Are Repressed Memories Real?
This assignment is a 2500-word Argumentative Essay that is worth 40% of your final grade. Based on your Assignment 1 feedback (Group Debate), you will further gather and examine evidence to put together an essay to address your chosen topic.
How to complete your assessment
Step 1: Choose a topic The topics for the argumentative essay are the same as the topics for the Group Debates. You must select ONLY one of these topics for your essay. While we recommend that you stick to the same topic as your Group Debate to streamline your preparation, you are welcome to select any of the ten topics. You may find the list of topics on Moodle HERE.
Step 2: Conduct your research In your essay you must provide evidence to support your points, from a multitude of sources. • You must include a minimum of 7 references o Important note: You will require greater than 7 references from a diverse range of sources to demonstrate a deep understanding of the topic. • Journal articles and scientific reports are generally considered stronger sources of evidence. Keep in mind that the quality of your evidence is a key element of the marking criteria, so it is strongly recommended that you stick to journal articles and scientific reports. o Important note: Sources that you use as key evidence (at least 7) to support your arguments should be published within the last 10 years (2013-2023), to align with current/up-to-date findings and understandings. Older sources (before 2013) may be used if you feel that they include seminal information, or provide supplementary support for evidence/points made. • Ways to find suitable academic sources been previously demonstrated in the tutorials. Please use the knowledge and skills you have developed in tutorials to assist you here. You can also use the following links to search for sources: o Monash Library o Google Scholar o Subject-specific databases (select ‘Psychology’) o Science Direct
Step 3: Develop your contention After conducting some preliminary research, you should start to develop some informed thoughts and ideas on your chosen topic. These thoughts will help you develop your contention – which is a single sentence (worded as a statement), that takes a position and answers the essay topic. You will work on developing your contention in your tutorials.
Step 4: Develop your key arguments Based on a collation of evidence from the sources you have found, it is important that you develop some key arguments – as these will be the focus of your body paragraphs. Key arguments are main points (worded as statements – topic sentences of body paragraphs) which support the contention. You will work on developing your key arguments in your tutorials.
Step 5: Write your essay Your essay should include an introduction, approximately 4 body paragraphs, and a conclusion. • The introduction should clearly introduce the topic (including key definitions and concepts), discuss the rationale for the essay (the purpose and possible translational impact of findings from the essay), signpost the contention, and outline the key arguments that will be explored in each paragraph. Your introduction should follow a logical sequence. 3 • Your body paragraphs should be approximately 4 key arguments that you explore the current evidence towards. The key arguments should be clear themes or ideas that are clearly different from one another yet support the overall contention. All body paragraphs should follow the TEECL structure: o Topic sentence – the first sentence in a body paragraph that clear states a key argument. It tells the reader what the main idea or claim of the paragraph will be. o Explanation – Explain what you mean in greater detail. o Evidence – Provide evidence to support your idea or claim. To do this, refer to your research (i.e., the findings from the studies discussed in the journal articles you have found). Remember that all evidence will require appropriate citation. o Comment – Consider the strengths and limitations of the evidence and examples that you have presented. Explain how your evidence supports your key argument (i.e. how does it ‘prove’ your topic sentence?). o Link – Summarise the main idea of the paragraph, and make clear how this paragraph supports your overall contention. • Your conclusion should recap the importance of the essay topic, clearly state your essay findings (summarise key arguments, including limitations), and conclude the validity of your position on the topic given the current evidence. You will also need to discuss the potential implications of your findings toward support for the theory and real world/translational/societal impact. Your conclusion should follow a logical sequence.
Are repressed memories real?
