Impact of childhood trauma and the use of repressed memories

Memory is one of the more highly valued cognitive capabilities. Memory is used in every day functioning and is a critical part of human development; however, what if memory was lost? What if an experience or even a period of time was simply erased? According to Eysenck and Keane (2015), repression is the concept of motivated forgetting of a traumatic experience (particularly from childhood).  We will integrate the theory of repression with professional research with the intent of interpreting the link between repression and childhood trauma. While repression of childhood trauma can be a useful and even a necessary coping mechanism, unprocessed trauma can have a damaging effect on the mental, emotional, and even physical health of the individual. Processing repressed memories is critical to long term health; thus, understanding motivated forgetting and the risks of false memory associated with recovered memories is highly important during treatment.

Impact of childhood trauma and the use of repressed memories