My Memory Lane

How do therapists make you remember repressed memories?

I don't completely understand how a therapist is able to make you remember certain memories that you have repressed from the past. What do they say to you that makes you remember these memories? Do you have to have a therapist make you remember or can you do it yourself?

Public Comments

1. They sift through many common thoughts and emotions that many people share when they suppress memories. They try to recreate those emotions and the images/memories start to surface through recreation of a similar emotion.
2. law and order SVU just had an episode about this today, which I am assuming is where you got your question from. Therapists don't MAKE you do anything, Certain triggers do, just as a smell can remind you of a person.
3. the therapist cannot make you remember these important issues. A good counselor or therapist follows your behavior and knows when anxiety is in the area. There must be resting periods for the client to absorb the energies which develop in psychoanalysis. You may unravel a few concerting moments on your own but due to the self-defeating biases we all hold there would be very much less than anything brought into a real understanding such as trauma.