Unconscious memories flow beneath the surface of our daily lives, emerging when sensory cues in the environment, waves of familiar emotion, or specific contexts trigger remembrances of events from the past that we’ve buried deep within. Research shows that repressed memories, especially those related to fear, can be brought to the surface when we return to a similar mental or physical state as when the memory was first formed (Squire LR, Dede AJ, 2015; Northwestern University, 2015).

Memories can reveal themselves through dreams, slips of the tongue, or even in our automatic responses to certain triggers in everyday life (Scalabrini A, Esposito R, Mucci C, 2021; Ruch, R. S., 1972). It’s no wonder that the interplay between the present moment, our conscious memories (along with the narrative we’ve constructed about our life experiences), and the unconscious memories within create a complex template for our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors as we move through our lives.

Jane Campbell, who became a debut author at 80 years of age with her book Cat Brushing, has followed up with her first work of fiction, drawing upon her 35 years of experience as a psychoanalyst. Her novel, Interpretations of Love, explores repressed emotions, memories, and unprocessed trauma.

Q: In your novel, Interpretations of Love, you write, "...it is not so easy to keep the past back there where it belongs since it tends to leak into the present all the time." Can you say more about how our past tends to leak........

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