Dissociative Amnesia in “The Butterfly Effect”

Repressed memory is a particular type of dissociative memory that is effectively seen the popular film “The Butterfly Effect”. The film is about a boy named Evan who as a child and teen experienced blackouts during traumatizing situations. Due to these blackouts he is asked by his psychologist to keep a journal of his day to day life. When Evan is older he discovers that he is able to change what has happened in his past by rereading his journal entries; as he changes the past he also alters the future and eventually dooms himself into not ever existing(the director’s cut is different from the theatrical version). However, there are flaws in the way that this type of dissociative amnesia is, used but over all repressed memory is the effective psychological state. Also the film gives insight to a closer cognitive understanding of why our brain works in certain ways; as well as how are emotions are fragile and can destroy us. Although with flaws, the film is effective in expressing the benefits and negatives of repressing a memory.

                A repressed memory is caused by stressful situations, such a being raped or beaten violently. The memory does make it through to being stored in long term memory but the brains psychological defence mechanisms prevent it from being retrieved. So although it is stored, there is an error in our retrieval process. In the movie “The Butterfly Effect”, repressed memory is only used half correctly. The boy Evan faces events in his childhood that are horrific and depressing and so it is accurate that he should repress these events. He experiences a truly things including child pornography, witnessing and participating in the death of a women and her child, as well as witnessing his dog being killed and his father attempting to murder him. These events would naturally be repressed because Evan would simply not want to relive those experiences, thus allowing his brain to lock them away without his knowledge. Another fact about repressing a memory is that in some situations it can be recalled through therapy or hypnosis, etc. In Evans case he is able to recall his lost memories by rereading his journals from that time. Indeed “The Butterfly Effect” has portrayed the basis of a repressed memory correctly and well, but yet there are still flaws.

                The largest flaw of all of course is Evans ability to change the past as he recalls his memories. This is purely just an elaboration made in order to make the film more interesting, indeed there would not be a film without it. However, as in the movie our society would deem him insane, suspecting he suffered from a separate psychological disorder that would possibly create these memories in his mind. Another but smaller and less obvious flaw in the movie is that Evan has blackouts when he is not under a terrible amount of stress. It happens on two occasions, once when he is in school and then later when he is a home with his mom. In both situations nothing traumatizing happens; and the film simply explains the blackout to be due to his future mind returning to set an example or an attempt to change something but failed. Evan returns to the kitchen with his mom to try and get to the point when he is forced into child pornography but is unable. He revisits the school in order to return to the present with a scar as proof of what he can do. So although these events contribute to the movies over all story they are an incorrect example of Evans dissociative amnesia.

                Through watching this film one gains both a cognitive and emotional understanding of memory loss. It is interesting to see that the brain allows us to repress things without our conscious knowledge. In a sense our unconscious mind is more powerful than our conscious mind. The emotional understanding would be that one’s past is what shapes who they become. Although Evans past is harsh every time he tries to fix the lives of him and his friends, someone always ends up in a poor state. It is our human nature to want a perfect happy life for all including ourselves. In “The Butterfly Effect” this causes Evan to give up the reality in which he suffers with no arms and no functioning legs, but all of his friends are just fine. It is our unconscious mind that protects our emotional feeling from overwhelming tragedies that would otherwise destroy us.

                The movie “The Butterfly Effect” gives a well done example of dissociative amnesia, repressed memory, but as shown there are still flaws in order to make the film a hit. Correctly the character Evan blocks out the horrid traumatizing events of his child and teen years, and is unable to recall the events until much later in life through the use of his journals. Still his ability to change the present by changing the events of his past is improbable and some of his blackouts are senseless by the facts. So although the movie is in itself an interesting view on memory it still largely plays into the fiction of our minds. Through the movie we understand that our mind protects us from our undeniable human nature. “The Butterfly Effect” shows us that although memory loss is usually terrible in some cases like dissociative amnesia, where one represses a memory, the loss can be helpful to the overall growth of their life.

Dream Analysis

Even though I could remember it I knew that I had had this dream before. I was some sort of small dinosaur creature, that looked all cuddly and cute. I lived with my five other dinosaur creature friends in the middle of a dirty swamp. the water was all merky and we were surrounded by tall grass. All of my friends were similar to me in the way that they were all samller than a cat and looked very cuddle worthy. There was only one member of the group that could fly, they were a Taradatul and also the smallest, which is saying a lot because literally none of us were much bigger than a robin.

In the dream we had to hide very quickly because we had found out somehow that the inspectors were coming to find us. The inspectors were the FBI agents from the cartoon show Johnny Test. The inspectors came raging through our swamp and found all of me and my friends. They locked us in individual cages like ones for chickens. The cages were placed in gigantic barn that was the size of a warehouse, where there were lots and lots of other creatures captured and in the same types of cages. All the cages were stacked stacked on top of each other with isles in between. The floor of the barn it turned out was water and the cages floated on top of it. The water was completely calm not a single wave ran through it.

Once we were left alone, i excaped from my cage and swam over to my friends like a duck, keeping everything except my legs out of the water. After we had al excaped a gondola appeared before us that was just our size. We climbed in and began to go around opening all of the cages, but nothing followed us out. We paddled to the enormous front doors of the barn and opened them. The inspectors were waiting for us outside and this time I recognized them as actually beign FBI. They stood in a semi circle around us with guns pointed at us. They were waiting there to catch the aliens, us.

