Memory

For this reflection, imagine that you were unexpectedly struck by a falling object, which caused you to experience retrograde amnesia. As we learned, retrograde amnesia is the loss of memories which occurred before the brain injury. In this case, imagine this accident has caused you to forget all your explicit memories from childhood up until you were struck by the falling object.

Luckily, a medication has been developed to help you recover your memories, but it’s up to you to guide the recovery process.

1. How would you begin the process of recovering your memory? Who would you turn to, where would you search, and how would you proceed?

To begin my process of recovering my memory, I would first turn to the people who helped me throughout childhood and adolescence-my parents, brother, relatives,  and friends. I have many memories with these people and if I start spending time with them, hopefully all my forgotten memories will slowly come back. I would also revisit the places I spend most of my time such as: home, school, work,  church, mall, and Manhattan. If I looked at past and present pictures, I think I would force myself to remember because there is proof that specific events did happen once in my life.

2. Please describe the emotional journey you imagine you would be going through as you attempt to reconstruct your life. Imagine the feelings you would have.

It would be a difficult and confusing journey for me. I would have no one to turn to and no where to go to. There are certain people I see and places I go when I am in a specific mood, and if I were to lose my memory, I would not know what to do. I would feel lonely and confused, and think that no one else understands myself but me.

3. Suppose you were able to pick and choose the memories you wanted to recover from your life. What types of memories would you choose to retain and what types of memories might you decide to edit out of your remembered experience? Positive, negative, painful, happy, angry, frightened, etc. Please elaborate and explain some your decision making process.

Throughout my life, I never had the feeling that I wanted to erase a memory or change it in some way. I feel that every memory allowed me to grow as a person and helped me in some way. Editing a memory will not change what actually happened. As we learned in class, we remember negative and emotion-filled memories more than other memories. Every memory, the good and the bad, can maybe help me regain all my memories back again.