematic operation on data
recall · emergence · surfacing · abreaction · catharsis · trauma processing · EMDR · hypnotherapy
Cruel or violent treatment
- PTSDChronic reaction to horrific events
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
- survivorOne still alive after
- childhood traumaHarmful early life events
sexual abuse · dissociative · triggering · retraumatization · complex trauma · somatic · hypervigilance · intrusion
Placed beneath earth
- hiddenKept out of sight
- suppressedForcibly held down
- blockedPassage prevented or impeded
- inaccessibleCannot be reached
forgotten · latent · dormant · submerged · locked away · walled off · compartmentalized · split off
unconscious
Not awake or aware
- defense mechanismUnconscious self-protective mental process
- psychoanalysisTreatment via unconscious exploration
- dissociationMental separation from surroundings
Freud · psychodynamic · ego · id · superego · resistance · neurosis · conversion · displacement · projection
suggestibility
Readiness to accept influence
- confabulationInvented memories believed true
- satanic panicMoral terror about devil worship
- retractorTool exposing surgical field
corroboration · scientific skepticism · forensic psychology · eyewitness testimony
therapy
Curative mental treatment
- integrationCombining into a whole
- healingRestoration of health
- breakthroughSudden important advance
processing · recall · emergence · surfacing · abreaction · catharsis · trauma processing · EMDR · hypnotherapy · age regression
abuse
Cruel or violent treatment
- PTSDChronic reaction to horrific events
- flashbackInvoluntary past memory
- survivorOne still alive after
childhood trauma · sexual abuse · dissociative · triggering · retraumatization · complex trauma · somatic · hypervigilance · intrusion · avoidance
buried
Placed beneath earth
- hiddenKept out of sight
- suppressedForcibly held down
- blockedPassage prevented or impeded
inaccessible · forgotten · latent · dormant · submerged · locked away · walled off · compartmentalized · split off · encapsulated
- flashback techniquestime jumps, backstory, retrospective, reverse chronology, frame story
- Flashback Tropesflashback, flashbacks, amnesia, backstory, montage
- Memory Lossamnesia, forgetting, forgetfulness, dementia, Alzheimer's
- mind tropesmad scientist, mental breakdown, mind control, multiple personality, nervous breakdown
- pseudosciencehomeopathy, astrology, phrenology, numerology, palmistry
- traumaabuse, abandonment, abandonment trauma, acute stress, amnesia
repress, repression, repressive, repressor, press, pressed, pressing, pressure, pressurize