What are body memories?

I haven't posted much on here recently, partly because I've been having another 'mute' phase and partly because I've been doing a lot of thinking and it's very difficult to put it all into words. I'm trying to build up the courage to post more about what's going on with me but in the meantime I have a question. I'm confused about body memories. I've seen a lot of people on here mention them but I'm still unsure exactly what they are or whether I experience them. I'll put a

***Trigger warning***
here just in case. I have this flashback which I've had for years which is just this image of someone grabbing me by the hair and yanking my head back. There are no emotions or anything, and I have no context for it, it's just an image. But recently I started getting sensations with it, like a burning sensation on the back of my head/neck. And sometimes now the sensation happens without the image.
***End trigger***

I also get nauseous very frequently (like, most days, sometimes several times a day), but I very rarely throw up. I just get this feeling of nausea. It often happens when I'm anxious, but it can happen for no discernible reason or it can be triggered by something I'm reading/watching.

So are these body memories? Does anyone else experience anything like this? Can I expect more, since the one I describe above has only recently started happening? I'm a bit unsure what they mean or how to deal with them, so I'm grateful for anyone else's experiences or input.

Hi owleyes,

I googled your question, I've seen this mentioned a couple of times myself and have always wondered what it meant. This is what I found.
Body memory is a hypothesis that the body itself is capable of storing memories, as opposed to only the brain. This is used to explain having memories for events where the brain was not in a position to store memories and is sometimes a catalyst for repressed memory recovery. These memories are often characterised with phantom pain in a part or parts of the body – the body appearing to remember the past trauma. The idea of body memory is a belief frequently associated with the idea of repressed memories, in which memories can be retained and recovered through physical sensations. The idea is pseudoscientific as there is no known means by which tissues other than the brain are capable of storing memories.

I have had a few experience's with this myself and have never known what it was. I have little memory of it, just get weird feelings and sensations.

Hope this has helped to make things clearer for you.

i believe the women i was in a relationship with experienced this frequently. Dissociation can hide or lock away the memory but it cannot remove the physical sensations associated with an event.so when a trigger is experienced,the physical feeling comes back .

hihihi I is Little Tara.... i mights be ables to splains this a little but it coulds cause someones to gets upsets so please please dont reads if you can be triggered by bad stuff happenins

A wiles agos my mama whi is my mama in real lifes nows the one who takes cares of me and makes me mind and stuffs well her wanted to gets my attention coz i wasnt paying no attention to what she was tellins me coz well i didnt wanna.....well anyways her smacked the top of my leg on my thigh and well it kinda shocked me and while i started listenin to her i was kinda offs after that..

that night whens we was goin to beds i membered what her had done and all of a sudden i was membering some really bad stuffs that happened a long times ago jus like it was happenin i wasnt wif mama i was back there when it happened

so i guess you could calls it a body memory like you was talkins bouts coz i thinks it was her hitting my leg like that that made me member all that stuff

byeeeeeeeee

angelfire wrote:These memories are often characterised with phantom pain in a part or parts of the body – the body appearing to remember the past trauma. The idea of body memory is a belief frequently associated with the idea of repressed memories, in which memories can be retained and recovered through physical sensations

Thanks very much for looking this up. I still find it a bit confusing, I don't know about you. Like, for example, I don't get 'phantom pain', just sensations that feel uncomfortable and I can't explain them. Then the part about memories being 'recovered through physical sensations'. I've had this nausea thing like forever and no memories 'recovered' or any other reason for it, really, I just know it's psychological rather than physical. So maybe these aren't 'body memories'. Then again, bigduke6 and Little Tara, you guys both seem to be saying it's like a 'physical flashback' in the same way that you can get visual or emotional flashbacks, something triggers a memory but you only get the physical sensation? How confusing.

Hi Little Tara, by the way Thanks for replying to me. I'm sorry you had to remember all those bad things happening. I hope you're feeling safe and OK now.

Owleyes wrote:Thanks very much for looking this up. I still find it a bit confusing, I don't know about you. Like, for example, I don't get 'phantom pain', just sensations that feel uncomfortable and I can't explain them. Then the part about memories being 'recovered through physical sensations'. I've had this nausea thing like forever and no memories 'recovered' or any other reason for it, really, I just know it's psychological rather than physical. So maybe these aren't 'body memories'.

No need to thank me, I like to try and help as much as I can because I can't offer very much at the moment.

When I found that on google it made perfect sense to me but now I've read your reply it has confused me again You do make a good point though.

I used to always suffer with this from the age of 8/9. I don't remember much of my childhood due to memory loss (not all dissociative related) but I remember seeing either a T or Psychiatriast about it which uncovered some memories, this led to most of my 'body memories' dissappearing but over the last few years, I'm experiencing new feelings.

I think maybe talking to a T about it might be able to help you remember the memories which are linked to these sensations? I don't know how much more advice I can give really. I hope what I've said will be of some use to you though!

Sorry for confusing you I wonder if body memories and physical flashbacks are the same thing? (Even though I've probably just made up the term 'physical flashbacks'!). Just thinking aloud (if that's possible in writing )

Hi Owleyes,
Here's a link that you may find useful:

http://cetcetera.wordpress.com/2011/01/ ... sociation/

I have body mems too.

*** Trigger***

I wake up sometimes with the feeling (& I swear it feels exactly like it is real & happening in the moment) that my ankles are tied down. No pictoral mems associated with this yet, they are yet to come. Also, I will wake up often with my arms straight up above my head. Who sleeps like that?) If you want, pm me on this as the body mems surface, no matter tomorrow or 2 years from now. I'm going through it too. A reminder, try to remember when it happens, as with any component of BASK...that was then, this is now. Best wishes...Sotrsab

Owleyes wrote:Sorry for confusing you I wonder if body memories and physical flashbacks are the same thing? (Even though I've probably just made up the term 'physical flashbacks'!). Just thinking aloud (if that's possible in writing )

No need to apologise, I get confused very easily, it actually made me laugh a little

To be honest I think they both mean the same thing myself, they just have different names, both names imply feeling something physical with probably no memory of what the feeling means, so yea! Physical flashblacks as well I guess! (If you have made up that word then its a good description of what you mean... I like it! )

Hi Sotsrab, that's funny, I was just thinking about you and that I hadn't seen you around here for a while Thank you for the link, it's a really useful explanation. Is that your blog?

So, does anyone know the difference between 'body memories' and 'psychosomatic symptoms'? Don't know why, I just feel the need to get these things straight in my head.