Recovered Memory Data
- From: childadvocate <smartnews@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:03:42 -0800 (PST)
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
Recovered Memory Data
Definition: http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/whatabout.html What about
Recovered Memories? Jennifer J. Freyd, University of Oregon “Sivers,
Schooler, and Freyd (2002, p 169) define recovered memory as “The
recollection of a memory that is perceived to have been unavailable
for some period of time.”
Recovered Memory Corroboration:
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
Research discussing corroboration and accuracy of recovered memories:
An Annotated Bibliography by Lynn Crook
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/index.html “…
debate has focused on recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse.
But the phenomenon extends to other traumas, including physical abuse
or witnessing a murder. Almost everyone would agree that such traumas
are normally remembered. That is, most people who experience such a
trauma are likely to remember it, perhaps vividly and to the point of
being intrusive. But do some people forget completely? A variety of
scientific sources say “yes.” The purpose of this website, then, is to
bring together the extensive and growing evidence of cases ignored or
overlooked by self-described skeptics of various sorts. Peer-reviewed
prospective studies and clinical studies continue to document this
phenomenon. Moreover, cognitive psychologists have combined
experimental data with these other sources to develop better ways of
understanding this phenomenon.”
http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/archive.html
101 Corroborated Cases of Recovered Memory
http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/ Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse
Scientific Research & Scholarly Resources by Jim Hopper “Amnesia for
childhood sexual abuse is a condition. The existence of this condition
is beyond dispute. Repression is merely one explanation - often a
confusing and misleading one - for what causes the condition of
amnesia. At least 10% of people sexually abused in childhood will have
periods of complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences
of delayed recall.”
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html Research has shown that
traumatized individuals respond by using a variety of psychological
mechanisms. One of the most common means of dealing with the pain is
to try and push it out of awareness. Some label the phenomenon of the
process whereby the mind avoids conscious acknowledgment of traumatic
experiences as dissociative amnesia . Others use terms such as
repression , dissociative state , traumatic amnesia, psychogenic
shock, or motivated forgetting . Semantics aside, there is near-
universal scientific acceptance of the fact that the mind is capable
of avoiding conscious recall of traumatic experiences.
How often do children’s reports of abuse turn out to be false?
Research has consistently shown that false allegations of child sexual
abuse by children are rare. Jones and McGraw examined 576 consecutive
referrals of child sexual abuse to the Denver Department of Social
Services, and categorized the reports as either reliable or
fictitious. In only 1% of the total cases were children judged to have
advanced a fictitious allegation. Jones, D. P. H., and J. M. McGraw:
Reliable and Fictitious Accounts of Sexual Abuse to Children.Journal
of Interpersonal Violence, 2, 27-45, 1987. In a more recent study,
investigators reviewed case notes of all child sexual abuse reports to
the Denver Department of Social Services over 12 months. Of the 551
cases reviewed, there were only 14 (2.5%) instances of erroneous
concerns about abuse emanating from children. These consisted of three
cases of allegations made in collusion with a parent, three cases
where an innocent event was misinterpreted as sexual abuse and eight
cases (1.5%) of false allegations of sexual abuse. Oates, R. K., D.P.
Jones, D. Denson, A. Sirotnak, N. Gary, and R.D. Krugman: Erroneous
Concerns about Child Sexual Abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect 24:149-57,
2000….Children Tend to Understate Rather than Overstate the Extent of
Any Abuse Experienced - Research with children whose sexual abuse has
been proven has shown that children tend to minimize and deny abuse,
not exaggerate or over-report such incidents.
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/res/csa-acc.html
The False Memory Debate - Research discussing corroboration for, and
accuracy of recovered memories - An Annotated Bibliography -
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psnews/message/743 from - Brown, D.,
Scheflin, A., and Whitfield, C. (1999). Recovered memories: the
current weight of the evidence in science and in the courts. The
Journal of Psychiatry & Law 27/Spring 1999. “The recovery of memories
in clinical practice: Experiences and beliefs of British Psychological
Society practitioners” Andrews, Bernice; Morton, John; Bekerian, Debra
A.; Brewin, Chris R.; Davis, Graham M.; Mollon, Phil The Psychologist
1995 May, Vol. 8, pp. 209-214 ” “…recovery from total amnesia of past
traumatic material involving both CSA and non-CSA experiences is (not)
uncommon”" … our large-scale survey confirms and extends previous
research…. Memory recovery appears to be a robust and frequent
phenomenon.”
“Recall of childhood trauma: A prospective study of women’s memories
of child sexual abuse.” Williams, Linda Meyer U New Hampshire, Family
Research Lab, Durham, US Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology
1994 Dec Vol 62(6) 1167-1176 In a study of 129 women “with previously
documented histories of sexual victimization” A large proportion of
the women (38%) did not recall the abuse that had been reported 17
years earlier.” Women younger in age when abused and women “molested
by someone they knew were more likely to have no recall of the abuse…
Long periods with no memory of abuse should not be regarded as
evidence that the abuse did not occur.”
