Intrusive memories are experiences of unwanted re-imagining or re-living of something that has happened to you. This might be a visual reminder of a traumatic experience, a mental image of a situation, a felt experience as if you are reliving an event, or a verbal / thought reminder of something you were a part of. No matter if this memory was “good,” neutral, or “bad,” you likely still feel uneasy due to the fact it was not something you deliberately tried to remember or recall. Intrusive memories are common symptoms of stress and grief related experiences.

Not all the time. Sometimes we can experience intrusive or unwanted memories of embarrassment, guilt, or joy. Intrusive memories are a part of the human experience.

People often come to therapy because intrusive memories are bothering us, or getting in the way of living the life we want.

There is not a one-size-fits-all treatment for intrusive memories, as they come in many forms and experiences. When someone is both bothered by intrusive memories and would like to be able to live a life where they occur less often, we can attempt the following types of treatments:

• treatments that focus on increasing awareness to the triggers

• treatments that focus on allowing intrusive memories to come and go

• treatments that focus on paying attention to the event the memories are reminding us of in order to reduce our avoidance

If there are things you don’t want to talk about, it makes sense.

There are ways we can work around talking about something by building up to talking about the feelings, situations, and stressors that remind us of what happened. The therapeutic techniques I use include eventually talking, writing, or creating about what happened because making space for what happened to us allows us to move through it. However, this only comes after you feel safe and stable with me and your environment, often much later on in treatment.

If you don’t feel like talking or need quicker solutions, please know there are many other treatments available, including Accelerated Resolution Therapy, Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing, and Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing Therapy.

*If you are looking for this type of treatment and want help in finding someone safe, feel free to reach out and I can support you in connecting with a provider!

Yes, I work with folks experiencing traumatic stress who have reoccurring intrusive memories. We will use a multi-modal approach to treat the trauma and people often report symptom relief or remission related to intrusive memories.