Repression and the inaccessibility of affective memories

The fundamental assumption that repression involves an inaccessibility to affective memories has not been directly addressed in empirical research. In the present study we examined three groups of subjects (repressors, low anxious, and high anxious) under six conditions of recall (general, happy, sad, anger, fear, and wonder). Subjects were asked to recall personal experiences from childhood and to rate their current mood and the affective intensity of the memories. The results indicated that repressors recalled significantly fewer negative memories than did low-anxious and high-anxious subjects and, furthermore, that they were substantially older at the time of the earliest negative memory recalled. Compared with low-anxious subjects, repressors also recalled fewer positive affective memories as well. This pattern of findings is consistent with the hypothesis that repression involves an inaccessibility to negative emotional memories and indicates further that repression is associated in some way with the suppression or inhibition of emotional experiences in general. The concept of repression as a process involving limited access to negative affective memories appears to be valid.     

Repression and splitting in the psychoanalytic process

The authors examine the concepts of repression and splitting and their interplay during the psychoanalytic process. Initially, repression was introduced by the clinical phenomenon of resistance, leading to the formulation of the association between intrapsychic conflicts and neurotic symptoms. Later, repression was linked to normal development and to personality organization. Splitting, on the other hand, has been defined in quite diverse ways. The two main definitions are of splitting within the ego, and splitting of representations of the self, and of internal and external objects. Repression and splitting are compared developmentally, dynamically, and with respect to their relationship to psychic functioning and energic conditions. Clinical material is presented from the analysis of a patient who presented with borderline personality organization and narcissistic features. During the initial phase of analysis, splitting associated with projection, projective identification and idealization were the main defence mechanisms. As the analysis progressed and the themes of omnipotence and mourning were explored with the simultaneous working through of drive derivatives expressed in the transference, repression gained ground over the more primitive defence mechanisms. The evolution of the case showed a gradual shift from splitting to repression and the association of repression with a more advanced psychic organization. This development reflected the dynamic movement from borderline to hysterical organization in psychoanalytic nosology.     

Repression, transference and reconstruction

Whereas Peter Fonagy almost dismisses the importance of repression and the recovery of repressed and suppressed memory, the author believes that the analysis of repression retains importance in clinical psychoanalysis. Transference is a return of the repressed, with repressed memories embedded within a fundamental unconscious fantasy constellation. Moreover, transference is an essential, but not the only, route to the understanding and analysis of the patient. Nor should transference be confused with the real or new analytic relationship. The author does not regard the dynamic unconscious as definitely registered and retrieved in procedural memory, awaiting further research. A focus on the present 'self with other' model of therapeutic action neglects pathogenesis and the importance of childhood and its psychoanalytic reconstruction.     

The electroencephalogram and childhood aggression

Available evidence reveals that, although the incidence of abnormal electroencephalograms (EEGs) varies between 10% and 15% in the general adult population, abnormal EEGs occur in 48–70% of aggressive psychopaths. The fact that the EEGs of aggressive, adult psychopaths show a high degree of similarity to the EEGs of normal young children has suggested that aggression may somehow result from a failure in the normal development of the central nervous system. This “maturational-retardation” hypothesis of aggression was investigated in the present study, the purpose of which was to discover whether behavior-problem children who are severely aggressive have immature EEGs, or EEGs characteristic of chronologically younger children. Six severely aggressive boys, aged 8.7–13.6 years, had their EEGs recorded while performing a simple reaction task. For each subject, an interval histogram consisting of measurements of the duration of 780 half wavelengths in the EEG was generated by the computer using the tracing from the left parietal-occipital (P₃ -0₂ ) derivation. The resulting histograms were subjected to a central moments analysis and age of each subject was estimated from the moments by means of a multiple regression equation. This equation, which relates an individual's age to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th central moments of his EEG interval histogram, had been derived by Surwillo [1975a] on a group of normal boys. In every case, age predicted from the EEG of a severely aggressive subject was less than the subjecťs actual age. This finding was statistically significant, as the probability of the outcome occurring by chance was only 0.016. The results of the experiment supported the maturational-retardation hypothesis of aggressive behavior.     

Repression and effective coping styles

This study investigated the relationship between repressive coping style as defined by Weinberger (1990)—low reported anxiety and high reported defensiveness—and several individual difference measures related to general coping styles. Twenty‐nine studies looking at cognitive, behavioural, and individual difference factors associated with repressive coping were tabulated and reviewed. In the current study 116 women and 32 men were administered a questionnaire including measures of personality, ways of coping, self‐monitoring, interpersonal influence, and locus of control to further explore the repressor coping style. Two measures, as opposed to the usual one, were used to categorize repressors: the use of anxiety and social desirability measures of Weinberger, Schwartz and Davidson (1979) and the Gudjonsson (1981) method using Neuroticism and Lie scales from the EPQ(R). Analysis of variance showed that repressors reported using more positive/healthy and less negative/unhealthy coping styles. The results did not change substantially when more extreme scoring groups were used. Factor analysis of the scales revealed six clear factors relating to ways of coping; again, repressors scored highly on the factor denoting positive coping. It was also found that the Lie and Neuroticism scales of the revised EPQ personality questionnaire of Eysenck, Eysenck and Barrett (1985) could be used as a substitute for anxiety and defensiveness to predict repression with considerable success. However results from both one‐ and two‐way analysis of variance indicated that the two different ways of classifying repressors was not totally inter‐changeable as the overlap in results occurred only with highly significant effects. The results are discussed in the light of previous investigations into repression which suggested that repressors report an overly optimistic way of coping in order to avoid negative affect. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Repression and coping with the threat of rape