“Recovered memories of abuse among therapy patients: A national
survey.” Pope, Kenneth S.; Tabachnick, Barbara G. Independent
practice, Norwalk, CT, US Ethics & Behavior 1995 Vol 5(3) 237-248,
“According to the therapists, about 50% of the patients who claimed to
have recovered the memories had found external validation, a
percentage that coincides with that obtained in the Feldman-Summers &
Pope, 1994 study”
Corroboration of Child Abuse Memories http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
“Studies vary in frequency. Between 31 and 64 percent of abuse
survivors in six major studies reported that they forgot “some of the
abuse.” Numbers reporting severe amnesia ranged from under 12% to 59%
….Studies report 50-75% of abuse survivors corroborating the facts of
their abuse through an outside source. Corroboration of ritual abuse
was lower. One study of ritual abuse found 3% corroboration in delayed
memory patients and 20% corroboration in patients with continuous
memories of ritual abuse. Another study put the numbers between 14%
and 37%.” Reference: Bowman, Elizabeth. Delayed Memories of Child
Abuse: Part I: An Overview of Research Findings on Forgetting,
Remembering, and Corroborating Trauma. Dissociation, IX (4) pp.
221-231
Synopsis of data from “Memory, Trauma Treatment, and the Law” by
Brown, Scheflin and Hammond, W.W. Norton and Co. New York and London,
C 1998 (http://www.wwnorton.com) Page 370-381
The base rates for memory commission errors are quite low, at least in
professional trauma treatment. The base rates in adult misinformation
studies run between zero and 5 percent for adults and between 3 - 5
percent for children.
“Occasional unwitting misleading suggestions (Yapko, 1994a), even the
suggestion of a diagnosis of abuse, cannot adequately explain illusory
memories of child sexual abuse.” (p. 379)
It is almost totally impossible for anyone to make a memory error for
the central plot of a memory simply by hearing disinformation. A
variety of other factors would have to be in place. Even under
hypnosis without several social influence factors, it is extremely
rare (4-6% of 7-10%, less than one percent of people) may be
influenced by disinformation.
Memory on Trial - Research suggests that children’s memory may be more
reliable than adults’ in court cases …3/6/08 The U.S. legal system has
long assumed that all testimony is not equally credible, that some
witnesses are more reliable than others. In tough cases with child
witnesses, it assumes adult witnesses to be more reliable. But what if
the legal system had it wrong? Researchers Valerie Reyna, human
development professor, and Chuck Brainerd, human development and law
school professor — both from Cornell University — argue that like the
two-headed Roman god Janus, memory is of two minds — that is, memories
are captured and recorded separately and differently in two distinct
parts of the mind. They say children depend more heavily on a part of
the mind that records, “what actually happened,” while adults depend
more on another part of the mind that records, “the meaning of what
happened.” As a result, they say, adults are more susceptible to false
memories, which can be extremely problematic in court cases. Reyna’s
and Brainerd’s research, funded by the National Science Foundation,
Arlington, Va., sparked more than 30 follow-up memory studies, many of
them also funded by NSF. The researchers review the follow-on studies
in an upcoming issue of Psychological Bulletin….Reyna and Brainerd’s
findings are summarized in a new book, The Science of False Memory,
published by Oxford University Press.
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111230&org=NSF&from=news?
“Forgetting and Recovering the Unforgettable.” Psychological Science -
Volume 19, Number 5 - May 2008 Steven M. Smith & Sarah C. Moynan “Some
experiences, particularly those that are emotional and distinctive,
may seem unforgettable. Can memories of emotional and distinctive
events be blocked from consciousness, and if so, can those memories
subsequently be recovered? Although there is considerable laboratory
research demonstrating false memories, relatively few studies have
examined blocked and recovered memories, as we did in the study
reported in this article. As noted in reviews by Gleaves, Smith,
Butler, and Spiegel (2004) and by Roediger and Bergman (1998), the
false-memory debate must be informed by experimental laboratory
research examining not only false memories, but also blocked and
recovered memories….In the present study, we investigated whether
interference can cause dramatic forgetting that is subsequently
reversed when retrieval cues are provided. Using a combination of
classic laboratory methods for manipulating interference and cuing, we
repeatedly found high levels of blocked and recovered memories, even
for materials that had sexually explicit and violent content.
correspondence to Steven M. Smith, Department of Psychology, Texas A&M
University, College Station, TX 77843, e-mail: stevesmith@xxxxxxxx
http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/ps/19_5.cfm
Duggal, S., & Sroufe, L. A. (1998). Recovered memory of childhood
sexual trauma: A documented case from a longitudinal study. Journal of
Traumatic Stress, 11(2), 301-321. This account contains a prospective
report of memory loss in a case in which there is both documented
evidence of trauma and evidence of recovery of memory.
