"Bad" Mothers: The Politics of Blame Re: Radio Doug

[Miles Jackson]

On Mon, 31 Mar 2003, RE wrote:

> In sessions
> I've had patients broach a difficult, important subject and then forget
> about what they had been talking about ten minutes later, or else forget
> about it by a session the next day, at the same time complaining of feeling
> "foggy-headed" and the like.  To try to talk about this in any way other
> than repression -- out of control, motivated forgetting that crudely
> protects the individual -- is absurd.  If it's hard to study, that doesn't
> mean it doesn't happen.
> Randy
>

I agree.  There is some pretty convincing research that supports your
observation that motivated forgetting is a common defense mechanism.
But this example is more the exception than the rule when it comes
to scientific tests of psychodynamic ideas.

Miles