A study is reported which examined the impact of repressive coping style on processing and recalling information about rape. It was predicted that repressors selectively avoid threatening information about a rape incident and that selective avoidance is reflected in poorer recall for details of the rape account as well as anticipation of fewer coping problems in the event of sexual victimization. A total of N=143 women were presented with an authentic rape scenario taken from police files. The sample was divided into repressors, sensitizers, non‐anxious and defensive high‐anxious individuals on the basis of an anxiety and a social desirability measure. Differential memory by the four groups for the rape scenario was measured in a free‐recall task. In addition, respondents were asked to anticipate potential coping problems they thought they would experience in the event of sexual victimization, and they were asked to indicate their behavioural precautions against a sexual assault. As predicted, repressors showed poorer recall for the described rape than both sensitizers and non‐anxious subjects. Results were less conclusive concerning the proposed interaction of anxiety and defensive avoidance on anticipated coping problems. No effect was found of cognitive coping style on behavioural precautions against rape. The findings are discussed with respect to the construct validity of repression as a cognitive strategy for coping with threat in the domain of sexual violence. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

从压抑的认知神经科学观点看精神分析的发展

回溯失语症等一系列研究材料,可以发现弗洛伊德的精神分析理论构建在当时的生物学发展基础之上。随着当代认知神经科学的发现,尤其是从记忆存贮、梦以及联合型学习等方面对压抑机制的解释,使得精神分析与神经科学的整合成为一种可能。但二者的整合还需要在更多方面做出评估,同时重视精神分析理论蕴含的独特思想。     

从压抑的认知神经科学观点看精神分析的发展

回溯失语症等一系列研究材料,可以发现弗洛伊德的精神分析理论构建在当时的生物学发展基础之上.随着当代认知神经科学的发现,尤其是从记忆存贮、梦以及联合型学习等方面对压抑机制的解释,使得精神分析与神经科学的整合成为一种可能.但二者的整合还需要在更多方面做出评估,同时重视精神分析理论蕴含的独特思想.     

Anxiety and Repression in Attention and Retention

High- and low-anxious college students (as determined by scores on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale; A. W. Bendig, 1956) and repressors (low anxiety and high scores on the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale; D. P. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1964) were compared on 3 cognitive tasks. High-anxious participants more often spelled the negative emotional meaning of ambiguous homophones (e.g., pane/pain) and forgot more of their free associations to emotional cue words than did the low-anxious participants. The repressors also detected the emotional meaning of the homophones but unlike the anxious, the repressors did recall their associations to the emotional words. In a working memory task using nonemotional items, the moderately anxious participants recalled fewer words than did the low- and high-anxious participants. The results confirm that both trait anxiety and repression affect information processing at a variety of stages but not in the same way. Repressors were sensitive to, and retentive of, negative emotional stimuli.     

Repression and Coping Styles in Asthmatic Patients

The objectives of this study were to (a) determine prevalence of the dispositional repressive coping style as well as other situational coping styles in a sample of asthmatic patients and (b) to analyze the capacity of these styles to predict subsequent morbidity (emergency room visits or hospitalizations due to asthma) during a 12-month follow-up. A sample of 75 adult asthmatic patients was selected and information about sociodemographics, asthma severity, and patient’s perception of illness severity was collected. Repressive coping style was defined by a combination of scores obtained on the Trait Anxiety Inventory and the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale. Coping styles were assessed with the dispositional version of the Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced Inventory. Eighteen patients (24%) were classified as repressors. Repressor asthmatics obtained scores significantly lower on Emotion-Focused Coping compared to non-repressors (F _(1,72) = 5.15, p = .026). Patients who perceived their asthma as severe reported to use Emotion-Focused Coping more than those who judged it as mild or moderate (F _(2,71) = 4.83, p = .011). A higher use of Denial (an Emotion-Focused strategy of coping) explained 8% of variance of the frequency of emergency room visits during the 12-month follow-up. The prevalence of repressive coping style in the asthmatic population is similar to that registered in other populations of chronic patients, and it is also associated with the tendency to report a lower use of strategies traditionally considered as maladaptive. The use of Emotion-Focused Coping strategies seems to be related to a worse perception of the physical status, and among this group of strategies, Denial also could favor a poor clinical course in bronchial asthma.