“Child Maltreatment, Vol. 2, No. 2, 91-112 (1997) DOI:
10.1177/1077559597002002001 Videotaped Discovery of a Reportedly
Unrecallable Memory of Child Sexual Abuse: Comparison with a Childhood
Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before David L. Corwin, Erna
Olafson….This article presents the history, verbatim transcripts, and
behavioral observations of a child’s disclosure of sexual abuse to Dr.
David Corwin in 1984 and the spontaneous return of that reportedly
unrecallable memory during an interview between the same individual,
now a young adult, and Dr. Corwin 11 years later. Both interviews were
videotape recorded.” http://cmx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/2/91
Consider This, Skeptics of Recovered Memory Author: Ross E. Cheit DOI:
10.1207/s15327019eb0802_4 Ethics & Behavior, Volume 8, Issue 2 June
1998 , pages 141 - 160 Formats available: PDF (English) Abstract :
Some self-proclaimed skeptics of recovered memory claim that traumatic
childhood events simply cannot be forgotten at the time only to be
remembered later in life. This claim has been made repeatedly by the
Advisory Board members of a prominent advocacy group for parents
accused of sexual abuse, the so-called False Memory Syndrome
Foundation. The research project described in this article identifies
and documents the growing number of cases that have been ignored or
distorted by such skeptics. To date, this project has documented 35
cases in which recovered memories of traumatic childhood events were
corroborated by clear and convincing evidence. This article concludes
with some observations about the politics of the false memory
movement, particularly the tendency to conceal or omit evidence of
corroboration. Several instances of this vanishing facts syndrome are
documented and analyzed. http://www.leaonline.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15327019eb0802_4?journalCode=eb
Pezdek, Hodge, D. (1999) July-August Planting false childhood
memories: The role of event plausibility Child Development 70(4) p.
887-895
http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0009-3920%28199907%2F08%2970%3A4%3C887%3APFCMIC%3E2.0.CO%3B2-G&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage
partial synopsis : study found that although 3 (15%) of 20
participants recalled a plausible false memory of getting lost in a
shopping mall, none of the participants accepted an implausible false
memory that they had received a painful enema as a child from their
parent.
Abuse, Memory, Science, Therapy, Ethics, Malpractice - Kenneth S.
Pope, Ph.D. about this Site - This site provides free access to peer-
reviewed research articles, abstracts, APA list utilities, guides,
announcements, & other resources. http://web.archive.org/web/20010803163457/http://www.idealist.com/memories
theories on recovered memory:
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/defineBT.html The phrase “betrayal
trauma” can be used to refer to a kind of trauma (independent of the
reaction to the trauma). E.G. This definition is on the web: “Most
mental health professionals have expanded the definition of trauma to
include betrayal trauma. Betrayal trauma occurs when the people or
institutions we depend on for survival violate us in some way. An
example of betrayal trauma is childhood physical, emotional, or sexual
abuse.” from http://www.loyola.edu/campuslife/healthservices/counselingcenter/trauma.html
The phrase “Betrayal Trauma theory” is generally used to refer to the
prediction/theory about the cause of unawareness and amnesia as in:
“Betrayal Trauma Theory: A theory that predicts that the degree to
which a negative event represents a betrayal by a trusted needed other
will influence the way in which that events is processed and
remembered.” This definition is from: Sivers, H., Schooler, J. ,
Freyd, J. J. (2002) Recovered memories. In V.S. Ramachandran (Ed.)
Encyclopedia of the Human Brain, Volume 4.(pp 169-184). San Diego,
California and London: Academic Press. It has been proposed in the
Betrayal Trauma Theory that “that psychogenic amnesia is an adaptive
response to childhood abuse” and that “victims may need to remain
unaware of the trauma not to reduce suffering but rather to promote
survival.” Freyd, J.(1994) Betrayal Trauma: Traumatic Amnesia as an
Adaptive Response to Childhood Abuse. Ethics & Behavior 4 (4) p.
