I beileve in repressed memories only in the vein that you “don’t seem to remember the event”, but if someone who was there suddenly comes along and asks you about it, you will remember clearly.
That is, you remember some stuff clearly but it just never comes to mind unless someone brings it up. And if nobody ever brings it up, well, it never comes up - so you have “repressed” the memory.
The “blackout” of memories (where even when it IS brought up, you still don’t remember) is another thing. I don’t buy that.
My first marriage ended due to the “repressed memory” thing. I remember a counselor saying he was concerned that, with the exception of a single instance, could not remember my parents “spanking” me. Then I asked my mother if she ever spanked me and she brought up the exact same occurance (on her own) as the only time.
So much for “repressed” memories and identifiying the counselor as a quack.
“I beileve in repressed memories only in the vein that you ‘don’t seem to remember the event’, but if someone who was there suddenly comes along and asks you about it, you will remember clearly.”
You wouldn’t have been repressing it, then. That’s garden variety remembering. If it were what we’re talking about, you’d need not “someone who was there” but a highly trained genius brain excavator, i.e. a psychiatrist, to dig in your head and tell you what you don’t know about yourself.
“That is, you remember some stuff clearly but it just never comes to mind unless someone brings it up. And if nobody ever brings it up, well, it never comes up - so you have ‘repressed’ the memory”
This has nothing to with the subject at hand, really. People not bringing it up doesn’t constitute repression.
I can attest to the reality of "blacked-out" memories. There are three traumatic events in my life that I can remember before and after, but not during. And knowing what surrounded them, I'm really glad I don't remember the "during."
“The ‘blackout’ of memories (where even when it IS brought up, you still don’t remember) is another thing. I don’t buy that.”
That’s what repression is, by definition. Everything else you describe is part of normal, non-neurotic memory.
That's how I try to deal with the Carter administration.