2003-05-09

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Heroin Use and the Psychology of Repression

At the age of about 10 weeks the foetus begins to become aware of its environment. And it simultaneously develops a basic mechanism to protect itself from potentially damaging events in its new world. This mechanism is the repression response. Everything that is occurring around us is constantly being monitored by our subconscious mind, below the level of our conscious awareness. When something happens that the subconscious mind believes may be harmful to us, it activates the repression response. This response blocks our full awareness of the event and further suppresses the expression of any pain which may be associated with it. We therefore do not fully experience what it was that happened and do not express fully any accompanying pain. The intention of the subconscious mind is to block our awareness of the event until such time as it is safe for us to experience what it was that happened and express the pain associated. To ensure that our conscious mind, as we go about our daily life, does not accidentally come across the block of memory and unexpressed pain, it covers it over with layers of fear. By doing this, our subconscious mind ensures that should our conscious mind experience anything that symbolically reminds it of the painful memory, it suddenly experiences fear, and quickly moves away. Growing up therefore, naturally experiencing events which our young mind cannot yet comprehend and so feels slightly threatened by, the repression response will often be activated. This results in the storing up of a lot of these blocks of memory and pain, all covered over with fear to ensure we don't accidentally uncover them. The repression response remains available to us throughout our lives. But, as we progress through childhood, so we naturally develop an improved system known as the grieving process. The term 'grieving process' does not apply solely to dealing with the death of a loved one, but to any event that has a negative effect upon us. The process of grieving a painful event runs through several distinct stages and allows the body to re-balance itself at an emotional level and thus soon return to life much as before. It does not involve the storing away of lots of little blocks of pain and memory. And the grieving process proceeds naturally as soon as we become aware of what it is that has happened and express the pain associated. So growing up, we can release ourselves from the past if we progressively become aware of what it is that has happened to us, and liberate the repressed blocks of memory and pain inside, thus initiating the grieving process. It is a good idea that we do this, for if we do not then the blocks of memory and pain will mount up and anytime we consciously experience something that symbolically relates to one of the repressed memories we will experience fear.