307-330 http://www.questia.com/read/95814385 The amnesia allows the
child maintain attachment to a person that a child needs to depend on
for survival and development.
legal information:
Ground Lost: The False Memory/Recovered Memory Therapy Debate, by Alan
Scheflin, Psychiatric Times 11/99, Vol. XVI Issue 11, “The appearance
in the DSM-IV indicates that the concept of repressed memory is
generally accepted in the relevant scientific community. This
satisfies courts following the Frye v United States, 293 F.1013 (1923)
or Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceutical, 113 S. Ct. 2786 (1993) rules
regarding the admissibility of scientific testimony into evidence in
court.” And “Although the science is limited on this issue, the only
three relevant studies conclude that repressed memories are no more
and no less accurate than continuous memories (Dalenberg, 1996; Widom
and Morris, 1997; Williams, 1995). Thus, courts and therapists should
consider repressed memories no differently than they consider ordinary
memories.” At http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/p991137.html
http://www.jimhopper.com/memory-decision (the first page (.com) links
to other pages of interest also) “The Validity of Recovered Memory:
Decision of a US District Court” Judge Edward F. Harrington,
Presentation by Jim Hopper, Ph.D. The legal documentation citation is:
923 Federal Supplement 286 (D. Mass. 1996), United States District
Court - District of Massachusetts Ann Shahzade, plaintiff Civil Action
No.: V. 92-12139-EFH George Gregory, Defendant.
Some quotes from the decision: “The factors to be considered when
deciding if proffered testimony is valid ’scientific knowledge,’ and
therefore reliable, are…” (p.3) “This Court finds that the reliability
of the phenomenon of repressed memory has been established” and will
allow the plaintiff to introduce evidence related to their recovered
memories (p.3). “Dr. van der Kolk testified that repressed memories is
not a scientific controversy, but… a political and forensic one” (p.
5). “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV,
1994)…also recognizes the concept of repressed memories” (p.7). “in
considering the admissibility of repressed memory evidence,” the court
must rule on the “validity of the theory itself… for the law to reject
a diagnostic category generally accepted by those who practice the art
and science of psychiatry would be folly.” (p.9).
physiological evidence for memory suppression:
The Neurological Basis for the Theory of Recovered Memory
http://members.aol.com/smartnews/Neurological_Memory.htm
synopsis of part of van der Kolk, B. A. & Fisler, R. (1995)
Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories:
Overview and exploratory study.
http://web.archive.org/web/20021211024350/http://www.trauma-pages.com/vanderk2.htm
van der Kolk and Fisler’s research shows that traumatic memories are
retrieved, at least at first, in the form of mental imprints that are
dissociated. These imprints are of the affective and sensory elements
of the traumatic experience. Clients have reported the slow emergence
of a personal narrative that can be considered explicit (conscious)
memory. The level of emotional significance of a memory correlates
directly with the memory’s veracity. Studies of subjective reports of
memory show that memories of highly significant events are unusually
accurate and stable over time. There are a variety of memory systems
which usually operate outside of conscious awareness. These systems
operate with some independence from the other memory systems. While
people appear to easily assimilate expected and known experiences,
aspects of traumatic experiences appear to get stuck in the mind,
unaltered by time passing or experiences that may follow. The imprints
of traumatic experiences appear to be qualitatively different from
those of nontraumatic events. Explicit memories of personal facts or
events are affected by lesions of the front lobe and hippocampus.
These parts of the brain are also involved in PTSD neurobiology.
Traumatic memories may be coded differently than ordinary event
memories, possibly because of alterations in attentional focusing or
the fact that extreme emotional arousal interferes with the memory
functions of the hippocampus.
Traumas can interfere with several memory functions. van der Kolk
divided these functional disturbances into four sets, traumatic
amnesia, global memory impairment, dissociative processes and
traumatic memories’ sensorimotor organization. Traumatic amnesia
involves the loss of remembering traumatic experiences. The younger
the subject and the longer the traumatic event is, the greater the
chance of significant amnesia. Global memory impairment makes it
difficult for these subjects to construct an accurate account of their
present and past history. Dissociation refers to memories being stored
as fragments and not as unitary wholes. Not being able to integrate
traumatic memories seems to be the main element which leads to PTSD.
In the sensorimotor organization of traumatic memories, sensations are
fragmented into different sensory components.
Synopsis of part of van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the
score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of post traumatic stress.
http://web.archive.org/web/20041204204758/http://www.trauma-pages.com/vanderk4.htm
Trauma victims do not respond to stress the way normals do. Pressure
situations may cause a feeling of retraumatization. High states of
arousal may promote the retrieval of trauma memories and associated
phenomena such as sensory information or behaviors connected to prior
trauma. Therefore, traumatic memories may be considered state
dependent. Under stress, people secrete endogenous stress hormones
that affect memory consolidation strength. Through studies on animal
models, it is assumed that the large secretion of neurohormones during
a traumatic event in part causes long-term potentiation (LTP) and the
over-consolidation of traumatic memories. This LTP may cause an
organism to remember a trauma whenever aroused. Neuroepinepehrine may
be the major hormone causing LTP. Endorphins and oxytocin may actually
cause inhibition of the consolidation of memories. Reliving the
traumatic event may cause stress hormones to strength the memory trace
causing a positive feedback loop.
