a comment on memories

Hi,

I wanted to comment... not all memories that emerge in therapy (EMDR or otherwise) will be bad. In fact, even traumatic memories may contain postive elements.

I have "recovered" memories of chasing tadpoles when I was four, loving grape juice (the purple sort, of course) when I was six, a boy I dated when I was fourteen.... I have no reason to disbelieve these memories and since they are not traumatic, I have no qualms about accepting them. That doesn't mean they are "true", just that they do not trouble me, instead they enrich my sense of self.

A Schacter, I think, had a book called "Searching for Memory". And then there is Lenore Terr (I think that's the name)... her book talks about trauma and "regular" memory.

Not all memories are controversial, is my point, and many just redefine us in bits and pieces (whether or not they are true). Such redefintion... reframing... is the point of therapy very often, is it not?

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