The Psychology of Severance | Who You Are... Without Memory

Help me make more videos!

About this video essay:
A spoiler-free analysis of the show Severance, and several other pieces of media, that explores how our memory really works, how it relates to our identity and sense of self, and who we would be without it.

Chapters:
0:00 Prologue
1:10 Identity without Memory?
4:44 Episodic Memory
6:14 Semantic Memory
7:41 Interrelations
9:09 Explicit and Implicit Memory
9:18 Procedural Memory
10:21 Priming
13:16 Complicating factors
14:15 Identity beyond Memory
15:53 Nature Versus Nurture
18:23 Relating Ourselves to Ourselves
20:30 Cosmic Memories

Further Reading:

Media included:
A Beautiful Mind; A Fantastic Woman; Beautiful Boy; Big Little Lies; Blade Runner 2049; Brokeback Mountain; Dead Poets Society; Devs; Dopesick; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; Her; Inception; Knight of Cups; Memento; Moonlight; Paterson; Pig; Ratatouille; Severance; The Bourne Identity; The Matrix 4: Resurrections; The Perks of Being a Wallflower; The Secret Life of Walter Mitty; Voyage of Time

Music:
Lights & Motion – Ghost of You
Dexter Britain – Time to Run (original piano)
Greg Thomas – Form
Dexter Britain – Dream Array
Dexter Britain – Voices in the Wind

[LikeStoriesofOld]

Who here's been watching Severance? Are you enjoying it? :)

[slowitdown]

The concept of this show is fascinating. The symmetrical cinematography is gorgeous as well. I haven’t seen a show at this level for some time.

[LeoNickle]

I watched 9 hours of television so I could watch this 20 min YouTube video.

I'm glad I did, the show was phenomenal. The finale itself was the most gripping, tense episode of TV I've ever watched.

[victorhugoeh]

Having taken care of my Alzheimer's ill grandma for many years, this video touched something special in me. Alzheimer's desease took away many memories from my grannie's mind - or at least blocked her access to them. However, she filled in the gaps the best she could so she would still be herself, relating to the world outside of her head. She would change data or call you names which would seem coherent to her or plainly invent a story to make the world comprehensible for her. So yes, I concur with that last thought you express on the video: there's a part of our conscience that remains and is far beyond memories. One that can array thoughts and perceptions so that one can still be oneself - even if a bit changed. Excellent video.

[Amazin]

I love this show can't wait for season 2, truly original.

[twelvechimesitsmidnightpod]

I love horror, and I've been exposed to a lot of crazy stories, but this show/story deeply disturbs me, maybe more than pretty much anything else I've seen, much more than I expected. Being at work 24/7 with no respite and no way to escape, no way to meaningfully express yourself, is a literal hell. I've seen/read plenty of Sartre-type stories of hell, but this one I can relate to in a way I can't fully to other scenarios, and I'm filled with anxiety even thinking about Severance and its characters. I'm really having a hard time getting through the episodes, although I really want to know what happens. Wow, amazing storytelling!

[keiththorpe]

I've been fascinated by this show. How does one go about enslaving one's own identity? Simple, split the self into two parts, making one aspect of your identity live to do naught but all that dreary, soul-crushing, mind-numbing work.

[anniealexander]

I was a psychology lecturer who used to teaches pre-honours and honours level long-term memory courses. I would have happily put this video in front of my students. Truly excellent work. Thank you

[brittanystorey]

This takes the expression “ take your work hat off when you get home” and “leave your personal life at home” to another level.

[galengraziano]

Bro, so based on the title, this actually happened to me. I was hit by a semi truck and was hospitalized for two weeks. The concussion rendered me barely able to think; I could only react, there was a four-second delay to my answers and my filters were stripped away. I couldn't even hear my own voice in my head. Ultimately, I learned who I am when I can't think, what the three principles I rely on are failing all else.

If you're curious, they were "truth, understanding and compassion."

[A_Salty_Fishe]

So I was in a motorcycle accident that broke my leg in many tiny pieces. I had to consciously learn how to walk again. Even now, 2 years later, I am still acutely aware of how I am walking, because I have chronic pain to remind me all the time. I am very interested in learning more about the association/relationship between pain and memory.

[coolgirlraquel]

this show was SO THRILLING AND GOOD. the theme absolutely slays too

[Sam_T]

this show is so complex…
Milchick brings up “Mr. Eagan’s favorite breakfast” minutes before Helly is severed, in what may seem like small talk, but that very same factoid is part of the “intake survey, ” presumably only hours or minutes after the severance first takes place.

I’ve seen the show three times now, and this is the first time I’ve pick up on that particular line 👌

[lyxthen]

I have memory issues. My autobiographic memory is severy damaged, there are entire years of my life that I dont remember anything from, people that were important to me that I only have one or two memories of. I dont know what my home address is or what phone number is and it takes me a while to remember how old I am. It didn't really distress me until I told my parents about it. My "textbook" memory is pretty good I'd say, and what I remember of my life I mostly remember as "concepts" but not as things they actually happened to me (like the example of being born). Even then they are very rare and far between. I also have a hard time forming new memories (I dont remember what I had for breakfast). I dont know if it's my ADHD, or if I have PTSD or another kind of disorder. I do still have a sense of self, I know I am a trans man for example, which if you think about it is kind of a big deal in this context (knowing you're a guy despite everyone telling you you are a girl). So I do have an identity, despite being unable to remember 99% of my life in any concrete manner. I guess that's comforting? I don't know.

[shinobiBUNK]

This is why I have some type of identity issue going on. People say just be yourself, be authentic. But you can actively change what that is. Should I be who comes easy to myself? Should I be what I think is right? Why do I think those things are right? Which leads me, inevitably, to the fact that personality and identity is an illusion. And now I'm stuck watching the human world around me like I'm an alien watching it through a screen

[danthornton]

Hey man...My dad died of Alzheimers 2 years ago and this just hit me so hard in the feels that I'm weeping like a baby. You make very moving scripts come to life my man, massive respect for this work here, and all your work, which is *healing*. Thanks for all you do. Really top work.

[Queerlien]

As someone struggling with bpd, this hit close to home. I defintely have lost a sense of self over the years, i feel so fragmented and lost... it's extremely difficult to live with memory loss and with a lack of knowing who you are..

[mikebasil]

It’s amazing how our memories, thoughts and imaginations can be affected by the impacts of work. Even work at home. Severance is a quintessential reminder of that. Thank you, Tom.

[jetsamperes]

The outtie's work day. Get up, get dressed, drive to Lumon, park walk into Lumen get in the elevator at 8:15 am. Instantly reverse the actions except now it's 5 pm. It's like Daylight Saving Time on steroids. You just moved your clock ahead by 8 hrs. You have from 5 pm till you go to sleep to live and create new memories. For your innie - they are in an endless loop of work. They get on the elevator at the end of the day and when the door opens a second later it's the start of another work day. They earn two tokens a day for the vending machine - their paycheck goes to the outtie. Innies are slaves.

[emilysmith]

10:59 this shot is incredible, and mathematically symbolic. Because of the rectangular frame, plus the rounded edges of the table, it looks more like an ellipse: a shape with two focus points, or foci, instead of just one like a circle has. Helly is centered on one focus, while desperately reaching for the other one. But try as she might, she can’t close them. It takes both of these points to describe her current sense of self, and she will be annihilated if she tries to become a circle again - a person with a unified and unsevered frame of reference.

Even the title “Severance” is so perfect. It’s the state of her memories; it’s compensation for losing a job; it’s a threat of nonexistence as retaliation for quitting.