There are certain things researchers know
about traumatic memory.
- Traumatic memories are encoded differently
from normal memory.
- Traumatic memory is mood/state dependent.
- Traumatic memory is incredibly accurate.
- Even children under the age of three can accurately
remember traumatic memories.
- Traumatic experiences can be immediately forgotten
(dissociation) or forgotten at a later time (repression).
- Traumatic memories can return in flashbacks
(re-living of the memory).
- Traumatic memories can return in part (only
one sense of the memory).
Traumatic memory is encoded into the brain at a
greater intensity than normal memory. This higher intensity is the
result of the high emotional state that the victim is in at the time of
the trauma. The higher intensity results in flashbacks which are common to
survivors and to the greater intensity of the partial memories that come
back. The higher intensity also means that when one is in the same mood/state
as the original trauma there is a greater likelihood of the original trauma
getting triggered.
Traumatic memory works the same as normal memory
except that the connections between the various parts of the memory are
weaker in some cases and stronger in others. Many survivors of abuse
will get only one or two parts of a memory. The rest stays hidden. The
person is left without enough information to connect the bit of information
they have into some sort of context. An emotional memory (or any other
part of a memory) dissociated from the rest of the memory makes no sense.
Then the person is left wondering what is wrong with them. For example,
if a person gets an emotional aspect of the memory first the anxiety
they felt at the time of the incident) then getting the anxiety alone without
the connecting pieces of the memory might lead to a diagnosis of anxiety
disorder.
In the case of flashbacks the memory links
are stronger. One piece of the memory triggers a chain reaction and the
entire memory as it happened unfolds inside the person. Once the chain
reaction starts it becomes extremely difficult to stop and break out of
the flashback and return to present reality. Each piece of the memory
triggers the next so that the person will lose their sense of the present
and during the flashback believe the event is occurring again.
One of the reasons for this might be that during
any traumatic experience time gets distorted. Time distortion is what
you fell normally when waiting for someone and the time seems to be so
long or when you are busy doing something and time seems to speed by. Those
are normal examples of time distortion. However during traumatic experiences
the time distortion is increased.
Researchers who study trauma have recognized that
time distortion is an element of the trauma. Most young children have difficulties
telling time. It is a concept that is not understood usually until a child
is seven or eight. Since younger children have difficulties understanding
time it would make sense that as we remember early childhood incidents
time would be a problem. Time just does’t mean a lot when you are young.
We can get an idea of the time for traumatic memories by trying to connect
other life events that we believe were occurring around the same period
of time. For example, "Where did we live when such-and-such happened",
"What was I wearing" may give and indication of season, "Who was my teacher?"
Questions like these can narrow down an approximate age for some incidents.
Another aspect of traumatic memory is that remains
incredibly accurate over time. Lenore Terr who has done extensive research
on traumatic memory of young children states that even when young
children cannot verbalize the traumas they have experienced there are behavioral
indicators of the trauma. According to Terr (Too Scared to Cry) pre-verbal
children can accurately recall a traumatic memory by expressing it in their
play or acting out behavior.
