The DOI matches its Crossref record; 39 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Debunking Myths about Trauma and Memory
Open accessAbstract
How trauma victims remember—or forget—their most horrific experiences lies at the heart of the most bitter controversy in psychiatry and psychology in recent times. Whereas experts maintain that traumatic events—those experienced as overwhelmingly terrifying at the time of their occurrence—are remembered all too well, traumatic amnesia theorists disagree. Although these theorists acknowledge that trauma is often seemingly engraved on memory, they nevertheless maintain that a significant minority of survivors are incapable of remembering their trauma, thanks to mechanisms of either dissociation or repression. Unfortunately, the evidence they adduce in support of the concept of traumatic dissociative amnesia fails to support their claims. The purpose of this review is to dispel confusions and debunk myths regarding trauma and memory.
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“Furthermore, the reconstructive, changing nature of memory (e.g., Schacter, 1996) challenges the notion that fragmentation is unique to trauma, as it is expected that all memories will be recounted with varying detail and coherence over time (McNally, 2005).”
From Dissociation and memory fragmentation in post-traumatic stress disorder: An evaluation of the dissociative encoding hypothesis (2012) · cites this paper as McNally, 2005
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Metadata
- Authors
- McNally, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Harvard University (US)
- Corresponding author
- McNally, Richard J
- ORCID
- McNally, Richard J
- Venue
- The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2005-11
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 13
- Pages
- 817-822
- ISSN
- 0706-7437 (ISSN-L)
- 1497-0015
- OpenAlex
- W2121060610
- Cited by
- 195
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 0.73
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r01mh061268-04)
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH 61268)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Memory Processes and Influences
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Memory, History, Trauma, Identity
- Keywords
- traumatic amnesia, dissociative amnesia, repression, dissociation, traumatic memory, trauma survivors, memory and forgetting
- MeSH terms
- Amnesia, Child, Child Abuse, Sexual, Dissociative Disorders, Humans, Repression, Psychology, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic
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