Memory and Meaning: Individual and Social Aspects of Memory Narratives

Abstract

Memory is critical to an understanding of traumatic stress, but most research has focused on individual traumatic memories and not accounted for broader social and cultural memories. The present theoretical article focuses on memory and meaning, and the clinical implications of this, demonstrating that an understanding of traumatic memory requires an understanding of the impact of both individual narrative and societal discourse. Without meaning, memory is nothing. This applies equally to traumatic memory. This position is discussed in relation to the study of aging war veterans, their traumatic memories, and the development of narratives to explain difficult past life events.