The limbic system is believed to be critically involved in memory
storage and retrieval as well as giving emotional significance to
sensory inputs. Research in brain imaging studies suggests that trauma
patients may have limbic system abnormalities. One part of the limbic
system, the amygdala, may assign free-floating feelings to input which
are then elaborated upon by the neocortex and imbued with personal
meaning. It may also integrate internal representations of the
external world in memory image form associating emotional experiences
with these memories. The septo-hippocampal system is thought to record
memory in temporal and spatial dimensions, and plays an important role
in storing and categorizing incoming stimuli in memory. Hippocampal
damage is connected to over responsiveness to external stimuli. When
stress interferes with the hippocampus’ mediation of memory, it is
possible that some of the memory is kept by a system that records
emotional experience, but there is no symbolic placement of it in time
or space. In animals, high stimulation of the amygdala interferes with
hippocampal processing. Strong affect may disallow proper evaluating
and categorizing of an experience.
Professor uncovers the nature of memories - Associate Professor
Michael Anderson recently published a new study of what the brain does
when a person forgets By Caron Alarab 1/14/03 “A University researcher
is receiving international attention this week for a recent experiment
exploring why people forget. With a team of Stanford researchers,
Associate Professor of psychology Michael Anderson found people can
use certain brain regions to block memories just as they do to control
physical actions. “It’s no longer possible to say that human beings
can’t actively forget,” said Anderson, one of the nation’s leading
memory researchers. “Our research demystifies the idea of memory
suppression.” The findings, which were published in the Jan. 9 issue
of Science magazine, support Sigmund Freud’s controversial century-old
theory about the existence of voluntary memory suppression. For the
experiment, Anderson recruited Stanford researcher John Gabrieli and
the two co-wrote the Science article “Neural Systems Underlying the
Suppression of Unwanted Memories.” http://www.dailyemerald.com/
Research Reveals Brain Has Biological Mechanism To Block Unwanted
Memories 1/9/04 “For the first time, researchers at Stanford
University and the University of Oregon have shown that a biological
mechanism exists in the human brain to block unwanted memories. The
findings, to be published Jan. 9 in the journal Science, reinforce
Sigmund Freud’s controversial century-old thesis about the existence
of voluntary memory suppression. “The big news is that we’ve shown how
the human brain blocks an unwanted memory, that there is such a
mechanism and it has a biological basis,” said Stanford psychology
Professor John Gabrieli, a co-author of the paper titled “Neural
Systems Underlying the Suppression of Unwanted Memories.” “It gets you
past the possibility that there’s nothing in the brain that would
suppress a memory - that it was all a misunderstood fiction.” The
experiment showed that people are capable of repeatedly blocking
thoughts of experiences they don’t want to remember until they can no
longer retrieve the memory, even if they want to, Gabrieli explained.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040109072004.htm
The nature of traumatic memories: A 4-T FMRI functional connectivity
analysis. Lanius RA, Williamson PC, Densmore M, Boksman K, Neufeld RW,
Gati JS, Menon RS. Am J Psychiatry 2004 Jan; 161(1):36-44. RESULTS:
Significant between-group differences in functional connectivity were
found. Comparison of connectivity maps at coordinates x=2, y=20, z=36
(right anterior cingulate gyrus) for the two groups showed that the
subjects without PTSD had greater correlation than the PTSD subjects
in the left superior frontal gyrus (Brodmann’s area 9), left anterior
cingulate gyrus (Brodmann’s area 32), left striatum (caudate), left
parietal lobe (Brodmann’s areas 40 and 43), and left insula
(Brodmann’s area 13). In contrast, the PTSD subjects showed greater
correlation than the subjects without PTSD in the right posterior
cingulate gyrus (Brodmann’s area 29), right caudate, right parietal
lobe (Brodmann’s areas 7 and 40), and right occipital lobe (Brodmann’s
area 19). CONCLUSIONS: The differences in brain connectivity between
PTSD and comparison subjects may account for the nonverbal nature of
traumatic memory recall in PTSD subjects, compared to a more verbal
pattern of traumatic memory recall in comparison subjects.
replies to skeptics:
Imagination inflation: A statistical artifact of regression toward the
mean. Pezdek K, Eddy RM Mem Cognit 2001 Jul; 29(5):707-18; discussion
719-29 “In the imagination inflation procedure of Garry, Manning,
Loftus, and Sherman (1996), subjects rated a list of events in terms
of how likely each was to have occurred in their childhood. Two weeks
later, some of the events were imagined; control events were not. The
subjects then rated the likelihood of occurrence for each event a
second time. Garry et al. (1996) reported that the act of imagining
the target events led to increased ratings of likelihood. This finding
has been interpreted as indicating that false events can be
suggestively planted in memory by simply having people imagine them.
