However, through a review of the clinical history and the semantic debate over the relationship between trauma -- especially sexual abuse -- during childhood and the surfacing of psychologically distressing consequences in adulthood, it is evident that the diagnosis of repression is often misapplied. "The term 'dissociative." As applied to these disorders, is better construed as a descriptive label (referring to loss of conscious access to memory) than any pathological process instigated by trauma." (Kilstrom, 36) This means that the 'amnesia' triggered by such events can accurately be regarded as the involuntary mode of memory loss rather than the intentional psychological conditioning to 'block out' negative experiences. To an extent, this verifies...

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