Do we “repress” the traumatic events that have occurred to us, such as sexual abuse, or
do we simply just forget them over time? Some argue that the events deemed to be so traumatic
that we unconsciously hide away the memories of the events causing us to never even remember
that they happened. This phenomenon otherwise became known as “repression.” Case studies
done by psychologists such as Williams and Bull try and provide evidence that we do, in fact,
“repress” traumatic events and the memories of them. On the contrary, psychologists such as
Loftus, Gardner and Martinez-Taboas argue against the fact that memories are “repressed”
stating how some memories can be implanted by therapists, counselors or others close to the
subjects. Although both sides to the argument of “repression” provide their own evidence as to
why it does or does not exist, the studies that provide evidence against the existence of
repression outweigh the evidence if it does. The holes in the psychologists’ studies who try to
prove repression exists conclude that repression cannot be real. Although there were many case
studies done arguing for the existence of “repression”, the one study that stands out to most
people is the study done by Bull in which he studied Rachel. Because of how persuading this
case study can be in making people believe “repression” exists, this paper will focus mainly on
the case study done by Bull on Rachel. This paper will explain all of its holes and how the
evidence provided for the existence of repression in Bull’s case study are not sufficient enough
to provide a conclusion that repression exists.
Considering the many questions this paper can and has raised, one of the biggest
questions would be: “Could Jane have been lying?”. One of the many holes exists in the fact that
the father, who was accused of sexually abusing Rachel in her younger years, was imprisoned,
yet not for anything related to incest. It is possible it might not have even been anything sexually
related at all. The circumstances to which the father was imprisoned were never mentioned in the
case study, which raises the question, “Was he a sexually abusive father at all?”. The lack of
documentation of what was happening to Rachel can show that although what you see is what
you get, it is not always the truth of what was happening “behind the curtains”, as one would say.
Her sister, Jane, who we have no details about, was apparently an eye witness in the sexual abuse
done to Rachel, and was also said to have been abused as well. Although this would sound like
credible evidence, there was no mention of who the sister was, how old she was when this was
happening, or what her name even was. One might state that there must have been medical
