I think it's important to explore the concept of; trauma and how it affects memory. I know that in previous classes when trauma has been discussed people have mentioned multiple personalities or the movie Sybil. I have not seen the movie Sybil, but I do know a bit about Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) (formerly known as Multiple Personality Disorder in the DSM-III). For someone to be diagnosed with DID they would need to fit the criteria including; the presence of two or more distinct personality states, at least two of these identities or personality states recurrently take control of the person's behavior, inability to recall personal information that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness, and the disturbance is not due to the effects of a substance. 

Individuals with DID frequently report having experienced severe psychological, physical, and/or sexual abuse, especially during childhood. As we know memories of abuse from childhood are not always accurate, but regardless severe abuse usually has occurred. When we discuss how trauma affects memories it makes me wonder if class, have you learned yet the typical "fight or flight" pattern of dealing with aggression? 

When we are dealing with children-they typically cannot engage in "fight or flight" so they dissociate. In a sense taking "flight" in their own head by dissociating and cutting themselves off from a difficult experience. When this happens, even if DID does not occur (as it typically does not) you can understand how memories would be patchy. Often when dealing with people with abusive experiences in childhood their memories are patchy and they really struggle with telling a coherent narrative from their childhood. So, I guess it is up to you to decide whether that is repression or not. Freud might see it differently, but in more contemporary terms the mechanisms are similar. 

What do people think about the affects of trauma and memory? What does our understanding of cognitive psychology tell us about the different areas of the brain and how memory could be affected by trauma?

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders(Revised 4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.