What term refers to the struggle to suppress unwanted memories from the past?

The term that refers to the struggle to suppress unwanted memories from the past is blocking. Blocking is a phenomenon where an individual is unable to access or retrieve a memory because they are trying to suppress it or because it is psychologically distressing. This can often lead to a feeling of frustration, as the person is aware of the memory but cannot bring it to mind.

Transience refers to the gradual forgetting of memories over time, highlighting the impermanence of memory rather than an active struggle to suppress it. Persistence, on the other hand, relates to the intrusions of unwanted memories that persist despite efforts to forget them, demonstrating the difficulty of escaping these thoughts rather than the active suppression itself. Bias involves the influence of current knowledge, beliefs, or feelings on the recollection of past events, rather than the suppression of memories. Therefore, blocking is specifically associated with the intentional effort to suppress or remove unwanted memories from consciousness.