My question is about retrograde amnesia. Eighteen years ago, while riding a bike, I was hammered by an oncoming jeep. I broke many bones and lay in a coma for two weeks. I have no memory of the accident, from the night before to six weeks after. Only a brief flash of a moment, when I was out on the bike, stands out in my mind. I did experience post-traumatic stress attacks for 13 years, but after I returned to the site of the accident, I brought closure to it and no longer experience such attacks. I've written a book about my story of recovery. Is there any way now to try and unlock my memory of the accident as it happened, or would it be unwise?

Marty

Current scientific understanding is that in order to permanently store an experience in memory, it must be encoded and transferred from short-term memory to long-term memory. When someone has had a severe physical trauma -- particularly one in which he or she was knocked unconscious -- the encoding and storage process may be aborted before the memories of events around the time of the trauma are moved from short-term into long-term memory storage. As a result, there may be no narrative or visual memory of the trauma that can later surface or be retrieved.

However, the body's nonverbal response to the trauma (complete with adrenalin-driven stress reactions to life-threatening danger) may continue to be triggered and re-enacted in what some refer to as "body memories." (These reactions can also be thought of as conditioned responses -- like Pavlov's dogs, who were fed after the experimenter rang a bell and soon began to salivate at the sound of the bell, the body of the traumatized individual may automatically respond to stimuli that remind him or her of the trauma.) Body-centered and nonverbal approaches can often help interrupt and resolve these types of traumatic symptoms.

If you were unconscious and in a coma (or recovering from the coma) for several weeks following the accident, your mind may not have been able to process and store your experiences. In short, it may very well be that there is no memory of your accident that you CAN retrieve ... at least, not in ways currently understood by mainstream science.

If there ARE memories of your accident of which you're not aware, can -- or should -- you retrieve them? One possibility is to consult with a licensed professional experienced in hypnosis. But please keep in mind that research has indicated hypnosis doesn't necessarily increase the ACCURACY of memory, while it does increase CONFIDENCE in even false or distorted memory.

There's another option, however, that comes to mind: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. You say you've gotten closure on your accident and its aftermath and are no longer experiencing post-traumatic symptoms. Why expend more time and energy trying to dredge up memories that may not even exist? You can now give thanks that you've survived the accident, recuperated emotionally as well as physically, and completed a book about your experiences. Perhaps now it's time to shift your focus to the future and let go of any remaining ties to the past.