The Life and Death and Life of Repressed Memories

Key Points:

• The article critiques the resurgence of belief in repressed and recovered memories of trauma, highlighting Amy Griffin’s uncorroborated claims and Bessel van der Kolk’s influential but controversial book, The Body Keeps the Score.
• Scientific studies, including those by psychologist David Rubin, challenge the idea that trauma memories are fragmented or disorganized, finding no difference in coherence between traumatic and non-traumatic memories or between PTSD and non-PTSD individuals.
• Research indicates that narrative fragmentation is not a reliable indicator of PTSD symptom severity or treatment progress, and memory coherence may reflect individual storytelling style rather than trauma effects.
• The authors argue that suggestion and cultural beliefs heavily influence how fragmented memories are interpreted and “woven” into coherent trauma narratives, often leading to false conclusions of abuse.
• The article likens the belief in repressed memories to a societal “virus” that resurges cyclically, amplified by the internet, and recommends psychiatrist Michael Scheeringa’s book, which critically examines and refutes van der Kolk’s claims but remains underrecognized.