When psychological Defences Break Down: Differences in Recalling Self-Threatening Information in Psychological Distress Seminar

While psychological well-being is usually not associated with any particular memory problem, curiously, we do, however, tend to have difficulties in recalling information that may be regarded as self-threatening. It has been suggested that this reduced recall of self-threatening information, also known as mnemic neglect, may be a form of self-protection of the ego, or possibly even an experimental correlate of Freudian repression, as well as an indicator, more generally, of experiential / cognitive / emotional avoidance. The findings of a number of studies will be presented examining mnemic neglect in several subclinical disorders that demonstrate increased recall of self-threatening information in some populations while others show enhanced forgetting compared to a nonclinical sample.

Finally, a study will be presented that suggests that mindfulness may improve recall of self-threatening information in nonclinical samples, and poses some questions about potential causes of mnemic neglect, as well as the processes that underlie mindfulness' impact on cognition.