Repression is a defense mechanism in which people push difficult or unacceptable thoughts out of conscious awareness.
Repression in Psychoanalysis
Freud conceived of repression as the root of people’s “neuroses,” the term he ascribed to mental struggles such as stress , anxiety , and depression . These patients could be treated, he believed, by recalling repressed experiences into consciousness and confronting them in therapy . This led to a sudden and dramatic outpouring of emotion , dubbed catharsis, and the attainment of insight.
In the course of treatment, the patient might show resistance by changing the topic, blanking out, falling asleep, arriving late, or missing appointments. Freud believed that such behavior suggested that the patient was close to recalling repressed experiences but was still afraid to do so.
Although these ideas have largely been disproven, Freud’s ideas about the unconscious and defense mechanisms helped shape the field of psychology.
Freud believed that repressed material, though unconscious, was still present and could resurface in disturbing forms. As well as a lack of insight and understanding, the inability to process and come to terms with repressed material could lead to psychological problems such as poor concentration , irritability, anxiety, insomnia , nightmares, and depression. He believed that maladaptive and destructive patterns of behavior such as anger and aggression could emerge due to reminders of the repressed material.
The Debate Over Repressed Memories
The notion of repressed memories has generated tremendous controversy, which largely came to a head in the 1990s. The belief that traumatic memories were repressed and that psychologists could restore them led to “recovered memory therapy,” in which therapists used dubious techniques to reconstruct traumatic memories, often of childhood sexual abuse . (Recovered memories are distinct from dissociation, a common response to sexual abuse in childhood .)
However, the techniques involved often manipulated people’s memories instead of “uncovering” true ones, and they even hurt patients’ mental health. The work of psychologist Elizabeth Loftus and others has demonstrated that memory can be malleable and that it’s susceptible to manipulation.
Although the concept of recovered memory has been discredited, many therapists and patients still believe that the phenomenon is possible.
Research does not support the existence of repressed traumatic memories that can be recovered. Events of people’s past may sometimes come back to them in sudden recollection, but there’s no evidence that this happens with traumatic memories. Indeed, prospective research (following people after a traumatic event) finds that trauma victims often want to forget their experiences, but they cannot.
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