Bipolar4LifeSupport

There is still a fairly heated controversy in the field of psychology about whether or not repressed memories can or should be recovered, as well as whether or not they are accurate. The clearest divide appears to be between mental health practitionersand researchers. In one study, clinicians had a much greater tendency to believe that people repress memories that can be recovered in therapy than the researchers did.

The general public, too, has a belief in repressed memory. Clearly, more research is needed in the area of memory.

Trauma Can Be Forgotten

Most people remember the bad things that happen to them, but sometimes extreme trauma is forgotten. Scientists are studying this, and we are beginning to understand how this occurs. When this forgetting becomes extreme, a dissociative disorder sometimes develops, such as dissociative amnesia, dissociative fugue, depersonalization disorder and dissociative identity disorder. These disorders and their relationship to trauma is still being studied.

How Memory Works

Memory is not like a tape recorder. The brain processes information and stores it in different ways. Most of us have had some mildly traumatic experiences, and these experiences sometimes seem to be burned into our brains with a high degree of detail. Scientists are studying the relationship between two parts of the brain, the amygdala and the hippocampus, to understand why this is.

The following statements describe what we know at this time:

• Moderate trauma can enhance long-term memory. This is the common-sense experience that most of us have, and it makes it difficult to understand how memory for horrible events can be forgotten.
• Extreme trauma can disrupt long-term storage and leave memories stored as emotions or sensations rather than as memories. Recent research suggests that it can take up to several days to fully store an event in long-term memory.

• Sensory triggers in the present can cause forgotten material to surface. This is because the material is associated with the trigger through a process known as “state-dependent memory, learning, and behavior.”
• “False memories” of mildly traumatic events have been created in the laboratory.It is unclear to what extent this occurs in other settings.
• Studies have documented that people who live through extreme trauma sometimes forget the trauma. The memory of the trauma can return later in life, usually beginning in the form of sensations or emotions, sometimes involving “flashbacks” where the person feels like they are reliving the memory. This material gradually becomes more integrated until it resembles other memories.

The Debate Over Recovered Memories

Are recovered memories necessarily true? There is much debate about this. Some therapists who work with trauma survivors believe that the memories are true because they are accompanied by such extreme emotions. Other therapists have reported that some of their patients have recovered memories which could not have been true (a memory of being decapitated, for example).

Some groups have claimed that therapists are “implanting memories” or causing false memories in vulnerable patients by suggesting that they are victims of abuse when no abuse occurred. Some therapists do seem to have persuaded patients that their symptoms were due to abuse when they did not know this to be true. This was never considered good therapeutic practice, and most therapists are careful not to suggest a cause for a symptom unless the patient reports the cause.

There is some research suggesting that false memories for mild trauma can be created in the laboratory. In one study, suggestions were made that children had been lost in a shopping mall. Many of the children later came to believe that this was a real memory. Note: It is not ethical to suggest memories of severe trauma in a laboratory setting.

Finding Middle Ground on Recovered Memories

I have worked with some patients who have “recovered memories” of childhood abuse. My stance regarding the truth of their memories is that I don’t know if these memories are true or not. In most cases, I believe something happened to them, because their symptoms are consistent with their memories. In most cases they have some memories of abuse which are continuous memories, and these are often consistent with the recovered memories. We work with the material from the past only when it gets in the way of the present. The memories are real for the patient, and that is what is most important in therapy. I do not encourage them to confront parents or other abusers because this is seldom helpful and often hurtful. It is extremely important for therapists not to ask leading questions or to suggest that certain events may have occurred.

Using mindfulness for PTSD may be a good way of coping. Mindfulness has been around for ages. However, mental health professionals are beginning to recognize that mindfulness can have many benefits for people suffering from difficulties such as anxiety and depression.

In a nutshell, mindfulness is about being completely in-touch with the present moment. So often in our lives, we are stuck in our heads, caught up in the anxiety and worries of daily life.

This exercise will introduce you to mindfulness and may be helpful getting you “out of your head” and in touch with the present moment.

Difficulty: Easy

Time Required: 10 minutes

Here’s How:

1. Find a comfortable position either lying on your back or sitting. If you are sitting down, make sure that you keep your back straight and release the tension in your shoulders. Let them drop.
2. Close your eyes.
3. Focus your attention on your breathing. Simply pay attention to what it feels like in your body to slowly breathe in and out.
4. Now bring your attention to your belly. Feel your belly rise and expand everytime you breathe in. Feel your belly fall everytime you breathe out.
5. Continue to focus your attention on the full experience of breathing. Immerse yourself completely in this experience. Imagine you are “riding the waves” of your own breathing.
6. Anytime that you notice your mind has wandered away from your breath (it likely will and this is completely normal!), simply notice what it was that took your attention away and then gently bring your attention back to the present moment – your breathing.

