How To Erase Painful Memories From The Mind?

There are episodes in people’s lives that are marked by their sad nature. These memories prevent the development of a healthy, calm and smooth life. But is it possible to erase painful memories from memory?

In this article we will show you what memories are, how they are created and how memory works. Also, did you know that there are different types of memory? If you stay with us until the end you will find out if painful memories can be erased or not.

What are memories?

Memory is a word that comes from Latin and whose etymology means “to go through the heart again.” Remembering is the way in which certain information stored in our mind is retrieved from long-term memory .

What are memories for?

Memories serve to organize the existence of human beings. Without memories or memory it would be difficult to live. It would imply having to learn everything anew at every moment, making the accumulation and transfer of experience impossible.

How are painful memories saved?

By consciously or unconsciously accessing our memory, we access our memories. There could be no memories without memory, since that is where they are stored. However, there are several types of memory. However, despite the fact that researchers divide memory into many different ones, we are going to look at the 3 main types below.

Sensory memory

It is the memory that manifests itself through the senses. Store memories very briefly. These are not greater than 300 milliseconds. After that time they disappear immediately, unless they become part of short-term memory.

Short term memory

Once an experience from sensory memory has been selected, it is installed in short-term memory. This is also designated by the name of operative memory. It can handle between 5 and 9 items of information at the same time.

Long term memory

It is the one that stores memories in a lasting way. It is here where memories, good or painful, are installed. This is divided into implicit and explicit memory.

• The implicit memory is the one that saves experiences in an unconscious way and is related to the learning of different types of skills. Thanks to this memory, activities such as driving a bicycle or a car can be carried out.
• Explicit memory is linked to conscious activity. Two types of explicit memory can be distinguished: semantic and episodic. Semantics refers to historical, scientific and geographical memories or knowledge.
  • Also the name of the people, for example, is stored as a souvenir in this field. The episodic is the memory of all the events of a life.

Episodic memory is where painful memories are most specifically stored. That is where the autobiographical episodes are stored, that is, it allows us to recognize certain facts or particular experiences. For example, the wedding night, the graduation day, a fight or a strong offense, etc.

Can painful memories be erased?

Human beings go through painful events throughout their lives. Much of the time it is possible to relate to those memories and continue. However, there are times when that can be more difficult. Depression or post traumatic stress disorder can be a very heavy and difficult burden to bear.

The way memories are stored depend on how memory is consolidated. This area of ​​study belongs to neuroscience.

Research such as that published in 2007 in the Boletín de Psicología indicates that each time a certain episode is recovered (remembered) it becomes malleable or unstable, making it possible for the person to add new information to it. By storing this fact again, it is altered in relation to the initial or original.

This mechanism provides a space to be able to modify the way a painful and traumatic event is shaped in memory. In turn, the emotional reactions that are related to it can be changed.

Painful memories: negative emotions

Also, psychotherapy can help counteract negative emotions in a person. For example, by reinterpreting the events that cause you pain. When meanings are changed, the painful fact is altered. Information is added or replaced by information other than that which caused suffering.

However, most theories related to the study of painful memories agree that the facts must be accepted. Furthermore, it adds the premise that the past cannot be changed.

It is necessary to seek an apprenticeship for that painful fact. No matter how strong or traumatic it may be, you will always have a positive lesson to teach. Finally, it is important to know how to forgive. Forgiveness and forgiveness can help any event to be overcome and be in the past.