| Popis: |
The unconscious was first studied in the 1600s, repression in the 1700s; and the therapeutic approach involving the recovery of repressed memories was introduced in the mid-1800s. Nevertheless, Freud is often credited with these discoveries. However, the contemporary definition of repression is markedly narrower than the one that Freud usually used, and its use has recently prompted a great deal of contentious debate regarding whether people have repressed, dissociated, suppressed, or simply forgotten memories of childhood sexual abuse, and some evidence suggests that it is possible to develop false memories of childhood sexual abuse. Recent research has also found that similar proportions of those with sexual or physical or emotional abuse histories report recovered memories of abuse. In addition, the majority of those within several college student samples have reported recovering memories of childhood events, suggesting that it may be normative to recover childhood memories. While the phenomenon of recovered childhood memory may be common, the mechanisms responsible for these memories are not well understood This study (N = 67 nonclinical participants with and without reported abuse histories) investigated the nature and characteristics of individuals' recovered childhood memories through the use of semi-structured interviews. It was found that nine different memory mechanisms (conscious and unconscious) appeared to be responsible for the recovered childhood memories that the participants reported. A history of abuse was not found to be related to quality of childhood memory, nor was recovering memories of childhood abuse. A history of abuse was related to current depressive symptoms, but recovering memories of abuse did not predict higher endorsement of depressive symptoms. The severity of the childhood abuse was also unrelated to the recovery of abuse memories. Finally, the findings suggested that recovered memories of neutral or positive childhood events were more likely to be rated as having been forgotten while negative events were more likely to be rated as having been repressed, dissociated, suppressed or habitual avoided. The implications of these findings for research and clinical practice in this area are discussed. |
