Is What We Remember True?

Key points

Memory of the past is subject to our past emotions, current beliefs, and interactions with others.

Each act of remembering is a moment of changing what we remember.

Memories should be revisited with humility about their malleability.

While working with a patient whose spouse had committed infidelity , the patient told me that many of her memories had been “tarnished.” “I look back at what I used to think were happy memories with a different lens,” she said. “Now, knowing what was going on at the time, those memories all seem fake to me. They were based on a shared experience that wasn’t real. They no longer make me smile.” The new information today had changed her memories of the past.

We cherish our memories—our history is so much of what gives our lives meaning and form