[] How does the brain repress memories and not let people remember entire parts of their lives?

Question

[] How does the brain repress memories and not let people remember entire parts of their lives?

In: Other

Answer 1

It probably rarely does. It’s a popular theme in movies but there are serious doubts that it really happens or that it happens often. However, there is an extremely popular panic about childhood sexual abuse which claims it happens frequently but there is reason to believe that the notion of repressed memories may in fact be false memories induced by suggestions from therapists aided by the prevalence of this notion in popular culture.

For a striking example, read about the Margaret Kelly Michaels case: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee_Care_Nursery_School_abuse_trial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wee_Care_Nursery_School_abuse_trial) .

TLDR; a day-care teacher served five years of a 47-year sentence based on preposterous allegations by children under her care – including things like allegations of animal sacrifice, including sacrifice of a giraffe (!). These allegations appear to have been induced by social workers and therapists planting false memories in children under the mistaken notion that they were uncovering abuse.