Vincenza.
That was an internet therapist, I haven't talked to mine yet. I believe she meant by treating the trauma that a person could remove the block or conditions that cause any related thought to get compartmentalized in these spots that are not accessible due to the fact that they have no attachment to normal memory. In that case any new thought would go into normal memory and be accessible. It sound feasible if trauma is the cause. But how do you treat the trauma was not explained. I can see how this could work. I have one and only one piece of lost memory due to trauma. What people used to call a nervous breakdown and by convincing myself that it was not my fault I've been able to get pieces of that day back. It was 40 years ago so even if it was in normal memory it might be hard to bring up. It is nice though to be able to fill in part of it. Interesting thing is that I had to get angry with myself to get rid of the "my fault" block. It wasn't my fault, I just felt it was. Still some embarrassment and shame there but that too shouldn't be, it just is. Working on getting rid of that too.
Maybe thought exposure to the trauma would give closure similar to visiting the grave of a missed loved one. Maybe acceptance could remove the block. Then maybe the missed day or days could be fed back into normal memory where they would become part of the normal thoughts a person runs through in the trip between the three corners of the triangle and there could be a happy outcome instead of a lost feeling that seems to get filled with emotions like sad and anger or panic.
I don't think the missing thought would have to be happy even, they just need to be there. I think attitude can deal with how you deal with them.
Interesting thing about dissociation is that in mild forms we all do it and even to some extent use it to deal with anxiety, examples are day dreaming and multitasking. Even doodling. But I think ~m was more concerned with clinical dissociation. The kind that seems to come out of the blue. I think the degree is directly related to the degree of trauma. The type of trauma too.
In some cases there need be no fault it just has to be more than the emotions can handle. In the one case of someone else's trauma that I know of there is a feeling of fault and guilt that should not be there. I feel that these feelings of fault and guilt and the anger of not being able to deal with it pushed the trauma into dissociation. If circumstances had of been different there might just have been extreme sadness.
Dissociation is interesting and some people have developed multiple personalities to deal with the trauma. Interesting but not relevant to this site I think.
On the subject of guilt and dissociation it has been noted that in many rape cases there is a false feeling of guilt that should not be there. Rape and child abuse being major reasons for dissociation along with torture. And in these cases there is a lot of false feeling of fault. So maybe dealing with the false feeling of fault is the way to deal with the trauma. Circles within circle. Where to start.
Davit.
Still CBT should be able to deal with the reaction to the empty spot caused by dissociation making it bi-passable if it can't be cured.
