Can you erase bad memories?

[User 180565 is taking donation]

As humans we all experienced horrible memories, my question is how do you cope with them? Can you switch them off? Personally my escape is work, when I'm moving arpund and doing things i feel more at ease.

[HoudiniDerek]

I have always been pretty good about being able to suppress memories, bad or good, until they are needed or I have time to indulge. Some hit suddenly and you can't do that, but overall, I'm pretty good at compartmentalizing.

[Trab]

Apart from a few, I can get them out of my mind.

[Zenlethic]

In a way, all my memories make me the person I am, so I wouldn't want to erase them. But I think I do have a good grasp on keeping certain memories from coming to the front of my thoughts if they are bad enough.

[wildmaven]

You really can't erase memories, but you can learn to reframe them so that they don't feel as hurtful. For my PTSD, I underwent EMDR, which helps to train the brain to handle bad memories differently. If bad memories are affecting your life, you should seek the help of a therapist, who can help like they did for me.

[Teddybear8]

Oct 2, 2020 9:48:13 GMT -8 wildmaven said:

You really can't erase memories, but you can learn to reframe them so that they don't feel as hurtful. For my PTSD, I underwent EMDR, which helps to train the brain to handle bad memories differently. If bad memories are affecting your life, you should seek the help of a therapist, who can help like they did for me.

Yep, this is the way it works for me too.