The smell of gun oil is a "Body Memory." The concept is as controversial in the psychological community as the ideas of Recovered and False Memory. A few analogies most people are familiar with are goose bumps and an amputee feeling sensations from a missing limb. Memories of trauma are stored in the primitive limbic part of the brain. According to survivor psychology the subconscious protects the conscious mind by repressing memories and feelings. Some things are too painful for even the subconscious mind to remember. But the body never forgets.
Body Memories are extremely common in victims of childhood rape and have been a recurring topic throughout my trauma recovery therapy. My psychologist and therapist have both explained the paralyzing sense of vulnerability along the left side of my head and neck, between my shoulders down to my anus I experience during flashbacks is Body Memory. My body is physically reliving the trauma as surely as my mind is psychologically. These two experiences distinguish Recovered Memory from False Memory.
Cellular level memory or primitive part of my brain, my skin crawls for no conscious reason. I have only recently come to understand why, but I have slept with something over for my head for as long as I can remember. My Mother said I slept under the covers when I was in grade school; my wife always figured I put a pillow over my head so I wouldn't hear her snore. Since I began to experience flashback 3 years ago, I not only need something over my head, it is impossible for me to sleep without something firm against my back.
