Repressed memory: does trauma get massively repressed and then accurately recovered years later?

Elizabeth Loftus, answered from the texts and cited to the page.

The position in brief

There is no reliable evidence that repeated trauma is banished from awareness as a body and then returned intact. The mechanisms proposed for it have never been demonstrated.1234

Sources

  1. As Wagenaar & Crombag (2005) note, case histories like that of JR do not meet two of the most important criteria for empirical research: public control and replicability. It is virtually impossible for readers to check most of the details of JR's story because of the anonymity. We cannot critically question those who provided information nor can we have access to case information. The story is simply hearsay.
    Recovered Memories, p. 7
  2. E-mail: [email protected]. With both a Ph.D. in psychology and a J.D. degree, he is interested in a variety of issues related to the behav- ioral sciences, clinical practices, and the law. His current interest is the role of expert testimony in judicial proceedings and critical studies of the reliability of mental health expert opinions. 2 6 When they are offered as answers, readers should be wary.
    Who Abused Jane Doe-- The Hazards of the Single Case History.Part I, p. 3
  3. More specifically, definitions of both dissociative amnesia and repressed memory share the idea that traumatic or upsetting material is stored, becomes inaccessible because of the trauma, and can later be retrieved in intact form. Table 2. Side-by-Side Comparisons of the Definitions of Dissociative Amnesia and Repressed Memory Dissociative amnesia Repressed memory Repression DSM-5 (APA, 2013, p.
    The Return of the Repressed- The Persistent and Problematic Claims of Long-Forgotten Trauma
  4. In this article, we amass evidence from multiple sources showing that beliefs associated with repressed memories and related topics such as dissociative amnesia, far from being extinguished, as claimed by some scholars, remain very much alive today. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these beliefs carry significant risks in clinical and legal settings.
    The Return of the Repressed- The Persistent and Problematic Claims of Long-Forgotten Trauma

Where the argument is made

  • The reality of repressed memories (American Psychologist, 1993)
  • The Myth of Repressed Memory with Katherine Ketcham (1994)
  • Are the "Memory Wars" Over? with Patihis and others (Psychological Science, 2014)
  • The Return of the Repressed (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2019)

How the argument was received

The central and most bitterly contested claim of her career, and one where the clinical and research communities still diverge sharply.