We were now on land and had to run for safety. Two of my group suddenly just vanished and I was down to three friends. We ran up a large powerline tower but it was very thin. At the top there was a wooden board that was like a diving board. Although it had been day when we started running it had turned to night when we climbed the tower. Looking at the board I knew we had to jump or we would be caught.

It was at this point in the dream that I was aware that the last time I had had this dream I did not jump, but this time I did. I jumped and grabbed onto the one of us that could fly and my other friend fell far below me. However I was too big for my little flying friend to carry so we both just fell after a few moments of struggling. We fell down to a river that was below us, but we never hit the water because I woke up.



1. Psychoanalytic View: I could be afraid of being to controled, fearing my life would become a cage. Also I am afraid of taking the plunge to be completely on my own. While in the barn the situation is calm and quiet, like represetning my feelings of ease at someone else making the important decisions but still I feel I need to excape because I do want to be independent.However once I escape the situation changes to one of fear and intensity meaning that taking the plunge scares me but I will still do it. Perhaps when I first had this dream I wasn't ready to take the plunge and that is why I didn't jump.The fact that I try to hold on to my friend to stay up could represent my need to have a small amount of help to get on my feet. The inspecors/FBI agents coudl represent those that I feel are holding me back. Although in the begining of my dream I have five friend in the end I only have two. This could represent the people I feel closest to, the ones I know will stick by me the whole way. The fact that I am a small insignificant creature could represent my feeling that I can't change the situation, meaning there will be a very strong and intimidating force against me. Also even thought the dream could have possible not been finished just because I woke up, the incompleteness could also mean that I can not know the outcome and no one does, we just have to trust and go for it. The manifest content is the imager such as the barn, swamp, or tower, etc. The latent content is what those those things or situations represent.


2. Biological View: The thought of what do to do after Highschool. To move out? To go to school? What school? Go traveling? Work for a year? All of these questions could have spurred me to have this dream because no one can make the correct decision for me, I have to do it myself and since it is a very big choice to make it causes stress and the stress could result in the dream.

3. Cognitive Perspective: I only someone agree with this view of things because although I believe me dream has told me to just suck it up and take the plunge for an independent life I do not think I have found any answers of how to solve the problem, there has been no clear resolution of what I should do after Highschool. However I do understand that I will be able to do it even without know my outcome.

like helen keller

I awoke to the touch of my mothers’ hand upon my shoulder. Her soft, smooth fingers recognizable as the hands that have held me since birth. Breathing deeply my nostrils are filled with her heavily perfumed scent. She smells of roses and I have long since assumed that it comes from the many smooth rose gardens that rim our house.  I feel my mothers’ face in an affectionate way feeling the straggles of hair fall around her thin face. I have assumed that I must look somewhat like because as I feel her jaw line I trace along my own, I run my pointer finger down her nose and mirror the iamge on my own, I pat her cheeks and then my own. We feel the same except my touch is sensitive to the coming wrinkles upon her skin. Her skin has begun over the years to feel of paper and the wrinkle increase but the bone remains the same. The only difference between must be that she is aging and I am not.

I sit up in my extremely cushioned bed feeling a slight breeze blowing against my face. I feel my hair slide to my left and determine that the wind must come from the open window to my right. I turn my face towards my right o receive the full blast of the wind against my face; it quickly drys out my blank staring eyes.  I begin to feel around on my blanket for the hem, every stitch a prominent bump to my fingers. I have often traced the pattern of my quilt and felt out all the different patches. I know which way every swirl turns and which vine penetrates through the next square. I know all but the colour. Finding the hem I grasp it in my hand and throw it over my legs releasing them of their warmth. The cool morning air prickles my skin and goose bumps appear. I slide my legs along the cotton sheet which is soft but not as soft as silk against my skin. My feet come to the curve of the mattress and I place them upon the ground. My toes prickle over the rough hard wood feeling out the loose slivers.

I reach my hand over to the knight table feeling for my glass of water. Running my fingers along the smooth wooden table top their path is interrupted by my goal. I grip my glass firmly around the middle and take a sip. My tongue is brought to life by the cool water. I taste the blandness of water as well as the settling of the nights dust on the surface that small trace of dirt. Placing the glass down, I stand, my knight gown blowing around my knees. I walk cautiously towards the window of which I long ago memorized as exactly fifteen floor boards away from my bed. I shuffle my feet along the ground feel the groove of each panel, counting as I go. I reach the window, the wind brushing through every strand of hair. I lay my hand on the on the plastic lining of the window the ups and downs marking my fingers. I breathe in deeply and I smell the outdoor world. I smell the pollinated flower a floor below, I smell the bark of the trees deep and rustic, the animals mix together, smelling of sweat and dirty fur. I smell my breakfast below through the kitchens open window. I breathe in the taste of the bacon and eggs on jam toast, and in the distance I smell salt. It is far because it does not come through as strong but I know that it comes from the sea and I could walk there I wanted. I raise my hand against the edge of the window frame finding the window glass, I pull it close.  I see no sight, I hear no noise, but I am aware of everything that surrounds me.

creating a blog

In the past I have only used an academic blog for two of my english classes. My experience has on the whole been very achieving because I feel that having a blog not only limits the amount of homework one must bring home but is also accessible almost any where. The accesiblity of the blog make it easier for assignments to be done on time but also at ones leisure. I feel that this blog this year will largly help with my overall effort put into this course. Creating the blog was easy and I believe that using it will be easy as well. I look forward to the assignment that will include our blog.