1. Continue as long as you would like!

Tips:

1. Before you try this exercise, it may be useful to first simply practice breathing. This may sound silly, but many people don’t breathe properly, which can fuel stress and anxiety.
2. Make this a habit. Practice this exercise at least once a day.
3. At first, it may be important to practice this exercise at times when you are not overly stressed-out or anxious. When you were first learning to drive a car, you likely didn’t start out on the highway during a thunderstorm. The same goes for mindfulness.

1. Remember, it is normal for your mind to wander during this exercise. That’s what it does. Don’t get discouraged. Instead, at times like this, it may be useful to think of mindfulness in this way: If your mind wanders away from the breath a thousand times, mindfulness is about bringing your attention back to the present moment a thousand and one times.

We all have negative thoughts from time to time, and therefore, it is important to learn how to cope with thoughts that are upsetting. The key to them not overwhelming us or commandeering our mood is to manage negative thoughts properly.

How we evaluate and think about ourselves, other people, and events can have a major impact on our mood. For example, let’s say you commonly have the thought, “I will always be depressed.” Whenever this thought pops into your head, you likely start to feel sad and down.

The reverse is also true. If you are feeling anxious and scared, you are more likely to have thoughts that are consistent with that mood.

Given this, it is important to pay attention to our thoughts and how they might be influencing our mood. Often times, our thoughts simply occur out of habit (that is, because we have had similar thoughts in the past), and not because they are actually reflecting truth. For example, in regard to the thought, “I will always be depressed,” it is highly unlikely that you will always be depressed. Depression does not last forever and, even if you experience multiple episodes of depression, there will be times when you are feeling better.

Even though this thought may feel true, in reality, it is not. Believing that it is, however, can negatively impact your mood, putting you at risk for a severe depression or worse. Therefore, it is important to learn how to identify unhealthy behaviors and address them before they affect your mood.

Unhealthy Thinking Patterns

Listed below are some common unhealthy ways of thinking that may contribute to a negative mood.

All-or-None Thinking

• Definition: Looking at a situation as either black or white; thinking that there are only two possible outcomes to a situation
• Example: “If I am not a complete success at my job, then I am a total failure.”

Catastrophizing

• Definition: Expecting the worse to happen without considering other alternative outcomes that are more likely to happen
• Example: “I know that I will be so anxious that I will bomb this test and fail the course.”

Labeling

• Definition: Defining yourself or others in a rigid way that doesn’t allow for more favorable evaluations
• Example: “I am a total loser.”

Discounting the Positive

• Definition: Looking past and ignoring positive experiences; viewing positive experiences or outcomes as simply being due to chance
• Example: “I got that job out of luck, not because I was qualified.”

Mind Reading

• Definition: Thinking that you know what others are thinking
• Example: “I just know that my therapist thinks I am a waste of his time.”

Personalization

• Definition: Evaluating other people’s behavior as being the result of something you did
• Example: “She wasn’t very polite toward me because I must have done something to upset her.”

Emotional Reasoning

• Definition: Believing something is true because it feels that way

• Example: “I must have failed that test because I feel so bad about my performance.”

These are just a few unhealthy thoughts that people commonly experience (you can learn about others from Nancy Schimelpfenig, About.com Guide to Depression).

Addressing Negative Thoughts

The first step in addressing unhealthy thoughts is knowing when you have them. Self-monitoring can be an excellent way of increasing your awareness of your thoughts and how they impact your mood and behaviors.

It is important to keep in mind that everyone experiences unhealthy thoughts like the ones above, and there might sometimes actually be some truth to those thoughts. For example, it is possible that you might have done something to upset another person, and as a result, they were not polite to you. However, we cannot really know if this is true or not unless we have enough information.

Therefore, it can be helpful to ask yourself some of the following questions:

• What evidence do I have for this thought?
• What evidence do I have against this thought?
• Are there times when this thought hasn’t been true?
• Do I have this kind of thought when I am feeling OK as opposed to feeling sad, angry, or anxious?
• What would I tell someone else who was having this kind of thought?
• Is it possible that I am having this thought just out of habit?
• What might be an alternative explanation?

Asking yourself these types of questions can help break the habit of unhealthy thinking and help you be more flexible in your thinking. In the end, this could improve your mood or prevent your mood from getting worse.

In addition, it may also be helpful to practice mindfulness. That is, when you notice that you are having an unhealthy thought, simply view the thought as just a thought and nothing else. It is just something your mind does when you are feeling a certain way or faced with a certain situation. It is a habit and not an indication of truth. Taking a step back from your thoughts and diminish their power over your mood.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy

If you find that you are having many of the unhealthy thoughts listed above and you find it helpful to address those thoughts, you might consider seeking out a cognitive-behavioral therapist. Cognitive-behavior therapy places a big emphasis on the thoughts we have and how those thoughts influence our emotions and behavior.

You can find treatment providers in your area through UCompare HealthCare from About.com, as well as the Anxiety Disorder Association of America.