Have you ever been shown a picture or been told a story about the past or your childhood so many times that you start to remember it like your own memory? One day, you’re telling the story to someone else and the memory is alive, practically vivid. You find yourself saying you can’t even remember if you were told about this memory or if you remember it yourself. The experience can be quite disorienting. When looking at the deeper implications, it can be quite terrifying. Understanding the way the brain reacts to false memories is important for understanding mental health and substance use disorders in which the brain is vulnerable.
Research
New research suggests that almost half of people would accept false memories as true. Sci-news.com reports that out of the 400 participants, 30% remembered an event that was false, going so far as to describe the event in detail. 23% more of the participants demonstrated that they believed they believed the fictitious event to have happened in real life.
Memory is an important part of treatment for mental health and addiction issues. Most of the therapeutic component of treatment has to do with memories, identifying underlying issues which contributed to the development of abusive relationships with harmful substances.
Distorted Beliefs
The article quotes the study’s co-author Dr. Kimberley Wade of the University of Warwick in the UK. Wade explains that “distorted beliefs can influence people’s behaviors, intentions and attitudes.” Understanding false beliefs are important for understanding people. Social anxiety, depression, and substance abuse are usually rooted in some set of false beliefs one has about themselves, the people around them, and how they relate. The stories they tell themselves become realistic truths by which they live, doctrines of their lives which inspire harmful behaviors. Much of treatment teaches us that our perceptions shape our reality. Behavioral modification therapies show us how to look deeper into such beliefs and question them, reframe them, and make better use of them.
Avalon By The Sea strives to provide luxury quality care to everyone in need of treatment for mental health disorders as a primary condition. Our certified dual diagnosis treatment center is qualified to treat both mental health disorders and substance use disorders. From the tranquil comfort of our luxury estate on the cliffs of iconic Malibu, men and women can find healing through treatment. For more information and a confidential assessment, call 1 888-958-7511.
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