History Main / RepressedMemories

Fictional Repressed Memories are nearly always played for drama, as some character has intentionally forgotten about some event which is in some way important to the plot. Their rediscovery of the truth brings back all the pain that forced them into denial to begin with, commonly resulting in a HeroicBSOD.

* In ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion,'' it's implied Shinji's memory of his mother's death was this as flashbacks show he was present when it happened. It's possible he simply forgot because he was very young at the time, but in a dream sequence, he confesses that he does remember bits and piece from the fateful day, but that he also lied to himself about remember these small glimpses. Finally, when brought to the place where it happened he knows he's been there before and Akagi mocks him for being unable to recall exactly what happened to his mother.
* It's shown in ''Manga/GunslingerGirl'' that 'conditioning' does not erase your memories, it simply heavily represses them. Claes once beat up Petra when she touched her glasses, because the glasses were given to her by her [[TheHandler handler]], despite the fact she doesn't remember his existence. [[spoiler:When Henrietta is on a mission against the Five Republics Factor she sees a man in a ski-mask which triggers the memories of her past. She flies into a fit of rage, accidentally shoots her handler, and this ultimately results in her death]].
* Osamu from ''Manga/BokuraNoHentai'' think he has memories of a past life where he was a nymphomaniac woman. [[spoiler:When he sees a tape of himself as a little kid interacting with an older neighborhood boy the real reason comes to light. The boy used to dress him up [[{{crossdresser}} as a girl]] and sexually abuse him.]]

** Yuki represses the memories of zombies. For example, in the anime she forgot [[WhatAreRecords what an instant camera is]] despite taking a photo a few days prior because [[spoiler:she is in denial over her teachers death.]] In chapter 5 Yuki triggers the memories of [[spoiler:Megu-nee]] twice. The first time Kurumi reminded her of something [[spoiler:Megu-nee]] told her once, but Yuki had trouble remembering it clearly. The second time she triggers herself by saying something [[spoiler:that causes a severe headache.]] It's [[TheReveal revealed]] to us [[spoiler:that Megu-nee has been DeadAllAlong]] and what triggered Yuki was [[spoiler:that she said something similar during Megu-nee's death.]]

* ''Fanfic/ViperSpiderPhoenix'': O-Ren Ishii became TheAtoner and [[ThatManIsDead reinvented herself]] as "Joan Watson". Over time, she convinced herself that her past memories were either just dreams or deja vu. Her memories were re-awakened after seeing Moriarty (AKA, [[spoiler:the Bride]]).

* In Bones "The Father in the Details"[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10517713/1/The-Father-in-the-Details]] Deals with Lance Sweets learning that a lot of the memories he had of his adoptive family where really his things that happen with his abusive birth father Jason Andrew who used to use a whip on him as a child. To make matters worse Sweets start learning this information after he's kidnapped by his Birth Father.

** Similarly, also serving as a from of TraumaInducedAmnesia, the poem, ''What Became Unearthed'', has the subject recollecting a traumatic event from her childhood, implying this, especially since the poem mentions said memory haunting her subconscious until they had to be dealt with.

* A late-episode reveal in ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' makes a BittersweetEnding nosedive into outright DownerEnding. A woman came forward to reveal that her father had molested her as a child and raped her when she was 18. Through the course of the investigation, it appears that he's now molesting at least one of her younger sisters. The middle sister accompanies the oldest to confront their father, and accidentally shoots him trying to protect her older sister when the father seems to be threatening her. Then the woman explains that she only remembered the molestation recently, in therapy, under the "guidance" of her therapist, which places the accusation in serious question. ''Then'' they get a hold of her medical records, which reveal that she couldn't have been raped -- she's a virgin. After that it starts to come together that the entire "memory recovery" was a crock.
* In the ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' episode "Memoria", Lex is undergoing medical treatment to recover six weeks of his life that he forgot because of unwillingly undergoing electroshock therapy. However, instead of the lost time, he begins reliving repressed childhood traumas. Specifically, he relives the events leading up to the death of his infant brother, Julian, who he remembers accidentally killing when trying to stop him crying. However, it turns out his mother Lilian was actually responsible, due to a severe bout of postpartum psychosis, which caused her to deliberately smother Julian. Lex had taken credit to protect his mother from his wrathful father, Lionel. Lex is deeply saddened that this effectively destroyed his relationship with Lionel, just when they were possibly getting close.

* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' involves a boy named Sunny who became a shut-in after [[TraumaInducedAmnesia the suicide of his sister Mari]] and escapes into a dream world where his split personality, the titular Omori, goes on adventures while supressing anything that might reveal the AwfulTruth of that incident -- that [[spoiler:Sunny himself accidentally killed Mari and in a state of shock then covered it up with his friend Basil, who likewise acted irrationally as he believed Sunny was possessed into pushing Mari down the stairs. Refusing to go outside and fix Sunny's relationship with his former circle of friends leads to him only having garbled memories of what happened while Omori takes over his mind to "protect" him. Pursuing the truth leads to Sunny overcoming his guilt, helping Basil and confessing to his other friends, but not before Omori attempts to take over his mind and commit suicide as punishment for his crime.]]

