You're right. Yes, memory does work that way, I think.
In fact, upon remembering a traumatic event, via very upsetting flashbacks. Yes they cluster, which is frightening for me, and with body memories that are painful and scary.
Then, if I sit with that time period and tolerate the unpleasant emotions that go with it and talk to my husband, suddenly...I'm remembering other events of that time period that have nothing to do with the trauma, but just from that time period.
I think this helps me to feel "less crazy" because I can see the timeline better and know that I'm the same person who survived all that. I remember doing nice things for my friends, like offering them a tissue in the same place I was tortured. I don't know if it was before or after the torture happened, yet, but I do agree that at least memories surfacing is a good sign that some integration is occurring.
I think memory is like a topographical map, with the inability to scale to each peak all the time. Flashbacks find me at the top with little atomosphere to breathe. I also cannot see the valleys. Usually, I'm in the middle on a path and cannot see where it's leading through time. But sometimes, I can see the whole thing. I don't know if that makes sense, but memory is a very complex thing.
Research is looking at at least two main recording memories running simultaneously and then sub lines of memory running inside of those. There is an observer and a performative memory. I cannot remember the details, but within medically invasive procedures, researchers are learning how the brain and body retain memories differently and how it gets divided up and recorded. They are still too far from the truth that psychology has been aware of for 100 years in medical science on this front, but at least it's getting looked into.
