noteworthy type of isolation is referred to as "temporal bracketing", in which some perceived failure or shortcoming is buried away in one's past, effectively removing its impact on the current self. This type of separation from the past can be seen in religious conversion or "born again" experiences, in certain drug addiction recovery programs, and in the throwing away of delinquent files in the legal system. These socially accepted practices effectively make isolation socially permissible, at least in certain instances; and those behaviors seem to relieve some of the stress from past events. People with low self-esteem often use temporal bracketing when describing past failures. By isolating themselves from whatever misdeed they are bringing to cognition, they contend that it has nothing to do with their current state or relationships with people. Effect Habitual repressors have been shown to have fewer unhappy memories than other people, but the difference rests in the secondary associations. Research of repressors concluded that they had equally strong negative reactions to bad memories, however those memories did not evoke other negative feelings as much as they did for non-repressors. The phrase, "architecture of less complex emotions" was created to describe this phenomenon. Repressors have bad memories just like anyone else, but are less troubled by them because they are relatively isolated in memory. The most current researchers have agreed that isolation is one of the more effective and important mechanisms of defense from harmful cognitions. It is a coping mechanism that does not require delusions of reality, which makes it more plausible than some alternatives (denial, sublimation, projection, etc.). Further research will be needed for accounts of isolation to be considered fully concrete. References Psychological adjustment Defence mechanisms Emotions