The following questions are related to ‘Emotional Memory’ at Ask the Psychologist: Online Clinical Psychologist.
This list is sorted chronologically, from newest back to earliest.
Q: I frequently feel the need to force myself to feel emotional pain by imagining a distressing situation (e.g., imagining a painful breakup, imagining my last words when I die, etc.). I am not normally ‘satisfied’ until I cry uncontrollably to the point where I feel physical chest pains and fall asleep. I usually feel [...]
Q: I’m a 17-year-old guy from Brazil. I have been dealing with some issues for the past few years. During all my childhood, my father touched me inappropriately. He didn’t actually rape me but he would ‘play’ with my genitalia. I didn’t like it and I wanted to fight it but he was stronger than [...]
Q: I have been going to a therapist, initially for depression and feelings of self-loathing that came on when my father passed away. My father was a narcissist, a genius, an alcoholic, and was charming and manipulative. He had been sexually abused in an orphanage growing up and was also later called out as a [...]
Q: I have not participated in any therapy involving memories I have of abuse as an adult. How does one distinguish between memories that may be false and those which are real? Do false memories have certain common denominators? These memories were written down in my journal at the time, and my memories are exactly [...]
Q: I have uncontrollable thoughts about my past and mainly depression. It’s really starting to affect my life. Is there a name for what I have? Can I learn to control it? A: Depression is both a group of disorders with a half-dozen or so variations, and a symptom of other disorders. There is not [...]
