The Reality of Repressed Memories

Abstract

Repression is one of the most haunting concepts in psychology. Something shocking happens, and the mind pushes the experience into some inaccessible corner of the unconscious. Later, the memory may rise up and emerge into consciousness. Repression is one of the major foundation stones on which the structure of psychoanalysis rests. Recently there has been a rise in a particular type of repressed memory, namely reported claims of childhood sex abuse that were allegedly repressed for many years. With recent changes in legislation, people with recently-unearthed memories are suing alleged perpetrators for events that happened 20, 30, 40 or more years earlier. Juries and judges are now learing about repression. These new developments give rise to a number of questions 1) How common is it for memories of child abuse to be repressed? 2) How are juror and judges likely to react to these repressed memory claims? 3) When the memories surface, what are they like? and 4) How authentic are the memories?