The present study tests and confirms the hypothesis that the results
that have been attributed to imagination inflation are simply a
statistical artifact of regression toward the mean.” Author contact:
Department of Psychology, Claremont Graduate University, California
91711-3955, USA. kathy.pezdek@xxxxxxx
Originally published in Moving Forward, Volume 3, No. 3, pp 1, 12-21,
1995. The Highly Misleading Truth and Responsibility in Mental Health
Practices Act: The “False Memory” Movement’s Remedy for a Nonexistent
Problem by Judith M. Simon “Over the past few years, the “false
memory” movement has manifested primarily as a media presence that
discounts sexual abuse survivors as first-hand witnesses to their own
experiences. Its message of disbelief has compromised the healing
process of many and placed more children at risk by helping
perpetrators escape accountability.” http://members.aol.com/conch8/antiTRMP1.html
Dr. Jim Freisen’s new book The Truth About False Memory Syndrome, “The
number of studies which have subjected false memory syndrome to
scientific inquiry is zero. There is nothing scientific about it.
There is nothing which defines it. There is no list of symptoms which
describes it, nor is there anything which helps us distinguish it from
other syndromes. No studies. No such thing. That’s that. ” (Pg. 16)
Shepherd’s House, 7136 Haskell St., #210, Van Nuys, CA 91406.
False Memory Syndrome Facts (not an FMSF sponsored site) at http://www.fmsf..com
False Memory Syndrome : A False Construct by Juliette Cutler Page “The
concept of “recovered memory”, that is, memory of a traumatic event
that had been forgotten for some period of time, has been variously
explained by such mechanisms as repression, amnesia, and dissociation.
However, there are over 100 years of reports and descriptions of
recovered memory in the literature, including instances from times of
war, torture, bereavement, natural disasters, and concentration camp
imprisonment. (HOROWITZ) Many corroborated cases have been documented
in instances of recovered memory of sexual abuse…”
“For example, women with known histories of abuse have been studied to
determine if they had ever had periods in which the abuse had been
forgotten. The abstract of Linda M. Williams’ 1995 study, Recovered
memories of abuse in women with documented child sexual victimization
histories. (Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8,649 — 673, 1995) states:
The study provides evidence that some adults who claimed to have
recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actual events that occurred
in childhood. 129 women with documented histories of sexual
victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked about abuse
history. 17 years following the initial report of the abuse, 80 of the
women recalled the victimization. One in 10 women (16 percent of those
who recalled the abuse) reported that at some time in the past they
had forgotten about the abuse. Those with a prior period of forgetting
— the women with”recovered memories” — were younger at the time of
abuse and were less likely to have received support from their mothers
than the women who reported that they had always remembered their
victimization. The women who had recovered memories and those who had
always remembered had the same number of discrepancies when their
account of the abuse were compared to the reports from the early
1970s. None of the women in this study who had forgotten the abuse
were in therapy at the time they began to remember again, and women’s
memories, when they returned, were consistent with the actual abuse.
Charles L. Whitfield, M.D. performed a review of 36 studies on over
6,000 children and adults who were abused as children. His results
showed that between 16 and 78% of subjects in these studies
experienced partial to total amnesia for their abuse for some
substantial amount of time. Most of the subjects had been sexually
abused as children. Eight of these studies involved only subjects with
fully corroborated abuse histories, four had to a corroboration rate
of 60 to 80 percent, and four had corroboration among half of the
subjects. All groups were similar in occurrence of traumatic amnesia.
Elizabeth Loftus herself has published studies showing evidence of
recovered memory. The 4 January 1996 issue of Accuracy About Abuse
notes: Elizabeth Loftus, high profile FMSF advocate, published a paper
with colleagues on Remembering and Repressing in1994. In a study of
105 women outpatients in a substance abuse clinic 54 % reported a
history of childhood sexual abuse. 81% remembered all or part of the
abuse. 19% reported they forgot the abuse for a period of time and
later the memory returned. Women who remembered the abuse their whole
lives reported a clearer memory, with a more detailed picture. Women
who remembered the abuse their whole lives did not differ from others
in terms of the violence of the abuse or whether the violence was
incestuous. [Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18 (1994) 67-84.]
Loftus has also discussed “motivated forgetting”, and has presented
the documented study of a college professor who became unable to
remember a series of traumas, but after some time was able to recover
those memories. Loftus remarked “after such an enormously stressful
experience, many individuals wish to forget… And often their wish is
granted.” (Loftus, 1980/1988, p. 73)”
http://web.archive.org/web/20030608221633/http://www.feminista.com/v1n9/false-memory.html
How People Forget: The Truth About Delayed Memory Studies of Delayed
Memory http://web.archive.org/web/20000609035705/http://ncasa.org/memory.html
That dissociation and amnesia are relatively common in child sexual
abuse survivors is well-documented. There have been several recent
studies that verify the repression of trauma and the fact of delayed
memories: In a survey of 450 adults in treatment for child sexual
abuse, 59% had periods in which they could not remember the abuse.