Your name
School of psychological sciences, Monash University
Psy1011: Foundations in Psychology
Instructor’s Name:
Due Date:
Word count: 2150
Repressed memory is the idea that traumatic experiences can be blocked and banished from conscious memory for a long time such that the individual does not recall or recognize that they experienced the traumatic event and later, recover those memories in pristine form (Otgaar, Howe, & Patihis, What science tells us about false and repressed memories, 2022). Repressed memories are a highly debated and controversial area of research, with divergent views on their recognition and validity. Although not officially classified as a dissociative disorder in the DSM V, repressed memories share similarities with dissociative amnesia, a recognized disorder characterized by the inability to recall traumatic events or significant periods of one's life. Both phenomena involve memory disruption, suggesting a psychological defense mechanism at play, and offer the potential for recovery through therapy or natural healing processes. However, critics argue that memories can be distorted, implanted, or influenced by external factors, casting doubt on the accuracy and reliability of repressed memories. Despite the lack of consensus, there is a body of evidence supporting the existence of repressed memories, including documented cases of individuals recovering vivid and previously inaccessible traumatic memories. This essay explores the arguments for and against repressed memories, highlighting the subjective nature of memory and the need for further research to unravel their complexities and implications in psychology. Repressed memories are a controversial area of research and while it has not been formally included in DSM V manual as a dissociative disorder, however, repressed memory as a theory and as a diagnosable disorder has a lot of similarities with other recognized disorders such as dissociative amnesia. Definitions of both dissociative amnesia and repressed memory share the idea that traumatic or upsetting material is stored, becomes inaccessible because of the trauma, and can later be retrieved in intact form (Otgaar H. , et al., 2019). Dissociative amnesia is defined as a disorder where the individual is unable to remember specific traumatic events or extensive periods of one’s life. These events are typically traumatic or stressful in nature are inconsistent with ordinary forgetting. While this definition does not confirm or endorse the concept of repressed memories, it harbors some similarities. First, both dissociative amnesia and repressed memories point to memory disruption where the individual is unable to access or recall specific details of past events. In both cases, the memory disruption is thought to be a psychological defense mechanism. Secondly, in both cases the disorders have a potential for recovery. Under appropriate therapy or natural healing processes, the individual may regain access to the previously inaccessible memories. Memory disruption and potential for recovery are the core tenets of disassociate amnesia and repressed memories and while the two have some differences, the line between them is often not clear. In fact, some scholars have contended that dissociative amnesia is being used today as a substitute term for repressed memory (Otgaar H. , et al., 2019). Dissociative amnesia has been formally recognized and detailed in the DSM V manual of mental disorders and repressed memories remain a controversial and debatable disorder. Some scholars and psychologists argue that dissociative amnesia is just another name for repressed memories pointing to earlier evidence and use of the word repressed rather than dissociated. (Holmes, 1994) as cited in (Otgaar H. , et al., 2019) argues that absence of good laboratory or clinical evidence for repression, proponents of the concept have begun to emphasize dissociation instead. He further notes that is an individual has dissociated oneself from an event (as in he/she is no longer aware of it), he/she has repressed it hence dissociation is just repression. Therefore, there is some lingual consensus that the concept of dissociative memory is also repressed memory and therefore the recognition and psychological evidence and literature associated with dissociative memory can be mapped to repressed memories. Additionally, there is some scholarly and professional consensus amongst practitioners, researchers and students that repressed memories are real. A majority of the surveyed Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) practitioners (70–90%), students (around 90%), and researchers (66.7%) endorsed the controversial idea of repressed memories (Houben, Otgaar, Roelofs, Wessel, & Patihis, 2021). Secondly, there are some accounts of individuals who eventually recover memories of traumatic events which were previously inaccessible to their conscious awareness. There have been several and well documented cases of vivid memories that were regained after a long period of repression. (Loftus, 1993) documented on some high-profile cases of people recalling their repressed memories. In one of the cases detailed in the journal, a young girl was able to recall vivid details about how her father murdered her best friend 20 years earlier. The memory flashback came one afternoon when she was playing with her two-year old son. More memories came back later in fragments until she had a detailed memory. The detailed description of her memory was believed by her therapist and other members of her family and led to the successful prosecution and conviction of George Franklin sr. Of murder. There are other detailed memories of people who have had flashbacks of past traumatic memories that have led to successful convictions many years after they happened. In other cases, sexual trauma, in particular, is viewed by a number of therapists as being especially susceptible to repression (Loftus, 1993). Thirdly, repression can be considered a coping mechanism to protect the individual from emotional pain and anxiety. This theory is rooted in Freudian psychology in which he argued that repression is a defense mechanism that operates unconsciously to push distressing or unacceptable thoughts, memories, or impulses out of conscious awareness (Anderson, 2006). Repressed materials remain inaccessible to the individual in the conscious mind for long periods of time and in some cases forever. Freud argued that repressed memories can influence the individual’s thoughts, emotions and behaviors and clinical observations can support this theory. Some therapists have reported cases of repressed memories of traumatic events and posited that these memories remained inaccessible until therapeutic techniques were used to retrieve them (Dodier, Patihis, & Payoux, 2019). Additionally, in some self-reported experience, individuals have documented or described events with gaps in their memory where they are unable to recall specific traumatic events. Other factors that point to malleability of memory in resp...