Have you ever heard someone say, “Well, my body is keeping score” when responding to someone’s conflict online or in a casual conversation?
For many people, this phrase is a convenient way to describe the physical harm that stress and trauma can cause when the body is in “fight or flight” mode.
The everyday usage of this phrase is indicative of the extraordinary influence of the 2014 nonfiction book that popularized it, The Body Keeps the Score, by Dutch psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk. But as the idea spread, it was also simplified.
In fact, this book, which has been on the New York Times bestseller list for almost six years, goes beyond the claim that trauma affects the body. It is based on the far more controversial claim that traumatic memories reside within the body and are inaccessible to conscious memory.
This idea of repressed memory has a long and controversial history. Here’s why we fear it will come back.
memory war
In the 1990s, the idea of repressed memories sparked a major scientific debate known as the “memory wars.” Clinicians and memory researchers have disagreed about whether traumatic events are completely inaccessible to conscious memory and may only be recovered later in treatment.
A central idea rooted in psychoanalytic theory was that traumatic experiences are so overwhelming that the mind unconsciously represses them as a defense mechanism, continuing to produce psychological symptoms even as it removes them from consciousness.
After more than a decade of research raised serious questions about repression as a reliable mechanism, many believed the debate was settled.
But the idea of repressed memories is coming back.
Today, it is argued that traumatic memories can not only be suppressed, but that the body remembers them. These repressed and stored memories are said to later resurface through physical symptoms.
“The Body Keeps the Score” suggests that healing requires “releasing” or “integrating” these hidden traumatic memories through a variety of alternative, often non-evidence-based therapies, such as yoga, psychedelic-assisted therapy, and guided imagery.
Traumatic experiences are further described as disrupting the nervous system in a permanent way, beyond a person’s conscious awareness or memory of what happened. This discussion changed public perception of trauma.
trauma and body
The kind of memory research we do does not negate trauma, nor does it deny that trauma can affect the body. Of particular concern is how this relates to memory.
There is wide scientific agreement that stress, often associated with traumatic experiences, changes hormone levels such as adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol, which can affect other systems in the body. This can raise blood pressure, affect sex drive, and influence how safe or unsafe the world feels on a physical level.
For some people, trauma can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which is accompanied by physical symptoms such as nausea, panic attacks, difficulty breathing, trouble sleeping, and fatigue from being constantly “alert.”
Mechanism of memory
Memory does not function like a recording device that can simply be “played back.”
Decades of research has shown that autobiographical memories are reconstructed each time we recall an event. This means that the circumstances we find ourselves in, such as new information, emotions, and other people’s expectations, can influence what we remember. This can distort or alter our memories.
Suggestion therapy techniques (such as hypnosis and guided imagery in which the patient enters a highly suggestible state) are particularly prone to implanting false memories.
Leading professional societies, such as the American Psychological Association and the British Psychological Society, have repeatedly warned that these therapeutic techniques designed to recover buried memories can create false memories.
alternative therapy
“The Body Keeps the Score” promotes a wide range of treatments for trauma, including psychodrama, which uses yoga and role-play to reenact traumatic experiences, as an alternative to more established PTSD treatments.
Some of these approaches may be helpful to some people. If you have PTSD and feel that yoga helps reduce stress, there is no harm in practicing yoga.
However, problems arise when it is claimed that these technologies can help people “access repressed memories.”
This idea can be exploited. Recent advertisements on social media suggest that nightmares and sleep disturbances can be caused by extensive trauma that you don’t remember. A quick quiz will give you your test results and redirect you to a paid “trauma-informed” online coaching program.
What about psychedelics and MDMA?
More recently, van der Kolk and colleagues have turned their attention to psychedelic-assisted therapy.
Substances such as MDMA and psilocybin have shown promise in tightly controlled research environments. They appear to affect brain pathways, but the mechanisms are not yet fully understood.
From a memory perspective, psychedelics raise certain concerns. Research shows that psychedelic drugs can affect memory in alarming ways.
They make people more suggestive. That is, people are more likely to accept ideas and stories as truth, even if they come from an external source. It also creates a powerful sense that what people experience is deeply and certainly real.
This is a dangerous combination. This is because people can bring back false memories of what they believe happened.
Early qualitative reports have already described cases in which apparent memories of trauma emerged during psychedelic therapy, but there is uncertainty as to their accuracy.
A recent US study found that the majority of people support the idea that repressed memories and “the body keeps score”. This study has now been replicated in Australia, where preliminary findings suggest these beliefs may be even more widespread.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
