Anger: People who experience intense anger and rage often report having blanks in their memory. Anger can result in a general increase in physiological reactivity and a focus on the situation causing the anger which can blind the person to what is happening around them.
Physical effects of anger
The brain shunts blood away from the gut and towards the muscles, in preparation for physical exertion. Heart rate, blood pressure and respiration increase, the body temperature rises and the skin perspires. The mind is sharpened and focused.
Research shows that emotions can have an effect on your memory. People who are in a positive mood are more likely to remember information presented to them, whereas people who are in a negative mood (i.e. sad or angry) are less likely to remember the information that is presented to them (Levine & Burgess, 1997).
Previous studies had revealed that the suppression of memories is linked to a decrease in activity in the hippocampus - the area of the brain involved with making new memories and retrieving old ones.
Depression, anxiety and stress – “These are common causes of forgetfulness,” Lyndsay said. “Stress and mood disturbances can act as a distraction and make it difficult to focus, which can lead to memory problems.”
Stress and anxiety affect memory because they make it harder for you to concentrate and lock new information and skills into memory. You may end up forgetting something simply because you were not really paying attention or had too much on your mind.
What Are the Dangers of Suppressed Anger? Suppressed anger can be an underlying cause of anxiety and depression. Anger that is not appropriately expressed can disrupt relationships, affect thinking and behavior patterns, and create a variety of physical problems.
Physical, emotional, and psychological trauma can all play a factor with memory loss. You can experience permanent or temporary memory loss depending on the type of trauma.
Suppressed emotions stay in the body. The effects of suppressed emotions include anxiety, depression, and other stress-related illnesses. Such suppression can lead to alcohol and substance abuse. (Read more about the link between childhood trauma and addiction here.)
Amygdala. The amygdala, an almond-shaped structure in the brain's temporal lobe, attaches emotional significance to memories. This is particularly important because strong emotional memories (e.g. those associated with shame, joy, love or grief) are difficult to forget.
The amygdalae, a pair of small almond-shaped regions deep in the brain, help regulate emotion and encode memories—especially when it comes to more emotional remembrances.
Anger is a secondary emotion
Typically, we experience a primary emotion like fear, loss, or sadness first. Because these emotions create feelings of vulnerability and loss of control, they make us uncomfortable. One way of attempting to deal with these feelings is by subconsciously shifting into anger.
In some studies, up to 70 percent of those with outbursts of rage were found to have neurological damage.
Consciously forgetting memories is called suppression. The process in which we unconsciously forget memories is called repression. Both types of forgetting are coping mechanisms.
Dissociative amnesia has been linked to overwhelming stress, which may be caused by traumatic events such as war, abuse, accidents or disasters. A person with dissociative amnesia may have experienced the trauma or witnessed it.
What is Trauma blocking? Trauma blocking is an effort to block out and overwhelm residual painful feelings due to trauma. You may ask “What does trauma blocking behavior look like? · Trauma blocking is excessive use of social media and compulsive mindless scrolling.
Our lower backs store most of our unexpressed anger. Many people develop severe and debilitating pain in the lumbar region of the back. Chronic stress activates the sympathetic nervous system that puts pressure on the spinal cord.
Causes of Pent-Up Anger
For many individuals, it may stem from learned behaviors and habits, miscommunication, or an underlying mental health issue. People with pent-up anger may suppress this emotion for several reasons: Fear that their anger will get out of control and harm others. Trying to adhere to moral values.
Memory loss may be a sign of dementia. Dementia also affects thinking, language, judgment, and behavior. Common types of dementia associated with memory loss are: Alzheimer disease.
Administration: The examiner reads a list of 5 words at a rate of one per second, giving the following instructions: “This is a memory test. I am going to read a list of words that you will have to remember now and later on. Listen carefully. When I am through, tell me as many words as you can remember.
The answer is you are likely to have been “dual-tasking” just before speaking. It might have been because you were thinking about the words you wanted to say and something else at the same time. Or maybe you were concentrating on listening while trying to think of what to say.