Can we can erase memories that hurt us?
Our brain is a supercomputer, capable of highly complex cognitive processes. It is a dynamic, ever-changing, mission-driven system of synthesizing data and finding solutions. The question that we are interested in is therefore, that in some cases the normal process of rendering meaning to the human experience is obstructed. The answer is in the way that a an experience experienced under high stress conditions is not stored in the brain in a logical way that would give senior thinkers the opportunity to use the data from that experience, combining with pre-existing data in order to extract a functional meaning.
Sometimes, in high stress conditions, the neural networks that store this information “freeze” and so our brain does not have access to that data to process it. are not processed now and are cut-out reproducers that are triggered autonomously when something is reminiscent, similar or related to that particular experience. So we now understand why someone can you may have been trapped in the car and even years after the event “you can’t get over it”. Maybe we just remember it, we can have speed bumps, and feel incredible trepidation as if our lives are in danger right now So even though the brain is an adorable supercomputer, an event experienced under extreme stress, it can cause some glitches in its software.
Many other negative but unavoidable events, such as a failure or rejection, remain within us. years, as if they are frozen. Sometimes they cause us psychological symptoms, while others make us feel bad about ourselves, downplay our potential, or may complicate our relationships with others. These specific memories have a very characteristic point in common: They carry with them an intense and negative emotional load. Besides, they have also created a negative image or thought for the individual himself. We therefore remember that particular memory and automatically feel a certain negative feeling and think of us in a particular negative way.
The thought or image that emerges for ourselves is extreme, rigid and fragmentary (eg I’m a junk or incompetent or incompetent). etc.). This thinking is not a product of contemplation and mature thinking. It has not taken into account all of our experiences, our actions, our capabilities. It is self-limiting and cannot stand, if we compare logically counter-arguments (eg in cases a, b, c, d, you didn’t seem to be useless or incapable or problematic).
That is why this particular thinking is called dysfunctional, because it is both irrational and self-limiting. Each of us in this humanity suffers from the journey of life with a range of events that can act as traumatic experiences, such as physical attacks, robberies, rape, accidents, earthquakes, floods, fires, verbal or physical abuse, surgery and serious illnesses, to name but a few. In any case, what matters is knowing that I am not be imprisoned in the past and obliged, deprived of the opportunity to live freely in the here and now and according to our true potentials.
Can we erase these hurtful memories? The answer is how can we. With techniques in the field of traumatology such as the EMDR that we target in the networks of painful memories and enable the brain to process them, removing them from the freezing state. It is like removing viruses from a computer that are blocking them. normal operation of his software.In the example we mentioned earlier in the car accident, the speed bumps and the belief my life is in danger, have no functional meaning for the person here. All they cause is problems. They are just frozen thoughts and senses. If memory is fully processed, one can recall it without experiencing any physical stress at all and without having dysfunctional negative beliefs about one’s self. This way the memories stop hurting us. We do not erase the facts, but it clearly helps our brains who cannot distinguish the past from the present to even incorporate a new experience into our personal history and extract a useful meaning from it.