"Big chunks of blank memory": complex trauma and dissociative body memory

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Trauma Studies

Background:

• Traumatic memory research often overlooks memory gaps common in complex trauma.
• Re-experiencing symptoms like flashbacks are more studied than memory deficits.

Purpose of the Study:

• To phenomenologically explore memory gaps in complex trauma survivors.
• To articulate the experience of 'missing' traumatic events.
• To propose dissociative body memory as a framework.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative research using survivor testimonies.
• Phenomenological analysis of subjective experiences.
• Drawing on theories of body memory, dissociation, and time consciousness.

Main Results:

• Memory gaps are experienced as inchoately disturbing, despite lack of recall.
• Dissociative body memory, characterized by habitual dissociation and protentive salience, is proposed.
• These gaps represent pre-reflective remembering, not complete forgetting, hindering narrative integration.

Conclusions:

• Dissociative body memory may be a key feature of complex posttraumatic stress disorder.
• Clinical approaches must acknowledge and address these perceived memory gaps.
• Understanding dissociative body memory offers new insights into trauma recovery.