I'd love to learn more about this. Would you mind pointing to a couple of resources that you think are especially interesting developments in the space of mind and memory? I'll google as well, but it would be more interesting to someone what someone _in_ the actual niche finds interesting.
Also this study related to the neuroscience of dissociation of memory, showing in EEG an increase in the interconnectivity in the brain before and after treatment.
Functionally, we’re learning how to measure the effectiveness of treatments and therapies on the brain, and also learning how the brain handles difficult situations.
This isn’t without controversy, as there was a very large conflict in the field of psychology called the “memory wars”, related to some people having recovered memories via free association and suggestive therapy practices (all very discredited now), and those memories were provably false. There was a very large movement that was spearheaded by a very… suspect organization by the name of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation that posited that ANY recovered memory is almost inherently false. This didn’t really jive with people who had recovered memories of abuse who actually did find real evidence and admissions by the perpetrators. To this day there are many in the field that believe that dissociated memory is impossible. This went on for decades and made studies on dissociation and memory an extremely politically difficult thing. Remember the satanic panic in the 90s? This was that.
So now we’re moving on, finally, from that debacle, and finally being able to bring the subject in a new age, while also having learned a lot about what things not to do. It’s estimated that fully 1-3% of the /human population/ has the more severe version of a dissociative disorder, more people than have red hair. And yet, the ability to study dissociation and also the cultural understanding of it is just opening up. To me, it has the potential for huge societal implications as way that we treat dissociated memories and parts of individuals in trauma therapy is the same process by which we can heal interpersonal wounds. It’s the magic that a great diplomat has in talking with and truly hearing people and building consensus and trust and community. All this last part is mostly conjecture and a set of possibilities for broader applications on my part, but I wanted to share some of what makes me so enthused about it.
I had to take a long break from my thriving career after I found myself diagnosed with a dissociative disorder, and had to learn a LOT about how this all works in order to repair things within myself that I didn’t appreciate were broken (that’s the very short version). I’m absolutely thriving in ways that I have never imagined possible as a result of some of this work.
