How Trauma Impacts Memory
A printable version of this article is available for download at the bottom of this page.
What is Trauma?
Trauma is defined as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience or event which overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope. This then causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes sense of self and the ability to feel the full range of emotions and experiences.
There are two kinds of trauma, both which impact on individuals and memory in different ways:
Complex Trauma: Complex trauma describes children’s exposure to multiple traumatic events, often of an invasive, interpersonal nature, and the wide-ranging, longterm impact of this exposure.
Simple Trauma: Simple trauma is overwhelming and painful. It involves experiences of events that are life threatening and/or have the potential to cause serious injury.
What is Memory?
Memory can be broadly categorised into two types:
Explicit memory is the conscious, intentional recollection of factual information, previous experiences, and concepts.
Implicit Memory doesn't require conscious thought. It allows you to do things by rote. This memory isn't always easy to verbalise, since it flows effortlessly in our actions.
Levels of Memory
Explicit Memory
Explicit Memory includes episodic memory and semantic memory.
Episodic Memory: The autobiographical memory of an event - including who, what, when, where. Impacts the hippocampus - responsible for creating and recalling memory.
Semantic Memory: The memory of general knowledge and facts. Impacts the temporal lobe and inferior parietal cortex - responsible for collecting information to create semantic memories.
Implicit Memory
Implicit Memory includes emotional memory and procedural memory.
Emotional Memory: The memory of the emotions you felt during an experience. Impacts the amygdala - responsible for supporting memory for emotionally charged memory.
Procedural Memory: The memory of how to perform a common task without actively thinking. Impacts the striatum - responsible for creating new habits and producing procedural memory.
How can Trauma Impact Memory?
Trauma can have a profound impact on a person's memory and traumatic memory can affect not only the brain, but also the body and nervous system as well. Memory loss is a natural survival skill and defence mechanism humans have developed to protect themselves from psychological damage from trauma. Children who experience trauma may lose the ability to make sense of their experience or may even lose the ability to build a narrative about their own life that draws meaning and understanding, known as Narrative Memory. They may not remember events that have occurred during the week or who they were with or even what they have learnt; This is Episodic Memory.
Traumatised children have an impaired Working Memory (short term memory). This impacts their ability to carry out complex cognitive tasks such as reasoning, remembering instructions and comprehension.
What is dissociation and it’s relationship to memory?
Dissociation is a break in how a persons mind handles information. Dissociation can happen during the trauma or later on when thinking about or being reminded of the trauma. Dissociation can make a person feel disconnected from their thoughts, feelings, memories, and surroundings. This can also affect memory, sense of identity, the way the world is perceived and connection to physical body. Violence, sexual abuse and other emotionally traumatic events can lead to dissociative amnesia. This helps a person cope by allowing them to temporarily forget details of the event.
Window of tolerance
The Window of Tolerance is a term used to describe the zone of arousal in which a person is able to function most effectively. When people are within this zone, they are typically able to readily receive, process and integrate information and respond to demands of everyday life and tasks with no difficulty. Dr Daniel Siegel named this model (Window of Tolerance), which is now used broadly to understand 'normal' brain reaction responses and trauma treatment terminology.
Recovering from Trauma-induced Memory loss
EMDR therapy facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories and other adverse life experiences to bring these to an adaptive resolution. EMDR therapy is an eight-phase treatment. Eye movements are used to assist the brain to reprocess neural networks and link them to factual based semantic memory. During EMDR, individuals process the memory safely and that leads to a peaceful resolution resulting in increased insight regarding both the previously disturbing event and the negative thoughts about themselves that have grown out of the original event.
What is EMDR?
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. EMDR has been proven to decrease stress related to:
Trauma and PTSD
Additctions
Depression
Anxiety
Phobias
and More…
EMDR starts by walking individuals through traumatic memories whilst focusing on external stimulus so the individual can process the traumatic memory in a way that minimises distress.
The 8 phases of EMDR
History: Discussion of medical history and work to pinpoint traumatic memories.
Preparation: Briefed with the EMDR process, becomes familiar with the technique.
Assessment: Guided to identify specific components of the traumatic memory, chooses a negative cognition and identifies a positive.
Desensitisation: Patient is asked to focus on negative emotion whilst moving eyes back and forth.
Installation: Negative cognition is replaced with the positive.
Body Scan: Patient is asked to recall the traumatic memory and if recollection of memory causes negative response, repeat Step 4.
Closure: Effectively ends EMDR treatment.
Re-Evaluation: Therapist will reevaluate distress levels and positive cognition.
Download the free printable of this article here.