(Briere and Conte, in press).
In a study of 53 women in therapy, Judith Herman and Emily Schatzow
found that 74% were able to obtain corroborating evidence for the
abuse, through witnesses, offenders’ diaries, pornographic pictures,
offender confessions, and other sources. Nine percent found evidence
that was “strongly suggestive, but not conclusive;” 11% did not try to
confirm their memories; and only 6% found no supportive evidence. The
conclusion of the researchers was that, “delayed recall of sexual
abuse is as verifiable as any other form of disclosure.”
Interviews were conducted with 100 women who as children reported
sexual abuse in 1973,1974 or 1975. The records of these girls were
obtained from a city hospital emergency department which had
interviewed the girls and the families and collected forensic
evidence. In1990 and 1991 the women, aged 18-31, were interviewed for
two hours for what they were told was a study that examined the lives
and health of women who obtained care at the hospital. In the course
of the interview, the women were asked about their childhood
experiences with sex. They were asked whether they or their families
had ever reported childhood sexual abuse, or if anyone in their family
‘got in trouble’ for his or her sexual activities. Thirty-eight
percent of the women either did not remember the abuse or chose not to
report it to the interviewer. The interviewer states,”…qualitative
analysis of these reports and non-reports suggests that the vast
majority of the 38% were women who did not remember the abuse. They
responded openly to other personal matters, and over one-half of the
women who were amnestic reported other childhood victimizations.”
In the recent case of Father James Porter - a Catholic priest who
admitted molesting more than100 boys and girls - many of his victims,
now adults, remembered the abuse only after hearing about the case
through the media Even the first victim to come forward stated that
there had been a period of amnesia for the abuse. In these cases, both
the fact of the abuse and the reality of the delayed memories were
confirmed.
Iatrogenic memory change. Examining the empirical evidence. Leavitt F
Am J Forensic Psychol (19)2: 21-32, 2001. “Certainty of sexual abuse
predated treatment in 33% of the cases. Therapeutic causation was
unlikely in another 26% because personal certainty of abuse emerged on
average 4.1 years after termination of treatment. The pattern was
similar for groups treated with and without hypnosis. Remarkably few
patients recovered first memories in therapy with the help of
hypnosis. This study places the percentage at 4%. Thus, in the direct
study of patients who recovered memory of childhood sexual abuse,
hypnosis was not an important factor in the emergence of sexual abuse
memories. …The results do not support widespread implanting of novel
memories of sexual abuse by therapists.”
Suspected repressed childhood sexual abuse: Gender effects on
diagnosis and treatment. Sullins CD Psychology of Women Quarterly 1998
Sep Vol 22(3) 403-418 “These results do not support reports that many
therapists neglect clients’ current symptoms and instead focus on
memories, use controversial techniques, make suggestive statements
regarding abuse, or immediately assume that their clients have
repressed memories.” J. Herman,
author of “Trauma and Recovery” replies to Ethan Watters “Doors of
Memory” (Jan./Feb. ‘93) in Mother Jones
http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/letters/1993/03/backtalk.html
“by now exhaustively documented. Sexual abuse of children is common
(best estimates: at least one girl in three, one boy in ten). It is
not over reported but vastly under-reported (best estimates: under 10
percent of all cases come to the attention of child-protective
agencies or police). False complaints do occur, but they are rare
(best estimates: under 5 percent of all complaints). Most victims do
not disclose their abuse until long after the fact, if ever. Though
many suffer long-lasting psychological harm, the great majority never
see a therapist.”
Is There a False Memory Epidemic? by Stephanie J. Dallam, RN, MSN, FNP
….Conclusions - There is no reliable evidence to substantiate claims
that the false memory syndrome is a “growing problem”, a “crisis”, or
that it constitutes an”epidemic”. Despite the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation’s pledge to disseminate only accurate information on
memory, their contact and membership statistics, as reported in their
newsletters and in the media, reveal a disturbing lack of clarity and
consistency. These same statistics, in turn, have provided credibility
to claims that a false memory “epidemic” is sweeping the country.
Although 25 studies have confirmed the reality of amnesia in sexually
traumatized populations, no reliable research has provided evidence to
substantiate the existence of the false memory syndrome as it is
defined by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
http://web.archive.org/web/19991128134659/http://idealist.com/tat/97-07-03-epidemic.shtml
“The hypothesis that false memories can easily be implanted in
psychotherapy (Lindsay & Read, 1994; Loftus 1993; Loftus & Ketcham,
1994; Ofshe and Watters, 1993, 1994; Yapko, 1994a) seriously
overstates the available data. Since no studies have been conducted on
suggested effects in psychotherapy per se, the idea of iatrogenic
suggestion of false memories remains an untested hypothesis. (Memory,
Trauma Treatment, And the Law Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (D.
