When the diagnostic systems that try to explain the experiences after the traumatic event are examined, it is stated that the trauma affects the remembering and forgetting activities. The traumatized person can clearly remember or completely forget situations that are distressing, frightening, and unusual. Simple assimilation of information in people's daily life; Although the traces of memory in his life change in the future, traumatic events can remain in the mind without changing despite the advancing times. Studies show that people with traumatic experiences recall their experiences of the moment of trauma, that there is improvement in the future, the contents of the traumatic moment may change, and memory traces may become scattered over time. According to the perspective of the psychoanalytic approach, painful and threatening memories in childhood are suppressed and they are prevented from reaching the level of consciousness. Although it is known in the studies that trauma sometimes causes temporary memory loss, it is very rarely seen that the traumatic event causes memory loss. In the same study, it was seen that more than half of the participants did not remember the events that happened at the time of the trauma, and the other half did, but did not want to talk about the event. The effects of participants' more preference not to speak were noted. According to the results obtained, it was emphasized that education is of great importance. It was stated that the participants with low education level remembered the traumatic event they experienced but did not want to talk about it. Among the participants, the people who committed murder were asked whether they remembered the memory. In this question, it is focused on whether there is a suppression mechanism. More than half of the participants stated that they could not remember anything while describing the moment of the murder, that is, they suppressed what happened at the time of the incident and 'told the truth' about the moment of the murder, while less than half of the participants stated that they 'lie'. In both cases, the rate of correct statements increases according to the level of education level. In other words, they believe that people with a high level of education can suppress the event.
The Effect of Traumatic Memory on Post-Traumatic Cognition
One of the reasons for the emergence of post-traumatic stress symptoms and the formation and maintenance of maladaptive cognitions is related to the nature of memory. is indicated. At the time of the trauma, the person cannot process their experiences in detail, which makes it difficult to integrate them in their autobiographical memory. One of the reasons that negatively affects the memory storage status at the time of the event is the situation of the person being dissociated from the event scene during the trauma due to dissociation (dissociation). People have difficulty in recalling their memories when they are traumatized, even though they want to. If they can remember, they cannot do it in a sequential plot, and if the details are not complete or the order of the plot is not correct, they can only half remember. The weak combination of traumatic memories with the existing autobiographical memory causes the traumatized victim not to be able to remember the event voluntarily, but causes intrusive thoughts about the event (involuntarily entering the awareness field) when faced with stimuli that cause him to remember the trauma. The intrusive thoughts he experiences in order to remove the trauma from the mind cause him to think about the event more deeply, and this initiates the cognitive process by giving meaning to the traumatic situation. It is suggested that classical conditioning occurs with a traumatic stimulus, which is seen as a reason for this. Any stimulus during or after the traumatic event triggers the moment of trauma, causing it to be remembered as an intrusive thought. For example, a child who has been sexually assaulted may experience fear and anxiety when the abuser yells at him when he is sexually assaulted, and if the child is conditioned against this, he may experience yelling after the incident. In addition, the child's negative evaluations of the trauma remain falsified and persistent since they cannot be processed in detail in his memory. Therefore, remembering the memories related to the event
, the child's thoughts about the event are filtered out. creates a selective perception. For example, the child, who sees himself as a worthless person after the event, remembers the state of worthlessness suffered by the abuser, but does not remember the value shown to him by the supporters after the event. In the selective recall process, while ignoring the memories that contradict the child's negative evaluation of the situation experienced, it causes the child to remember the situations that support the negative attributions and therefore the existence of these evaluations.
Read: 0
