There are those that believe that truly traumatic events, are capable of being repressed or even forgotten; until such are drudged back up, because of some triggering event, or possibly from the aegis of a therapist, that has discovered such, through counseling, hypnosis, or similar. The very first thing to know is that people, even those that are on the surface seem quite independent, astute, and intelligent, are to a very meaningful extent, susceptible to believing certain things when so being guided by those that are in some respected position of authority. That is to say, esteemed psychological therapists, that a given person implicitly trusts, have a great deal of influence over subsequently what a patient thereby believes or disbelieves. So too, many people have an innate desire to please those that they respect, and sometimes in order to do so, they will agree to a story, or confirm a story, that they don’t really think to be true, themselves; but because that person in authority does, they then thus buy into it, and even augment such.
Some of us do go through incredibly traumatic events, of which, it is theorized by at least some people in authority, that the way that a traumatic incident is dealt with, at least part of the time, can include the suppression of such, so as to thereby get through life, without having to further dwell upon it, and therefore suffering from the possible continuous detrimental effect this would continue to have, upon us. While, this may indeed make logical sense, the truth of the matter is, that terrible traumatic events that happen to us, are seldom forgotten, and therefore are seldom suppressed; but rather they are to a very large extent, instead, compartmentalized within the mind of the person having so suffered from that trauma.
Little kids are quite adept at imagining all sorts of things, good as well as bad, and thereby concocting stories that because of their implausibility and inconsistencies, could not conceivably have happened, yet they act well the part that such is true. So too, adults are capable of the same sort of imagination, though typically far less often, and because of adults’ life experiences, they can often formulate a story that appears to be coherent as well as also being conceivable. Those then, that believe such, without bothering to question the why, how, and where, have done themselves as well as the other person, a disfavor. So too, all those therapists that claim that they have unearthed repressed memories of truly horrific things that have happened to a given patient, should have that information, especially if it is actionable, thoroughly investigated for the plausible veracity of such, before possible innocent parties are hurt, by the public exposure of it.
In reality, those events that are truly traumatic and horrific to a given person, are seldom forgotten. The reason that they aren’t forgotten, is somewhat akin to the same way a noticeable scar on a person’s body, is not forgotten -- because of its visibility and thereby its continual remembrance. Not every scar that we so have is visible to the naked eye, though some of the very worst kind, are distinctly visible to the mind’s eye, and those that have suffered from such, will deal with their traumatic experience the best way that they know how, and the forgetting of them, is not one of the options, so of.