Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse: Forgetting to Remember and Remembering to Forget, Part 3: The Role of Dissociation in Extraordinary Forgetting

Abstract

This is the third of three articles on recovered memories of child sexual abuse. The results of laboratory studies on memory cannot be generalized to individuals with a history of childhood sexual abuse in whom memory disturbances are prevalent. Trauma is defined and identified as the driver of dissociation. The nature of dissociation and dissociative processes are explored, and the relationship to memory impairment is examined with an emphasis on the mechanisms of compartmentalization and detachment. Memory and the self are inextricably linked, and dissociation results in the fragmentation of autobiographical narrative. Contrary to what is often assumed, memory content is not the appropriate focus of trauma therapy and it is imperative that therapists working with survivors of child sexual abuse are adequately trained.