-->'''Bart:''' I am at Disneyland!...''Disneyland!''
** In "The Blunder Years", a stage hypnotist hypnotizes Homer into thinking he is twelve years old again; however, this causes Homer to start screaming in horror. The family eventually figure out that Homer has repressed a traumatic experience from that age. Upon further probing, he finally remembers what it was: [[spoiler: discovering a rotting corpse abandoned in a quarry.]]

* In ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyDualDestinies'', the black Psyche-Locks seen in the final case (as well as the last case of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'') are revealed to indicate these. [[spoiler:In ''Dual Destinies'', they're protecting Athena from remembering discovering her mother's dead body with her killer still standing over her, then stabbing the killer herself. No one's yet sure what they mean for Kristoph, the only other character seen to have them...or if we'll ever find out for certain.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Three Gays of the Condo", Homer is in Bart's bed crying after a fight with Marge, and Bart tries to escape the annoyance by repressing the event.

* In "Bones" "Fanfic/The Father in the Details"[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10517713/1/The-Father-in-the-Details]] Deals with Lance Sweets learning that a lot of the memories he had of his adoptive family where really his things that happen with his abusive birth father Jason Andrew who used to use a whip on him as a child. To make matters worse Sweets start learning this information after he's kidnapped by his Birth Father.

* In "Franchise/Bones" "Fanfic/TheFatheintheDetails"[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10517713/1/The-Father-in-the-Details]] Deals with Lance Sweets learning that a lot of the memories he had of his adoptive family where really his things that happen with his abusive birth father Jason Andrew who used to use a whip on him as a child. To make matters worse Sweets start learning this information afters he's kidnapped by his Birth Father.

* [[MadArtist Eccentric]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer mangaka]], [[NominalHero Rohan]] [[TheFriendNobodyLikes Kishibe]], of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' cannot remember his childhood that well. [[spoiler:It's because he repressed a traumatic memory of his [[RoseHairedSweetie kind]] [[CoolBigSis babysitter]], Reimi, getting [[BodyHorror brutally murdered]] by SerialKiller, Kira Yoshikage, with him ''barely'' surviving due to Reimi's HeroicSacrifice. This happened when he was only four years old.]] It could also explain why he is the way he is today.

* In the film adaptation of ''Literature/DoloresClaiborne'', Selena doesn't remember that [[spoiler:her father sexually abused her]], and doesn't believe Dolores when she brings it up. [[spoiler:Her memories return near the end of the film.]]

* ''Fanfic/ViperSpiderPhoenix'': O-Ren Ishii became TheAtoner and [[TheManIsDead reinvented herself]] as "Joan Watson". Over time, she convinced herself that her past memories were either just dreams or deja vu. Her memories were re-awakened after seeing Moriarty (AKA, [[spoiler:the Bride]]).

* In ''Fanfic/ViperSpiderPhoenix'', Watson is O-Ren Ishii with amnesia. She has fleeting repressed memories of her past.

---> '''Jake:''' I think you're burying memories in some sort of mental vault-
---> '''Finn:''' Oh, yeah, the Vault! That's where the stuff I can't handle goes.
---> '''Jake:''' Okay, so you ''know'' you're doing this?

* A late-episode reveal in ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' makes a BittersweetEnding nosedive into outright DownerEnding. A woman came forward to reveal that her father had molested her as a child. Through the course of the investigation, it appears that he's now molesting at least one of her younger sisters. The second daughter kills the father to protect the youngest. Then the woman explains that she only remembered the molestation recently, in therapy. The implication (which seems to be taken as fact by the investigators, but there's no time left in the episode to prove it) being that it was a false memory coached by her therapist.

** Subverted in retrospect when [[spoiler:Seven's supposed repressed memory of being violated turns out to have been reconstructed from having watched people being assimilated when she was a borg]].

* [[WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman Beatrice Horseman]], [=BoJack=]'s mother, is a rather odd case as she's currently suffering senile dementia and can't recall specific details anyway, however, some of the ones that have significant part in her memories (like [[spoiler: Henrietta, her ex-maid and Hollyhock's mother]] for example) have their faces scribbled out, because she doesn't ''want'' to remember them.

** Similarly, also serving as a from of TraumaInducedAmnesia, the poem, ''What Became Unearthed'', has the subject recollecting a traumatic event from her childhood, implying this, especially since the poem mentions said memory haunting her subconscious until had to be dealt with.