This is a half personal question, and I’d like to understand what the brain does when a traumatic memory becomes suppressed, and it’s almost impossible to find in a timeline of memories?
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There’s always a depiction of our memory being stored like books in a library. That we can just walk to some shelf and pull out exactly which memory we want.
A more accurate analogy is that memory is stored like bundles of string. We pull at one end of a string to bring forth a chain of memories. Think about how we remember the alphabet order. We sing the alphabet song in one direction, pulling out each letter by letter but it’s really hard to go backwards!
And it doesn’t have to be us consciously thinking of our memories. Triggers to our senses like a familiar smell, sound, etc. can tug at memory strings and bring forth a set of memories.
Emotions will color our memories and the stronger the emotion, the thicker the cord is on the memory string, allowing it to last longer whether we like it or not. Imagine traumatic memories as a string coated in spikes. Pulling at it to remember it will hurt!
So we suppress memories by hiding the ends of the strings connecting the traumatic memories or avoiding situations that may trigger pulling those strings. They become difficult to recall but those sharp cords still exist. Sometimes we wander into those areas and still get cut on the spikes. However, since we don’t fully recall it, there is no easy way to get rid of it so we tend to avoid the area. This avoidance can end up shaping our personalities and relationships with others.
Introspection and therapy allows you to find these sharp strings and process them in a safe space. It helps you realize what and why you have been suppressing certain memories and that effect on yourself. Only when you can find these memories can you manage to process them to reduce the spikes and allow your mind to heal.
we have multiple parts to our brains that developed at different times of human evolution. The older part of the brain is sometimes called the reptile part of our brains. It’s responsible for caveman-like thoughts and reactions: primal emotions, fight-flight-or-freeze, etc, as well as our stress hormones.
The more recently developed part of our brains is the frontal lobes, which are responsible for executive functioning: reason, logic, philosophical thought, the skills required to put together an insightful narrative.
When we experience something traumatic, our reptile brain takes over, floods our systems with adrenaline, cortisol, and other stress hormones. So much so, that it overrides executive functioning from the frontal lobes. And because it’s our reptile brains at work, the event stored in our brains more as a feeling, less as a narrative. Even thinking back to the event can trigger a flood of those hormones and feelings that can threaten to shut down our executive functioning. If the stress hormones are too much for our bodies to deal with, our minds will naturally avoid wherever triggers those feelings (including the memory) as a method of self-preservation.
First off, it’s important to note that we aren’t sure how memories work. There are a number of theories that describe how memories are recalled and how it all works out, but we aren’t 100% certain about any of them. This is because at the bare bones of it all, extremely fine processes are involved. Not just at the cellular level, but at the chemical level. We’re talking electrons and atomic movements and how they form and interact with structures in the brain. It’s really difficult to study how these work in practice because it’s so difficult to observe.
We do know that neurons are heavily involved with memories. Think of these like bridges that have cars (electricity) moving in and out of them. When you experience something important, a memory of it is created. This is the brain literally constructing the neurons needed to both store and recall the memory for later use. When you remember the memory, electrical signals are sent through it that jump from neuron to neuron and stimulate activity. For the sake of the simplicity, let’s ignore how these electrical signals actually jumpstart the recollection process as that would delve much deeper into the nitty gritty chemistry.
The more neurons that are involved with a memory, the stronger the memory is because more information about the event is stored between them all. More neurons for a memory can be created by forcefully recalling the memory again and again, which runs cars (electrical signals) through it. The brain senses that this must be important and so it reinforces the memory by creating stronger, thicker bridges. You can think of the electricity as a type of catnip for the neurons that helps them become more vivid and stronger.
The opposite is also true. When a memory is no longer useful or painful for you, the brain senses that the neuronal pathways aren’t being used and it will destroy (deconstruct) the neurons to weaken the bridge. It does this because it likes to use energy as efficiently as possible, and if something isn’t being used, it can use that energy elsewhere. With regards to suppression of traumatic memories, that is what is happening. Your brain is getting rid of the structures associated with the memory so it can forget about them. It will detonate the links between neurons and isolate them from other neurons so you can’t remember them.
Traumatic memories *can* resurface after a while, again, for reasons that are unknown. This could be because the brain hasn’t destroyed all the neurons involved with it and a handful of neurons are still hanging around, and when you suddenly remember them again, electricity runs through them.
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