Traumatic Memories Don't Stay in the Past — When Triggered, the Brain Relives the Event

Üsküdar University NPİSTANBUL Hospital Psychiatry Specialist Prof. Dr. Gül Eryılmaz provided explanations on how traumatic memories affect daily life, relationships and mental health.

Psychiatry Specialist Prof. Dr. Gül Eryılmaz noted that particularly high-emotion events cannot be processed as 'past' and remain hidden in memory, stating "Whenever any situation or object reminds of the past, the brain relives this event as if it happened today." Pointing out that this condition can manifest itself with many symptoms such as hyperreactivity, sound sensitivity, unexplained anxiety attacks, physical pain and relationship problems, Prof. Dr. Eryılmaz emphasised that traumatic memory damages the relationship a person establishes both with themselves and with their surroundings.

Traumatic memories cannot be encoded as past; when triggered, the brain relives the event 
Prof. Dr. Gül Eryılmaz stated that a traumatic event experienced can have many psychological, social and physical effects on a person, saying "The most important of these is its effect on memory."

Noting that experiencing a traumatic event, or particularly witnessing such an event, will remain unprocessed in emotional memory, Prof. Dr. Eryılmaz said: "In other words, the hippocampus (the brain's memory centre), which is the memory of our current information, places a time stamp when processing events. It says 'This was 10 years ago.' This information is important for the brain's emotion production and behaviour management. High-emotion events, that is, post-trauma information, cannot be processed in the hippocampus and remain in hidden memory. So whenever any situation or object reminds of the past, the brain relives this event as if it happened today. It almost doesn't remember; it relives."

Traumatic memory damages a person's relationship with both themselves and the world
Addressing which symptoms traumatic memory causes in individuals, Prof. Dr. Gül Eryılmaz said: "During daily activities, being hyperreactive, intolerance, sound sensitivity, jumping when a bell rings, increased negative thoughts about oneself or the world, unexplained anxiety attacks, physical complaints, unexplained pain disorders, inability to leave negative relationships, constant self-sabotage, attention or memory problems are observed."

Emphasising that this condition negatively affects a person's daily life, Prof. Dr. Eryılmaz used the following words: "In daily life, there will be impairment in the person's functioning. There may be deterioration in interpersonal relationships, depressive complaints or alienation from oneself or the world, such as repeatedly making the same mistakes." 

Emotionality may be a symptom of traumatic memory
Stating that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric illness that develops after trauma, Prof. Dr. Eryılmaz said: "In PTSD, there is also traumatic memory." 

Explaining that traumatic memory is treated with specialised trauma therapy, EMDR (a form of psychotherapy), and if necessary, medication treatments, Prof. Dr. Gül Eryılmaz concluded her remarks as follows:
"Defining oneself as an emotional person after traumatic events experienced in childhood... When a person says 'I give emotional responses, my emotions are always foremost, so I never use my mind,' at that point emotionality may actually be a symptom of traumatic memory."