128. Ordinary vs Traumatic Memory

Katy Ann

Charles L. Whitfield in his book “Memory and Abuse” gives us a list of characteristics of ordinary memory and traumatic memory. According to him and others traumatic events are  forgotten and later remembered in very different ways from ordinary events. Here is a table from his book, page 43. We have edited it a bit.

Characteristic	Ordinary Memory	Traumatic Memory
Terms to describe	Narrative, Explicit: simple, clear, uncomplicated Declarative: evident, manifest, factual	Body sensations, Implied: entangled, entwined Iconic: symbolic, imagery, representational
Ease of recall	Easier to remember and understand	Frequently more difficult
Internal vs external reality	Easier to differentiate between the two	Confused, frequent distortion of boundary between the two
Remembering is conscious and voluntary	Yes	Usually not. Traumatic memories intrude involuntarily and repeatedly.
Time orientation	Know it’s from the past, oriented in the right time	Usually frozen outside of time. Often experienced as now rather than in the past
Identity	Whitfield’s terms for “true” or “false” self (e.g. ego)	Confusion of identity, dissociation, separation, isolation from the components of inner life
Social function and process	With it we tend to associate, share, assimilate, integrate components of our inner life experience	Painful memory is dissociated and often forgotten, only later intrudes upon and disrupts everyday life. If unable to safely talk and understand/process trauma, person blocked from being able to grieve and thus heal
Ease of understanding and feelings	Easier to understand. Feelings of joy or pain depending on event. Able to have feelings validated by others and move on.	Pain is invalidated thus can’t express experience of trauma. It is then retained in unconscious mind and body, often reappearing as part of a repetition compulsion and painful emotional and body symptoms.
Internal state of mind (state dependent)	Don’t have to be in same state of mind to remember event	Have to be in same state of mind as in trauma in order to remember event.
Evoked by triggers	Often but not always	More often and usual. May be triggered by hearing someone else’s story of recovery, seeing a film, certain taste or smell, being touched a certain way, being in a safe relationship (e.g. therapist), being in intimate relationship, seeing certain image or scene, working a recovery program
Core issues: conflict, concern or potential problem, that is incomplete or needs action or change	Any of these: control, trust, being real, feelings, low self-esteem, dependence.	These more often: trust, fear of abandonment, feelings of shame, fear and anger
Possibilities and choices	Many to unlimited, able to make healthy choices	Tend to be frozen in all-or-none stance. If we remember trauma without safety and support to heal it, we will likely feel overwhelmed. Often safer to dissociate from it and feel numb

Finally, Whitfield says “By telling our story of the trauma(s) and working through the associated pain, i.e., grieving, we can slowly transfer and transform our traumatic memory into a healthier kind of ordinary memory – something that we were not allowed to do before. This is one of the goals of memory work and recovery”