Bad memories can be a real pain: Know how to forget them

According to a new study, there is a reason why forgetting your bad memories is not easy. Read on to know more.

By: Paras Hemrajani | | Updated: December 2, 2019 2:11 am

Making yourself busy, by either picking a hobby or working is a great way of distracting yourself until the bad memory has completely stopped bothering you. ©Shutterstock

Ignorance is bliss, we have heard. But being ignorant is not always easy. Remembering bad memories will not be helpful and only create more stress. All of us have the tendency to reflect on them from time to time. Choosing to forget these memories is not easy and now we know why. According to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience remembering hard times is easier than forgetting them. To come to this conclusion, research was done on a group of healthy adults. All the participants were shown pictures and asked to remember or forget each one while a neuroimaging machine was tracking their brain activities. At the end, researchers saw that remembering was accompanied with only moderate brain activity whereas forgetting showed an increased brain activity.

The study defines memory as the brain’s feature to store and remember information. Unlike leg pain, or any other injury, painful memories don’t disappear with rest. According to researchers, this is because even if a person consciously wants to forget a bad memory, they don’t want to make it leave on a subconscious level. According to another study in Applied Cognitive Psychology, when people were asked if they would like to take a drug that would make their traumatic memories disappear, 81 per cent said ‘no’. This shows that even if these are bad and nothing more than a burden, our brain still wants to retain them. If you still want to remove these from your mind, consciously and subconsciously, then here are a few techniques you can try.

WAYS TO OVERCOME A BAD MEMORY

Bad memories are very powerful and can easily affect your social life and relationships. Rather than depending on medication or drugs, which are both ineffective and unnecessary, here is a list of things that you can do to cope.

Acknowledge the memory

The first step of overcoming a bad memory is to acknowledge it. It might seem counter-intuitive, but the truth is that by acknowledging it, you are telling yourself that it’s ok that the incident happened and you have survived the worst. By suppressing it, you are making it too strong. According experts, reciting chants and mantras like ‘I got this’ and ‘it’s okay’ when the bad memory resurfaces can help you refocus.

Make better memories

If you are busy making happy memories than you won’t have time to dwell on the past. Keep yourself busy by either picking a hobby or working till the bad memory has stopped bothering you.

Seek help

By talking to someone you trust, or joining a support group, you are making sure that your past bad memories are not consuming your present. Receiving psychotherapy or talking to some other professional is a great idea as a specialist in this area will be better able to help you.

Published : December 1, 2019 1:40 pm | Updated:December 2, 2019 2:11 am

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