Charan Ranganath is a pioneer in using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study how we remember past events. In his work, he addresses an essential and enigmatic question that Hermann Ebbinghaus already posed more than a century ago: "Much of what we experience today will be lost in less than a day.
Why?", he writes in his book Why We Remember (Peninsula, 2013). The book is collected by neuroscientists from the University of California, San Diego. The author is also the author of The Brain That Remembers, published by Simon & Schuster, 2013, and is available for pre-order on Amazon.com for $24.99. The book can be pre-ordered for $29.99 in the U.S. or $39.99 in the UK. For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details. Research shows that when we try to remember past events, we are biased toward finding memories that are congruent with how we feel and think in the present. I don't think we should erase memories of negative events, even if they are quite traumatic. Treatment should focus on changing the most distressing components of those memories, the parts that lead us to feel painful emotions every time we remember. I advise sharing memories in the context of supportive and trusting relationships. Gaining outside perspectives, as in psychotherapy and support groups, gives us the opportunity to transform our memories, allowing us to view the past in a less distressing way. For confidential support, call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritan branch or see www.samaritans.org for details. In the U.S., call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255 or visit www.suicidepreventionlifeline.org. In Europe, call the national suicide prevention line on 0800-825-7255.