In this paper the author presents a review of the literature concerning the connections between affective states and memory processes together with the reflections on the implications of these connections for psychopathology and symptom/syndrome formation. Especially the issue of hypermnestic states in the context of dissociative phenomena is extensively discussed. The importance of these phenomena and processes for psychotherapy is discussed too. It might well be that they are involved in symptom formation as a transference reaction as part of the process of psychotherapy.