Which psychological process involves forgetting something by pushing it into deep memory storage?

Repression is a psychological process where unwanted or distressing memories are unconsciously pushed out of conscious awareness and stored in deep memory. This mechanism is often associated with traumatic experiences or feelings that the individual finds too painful or anxiety-provoking to confront. Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, introduced the concept of repression to explain how individuals protect themselves from psychological harm by excluding certain thoughts or memories from consciousness.

In contrast, suppression refers to the conscious decision to forget or not think about a particular thought or memory. Amnesia describes a profound loss of memory that can occur due to various reasons, such as injury or psychological trauma, rather than a mechanism of memory storage. Deactivation is not a commonly recognized psychological term related to memory processes. Thus, repression is the most fitting answer as it clearly aligns with the idea of forgetting by pushing memories into deep storage.