This is the last of the three parts of this article. I hope you have found it helpful. As always, I invite your comments and questions.
How Touch Affects Memory
Touch can have strong emotional meaning, both positive and negative, simply because of the way it is linked to memory. Some of that memory will be easily recalled, but for those who struggle with DID, much of it will, of course, not be easily recalled, but will be no less powerful. Touch, then, will have emotional and physical associations (Hunter & Struve, 1998). Bessel van der Kolk (1991) has done extensive research on the effects of trauma on memory. Note his comment on non-declarative memory and how it relates to sensorimotor sensations related to experience.
Research into the nature of traumatic memories indicates that trauma interferes with declarative memory, i.e. conscious recall of experience, but does not inhibit implicit, or non-declarative memory, the memory system that controls conditioned emotional responses, skills and habits, and sensorimotor sensations related to experience.
What he's saying here reemphasizes what we've said in past articles already on this subject. For more information on this subject, we have briefly discussed the impact of traumatic memory on the body and how that affects one physiologically. Please refer to the October 2004 article on "Body Memories," and the April and July 2004 articles, Parts I & II, "A Short Intro to Memory Processes," for those discussions (links below).
On another vein, research has shown how crucial the early weeks and months are for an infant developmentally. For the early abuse survivor, those times of essential safe touch that are not received by the infant leaves a gaping wound in the child's soul. Hunter and Struve (1998) explain it this way: "The presence or absence of touch influences both physical and psychological development in profound ways." In regards to touch, they explain, "Just as the young human infant needs food, water, and sleep to sustain physical survival and growth, so, too, he has a constant emotional need for comfort, reassurance, and security. Physical contact is especially important because such interchanges between the infant and caregiver signify comfort, acceptance, protection, and a sense of being loved."
What happens, then, when these vital needs are lacking in one's life? Does it not stand to reason that the child will certainly suffer in some profound way? And what happens to that need for touch? Are we to assume that it will disappear with age? Many survivors have led themselves to believe that they have "grown out of it," or have trained themselves into "making" it so, but this was never the way in which we were designed. How do we resolve this problem, then, in order that restoration into wholeness and health might take place? What is the solution, since the therapist cannot do all, or be all (especially in opposite gender situations) for the client? Stevens, in her article mentioned above, was clear that this issue of touch was no easy one to resolve. "Meeting the human need physical contact is a thorny problem, but it's too important to dismiss merely because it is difficult to manage." How undeniably true!
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