How do we remember? The differences between explicit, implicit and procedural memory, and their relationship to working with trauma in therapy.
When it comes to healing, most of us are familiar with cognitive therapy, which helps us process and shift thoughts, beliefs, and emotions through conscious reflection. This approach works primarily with explicit memory, the kind of memories we can actively recall and talk about. It is incredibly valuable for understanding our past and making sense of our experiences on a mental level.
However, there’s another layer to healing that goes deeper than what we can consciously access. This is where body-based or somatic approaches to therapy come in. Somatic work goes beyond the mind and taps into the implicit and procedural memories stored in the body. These memories influence our behaviours, reactions, and emotions in ways we often aren’t aware of, and they can hold the key to true, lasting change.
In somatic therapy, we don’t just process what we can verbalise; we work with the sensations, the stored emotions, and the old patterns that live in our bodies. By reconnecting with this deeper layer of memory, we can access the roots of what is holding us back.
3 Types of memory
Explicit Memory is what we typically think of when we remember something consciously, like recalling a friend’s birthday, or the fact that you had a cup of coffee this morning. It's the type of memory we can intentionally access, use, and talk about. We use explicit memory when we recount a story, or when we relay knowledge and facts.
Implicit Memory is a bit more subtle. It’s stored in our body and emotions, and can be triggered by something like a smell, sight, sound or memory. It unconsciously impacts our behaviour without us realising it. For example, if you've ever felt a sudden sense of anxiety in a specific situation, even if you can't remember the exact cause, that is implicit memory at work. It is often tied to our earliest experiences, especially from childhood, and these memories influence how we react to things, like feeling fear in certain situations without understanding why.
Procedural Memory refers to how we remember how to do things, like riding a bike, typing on a keyboard, or even driving a car. Learning routines and patterns of behaviour that we can perform automatically. It’s automatic and doesn’t require conscious thought. These memories develop through repetition and experience, and they stay with us even when we don’t actively think about them.
The role of implicit and procedural memory in therapy
While explicit memory is more accessible and used more widely in therapy, implicit and procedural memories have such a huge role in shaping how we feel, think, and behave, that to ignore them is missing the key ingredient.
Procedural memory stores the automatic physical actions we’ve learned over time, learned behaviours can become automatic responses stored in the body’s motor system. In the context of trauma, procedural memories can drive physical reactions like freezing or tensing up when faced with certain triggers, even if we’re not consciously aware of why our body reacts that way. If you were in a situation as a child where you exhibited repeated ways of avoiding danger or pain, the procedure of that will be stored in the body as procedural memory.
In somatic therapy, we tap into this memory by following the body’s natural impulses to move. When emotions or trauma are held in the body, these impulses guide us toward completion, allowing the body to release what’s been stuck.
Implicit memory on the other hand, is broader and includes emotional and sensory experiences. It’s the unspoken, unconscious memory of past events, often traumatic ones, that affect how we react to situations in the present. For example, if you were one of the many people taught as a child that anger was bad or wrong, that belief would be stored in your implicit memory, influencing how you suppress or react to anger as an adult, often without being aware of it.
When we ignore or suppress emotions and sensations, these memories remain locked in the body, leading to disconnection and barriers to healing. This is where somatic therapy becomes so powerful, by reconnecting with our bodies, we can access these deeper memories stored in both procedural and implicit memory. This process allows us to uncover and shift hidden patterns, so we can respond from a place of self-awareness and authenticity, rather than relying on automatic, unconscious reactions.
Moving toward wholeness through reconnection with the body
The key to true healing lies in reconnecting with the body and the implicit and procedural memories that reside there. When we don’t address these deeper layers, old patterns continue to negatively influence our behaviours and reactions unconsciously. These repeated patterns lead to suffering that often leads us to seek external comforts, like distractions or addictions, in an attempt to manage what’s buried inside.
Somatic therapy offers a powerful path to integration by bringing these memories and patterns into conscious awareness. By accessing them and facilitating their completion, we can release their hold and begin to heal. The more we reconnect with our bodies, the more we move toward a place of wholeness where we are no longer driven by automatic reactions but can respond with greater awareness, authenticity, and emotional freedom.
Warmly,
Maraya Rae Rodostianos
