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Post by ellie on Feb 19, 2017 15:21:13 GMT
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Post by MagdaFR on Feb 19, 2017 15:42:53 GMT
This was the first thing it came to my mind: Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind
I don't know what I'd do. If I had suffered some horrible experience (torture, sexual abuse for instance) who can haunt you all your life and it were safe maybe I'd erase those memories.
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Post by roverpup on Feb 19, 2017 15:45:57 GMT
I think bad memories are a part of who we are and unless they are so traumatising that it paralyses us entirely, then it is best to have them incorporated into our psyche. I think facing our darkest hours is better than erasing them, but then I am not 100% sure of that either. It is something that deserves a lot of thought and discussion and perhaps can only be dealt with on a highly individual basis.
I wouldn't want to erase my bad memories - although like you said Ellie, I haven't had any really horrifically bad memories.
:-))
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Post by mllemass on Feb 19, 2017 22:29:28 GMT
In my experience, the brain already does that. Bad memories do fade over time, even if they never disappear completely. We wouldn't be able to function if we remembered every awful thing as though it just happened!
Even happy memories fade with time, but we don't want them to. So we often think back to those happy times so we can keep reliving them.
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Post by queenzod on Feb 19, 2017 22:55:33 GMT
Mllemass, most bad memories fade. Not all, and especially in cases of PTSD. The memory is as clear as a bell in those cases, completely painful, and you're unable to stop it from consuming your life. I do think that with proper psychotherapy (which can be difficult and also painful), the memories are reduced so they don't cause suffering anymore.
At least, that has been my experience with it. I had PTSD after finding my fathers suicide. I worked so hard with my therapist on it for two straight years just to get the images out of my head. They're still there, but they don't hold the same punch they used to. I actually wouldn't give up that memory for the world. I learned so much about myself, my father, aging, humanity, and society in general from that horrible experience that I couldn't have gotten in any other way. Yes, it was awful, but I think in the long run it made me a kinder person with more compassion.
I think what we need is not ways to erase experience, but help from others for the courage to face ourselves and our human-ness.
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Post by ellie on Feb 19, 2017 23:12:17 GMT
I honestly don't know what to think. I've had sad and upsetting times as most people do in life but I've no memories that impact on my ability to live my life.
But what about soldiers who've witnessed and experienced terrible things and what about rape and torture victims etc. Those memories can totally ruin people's lives forever. So maybe there is something to be said for the option of erasing such memories.
It's very difficult. This development has a lot of potential for misuse. If it is ever brought into medical practice it will have to be extremely well policed.
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Post by dreamsincolour on Feb 20, 2017 2:31:24 GMT
Mllemass, most bad memories fade. Not all, and especially in cases of PTSD. The memory is as clear as a bell in those cases, completely painful, and you're unable to stop it from consuming your life. I do think that with proper psychotherapy (which can be difficult and also painful), the memories are reduced so they don't cause suffering anymore. At least, that has been my experience with it. I had PTSD after finding my fathers suicide. I worked so hard with my therapist on it for two straight years just to get the images out of my head. They're still there, but they don't hold the same punch they used to. I actually wouldn't give up that memory for the world. I learned so much about myself, my father, aging, humanity, and society in general from that horrible experience that I couldn't have gotten in any other way. Yes, it was awful, but I think in the long run it made me a kinder person with more compassion. I think what we need is not ways to erase experience, but help from others for the courage to face ourselves and our human-ness. That's a wise post there, Queen Zod. That experience must have been terrible. I don't want to even imagine such a thing, but it sounds as if you've done really well to have learnt to see it in perspective now. In the psychotherapy you had, did they use any NLP? It doesn't seem to be used as much as it should because it is extraordinarily powerful in the hands of someone who really knows what they're doing. And it seems to me that that would be better more widely used, than by actually erasing troublesome memories as per that article. There are usually exceptions to most rules, though, and it could be that in relatively rare and extreme cases (as a last resort) the actual erasure of memories could be an answer. Some psychological problems seem unimaginable to those who are fortunate enough not to have the problem, like those who want limbs amputated for instance. In some ways that's not a bad analogy, in that a "wrong" solution could be the better option than letting someone take a chainsaw to their own leg in their distress. But NLP is really good! And it's based on common sense in many ways, just not common sense that one would ever think about. In essence it's about recognising the particular building blocks by which something (it might be a difficult memory) is perceived and then noticing the differences between that and the way other memories or events are perceived and then changing the habitual way the bad memory is processed from the way that causes difficulty to a way that doesn't. Re really bad memories that cause distress, one of the big differences is that those are invariably recalled as if out of one's own eyes, whereas with memories that may have been bad but which have been "dealt with" and no longer cause the same distress, the probability is that there is disassociation (as in you see yourself in the memory rather than as if through your eyes). So by changing the perception of something, you're not erasing it, but you can eliminate much of the negative effect.
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Post by queenzod on Feb 20, 2017 4:52:44 GMT
We didn't use NLP. I have a contemplative therapist I see who has a background in Buddhist Psychology. It sounds interesting, though! I love working with mind. It really is key to a happier life.
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Post by Jillian on Feb 20, 2017 15:13:54 GMT
I suppose it depends on what a person has been through, although I do think that there is a reason for therapy to be able to wrap one´s head around problems and then work through them by discussing them. Although at times I suppose that is not always enough. But what if those memories are so horrific that the person wants and decides to erase them and then changes her/his mind afterwards? *Shudders.* That is big problem with this as a whole in my opinion.
I agree with the poster who said that bad experiences are what make the person who she is. Bad experiences in certain cases do help people understand things about life and about themselves, but again, it depends on background and everyone copes individually. This is an interesting and thought provoking question.
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Post by ellie on Feb 20, 2017 15:40:32 GMT
I think it would have to be very thouraghly assessed on an individual basis. I guess for those people who have had terrible experiences and for whom therapy has not worked it might be an option. But it's a drastic step whichever way you look at it.
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