Memory and trauma

Memory and trauma is the deleterious effects that physical or psychological trauma has on memory.

Memory is defined by psychology as the ability of an organism to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information. When an individual experiences a traumatic event, whether physical or psychological trauma, their memory can be affected in many ways. For example, trauma might affect their memory for that event, memory of previous or subsequent events, or thoughts in general. Additionally, It has been observed that memory records from traumatic events are more fragmented and disorganized than recall from non traumatic events.^[1] Comparison between narrative of events directly after a traumatic event versus after treatment indicate memories can be processed and organized and that this change is associated with decrease in anxiety related symptoms.^[2]