Corydon), 1998, W. W. Norton 0-393-70254-5)
Media Manipulation
U-Turn on Memory Lane by Mike Stanton - Columbia Journalism Review -
July/August 1997
The FMSF builds much of its case against recovered memory by attacking
a generally discredited Freudian concept of repression that proponents
of recovered memory don’t buy, either. In so doing, the foundation
ignores the fifty-year-old literature on traumatic, or psychogenic
amnesia, which is an accepted diagnosis by the American Psychiatric
Association. In his 1996 book “Searching for Memory,” the Harvard
psychologist and brain researcher Daniel L. Schachter — who believes
that both true and false memories exist — says there is no conclusive
scientific evidence that false memories can be created….The foundation
and its backers “remind me of a high school debate team,” says the
Stanford psychiatrist David Spiegel, an authority on traumatic
amnesia. “They go to the library, surgically extract the information
convenient to them and throw out the rest.”….Many therapists, like
their patients, hesitate to speak out.Recently, though, they have
begun to make a more concerted effort to mobilize a response. One of
the most outspoken critics of the false-memory movement is a Seattle
therapist, David Calof, editor until last year of Treating Abuse
Today, a newsletter for therapists. He has identified what he calls
the movement’s political agenda — lobbying for more restrictive laws
governing therapy and promoting the harassment of therapists through
lawsuits and even picketing of their offices and homes. Calof himself
has been the target of picketing so fierce that he has been in and out
of Seattle courtrooms over the last two years, obtaining restraining
orders. He was spending so much time and money fighting the FMSF
supporters’ campaign against him, he says, that he was forced to stop
publishing the newsletter last year. He recently donated the
publication to a victims’ rights group in Pennsylvania, which has
resurrected it as Trauma. The new publisher says that views part of
its mission as reporting on FMSF, since the mainstream media don’t.
Among journalists, perhaps the most relentless critic of the
foundation is Michele Landsberg, a Toronto Star columnist. In 1993,
she says, an Ontario couple, claiming to have been falsely accused,
contacted her and asked her to write about their case. Unconvinced,
she declined, and eventually started writing instead about the
foundation.She attacked its scientific claims and criticized the
sensational media coverage. She described how a foundation scientific
adviser, Harold Merskey, had testified that a woman accusing a doctor
of sexual abuse in a civil case might in fact have been suffering from
false memory syndrome. But the accused doctor himself had previously
confessed to criminal charges of abusing her. Landsberg also
challenged the credentials of other foundation advisers. She noted
that one founding adviser, Ralph Underwager, was forced to resign from
the foundation’s board after he and his wife, Hollida Wakefield, who
remains an adviser, gave an interview to a Dutch pedophilia magazine
in which he was quoted as describing pedophilia as”an acceptable
expression of God’s will for love.” Landsberg also wrote that another
adviser, James Randi, a magician known as “The Amazing Randi,” had
been involved in a lawsuit in which his opponent introduced a tape of
sexually explicit telephone conversations Randi had with teenage boys.
(Randi has claimed at various times, she said, that the tape was a
hoax and that the police asked him to make it.) “Why haven’t reporters
investigated the False Memory Syndrome Foundation?” she asks. “It’s
legitimate to examine their backgrounds –here are people who really do
have powerful motivation to deny the truth.”
http://backissues.cjrarchives.org/year/97/4/memory.asp
Battle Tactics of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation - Noel Packard
- New School for Social Research, N.Y. History Matters Conference
April 23-24, 2004 Censorship is also a tactic that FMS Foundation
adherents use to silence voices they don’t agree with. Katy Butler,
published a critical review of Ofshe’s and Watter’s book, Making
Monsters (1994) in the Los Angeles Times. Later the newspaper’s book
review editor received a vague threat of a lawsuit from Ofshe’s
representative (K. Butler personal communication with Lynn Crook
January 28, 2000). Later Butler was asked to write a story for
Newsweek examining the uncritical acceptance of Foundation claims and
to provide documented cases of recovered memory and traumatic amnesia.
Upon learning of this assignment Foundation Advisory Board members
Richard Ofshe and Fredrick Crews, as well as Peter and Pamela Freyd,
wrote strongly worded letters of complaint to Newsweek which
effectively canceled Butler’s assignment (Stanton 1997). Although
these censorship activities were reported in Mike Stanton’s article “U-
Turn on Memory Lane” (1997) Nevertheless, Newsweek editors confirmed
that the FMS Foundation letters helped kill Butler’s article. Butler
said at a national conference of investigative reporters and editors
in Rhode Island in 1996: “I’ve worked hard very hard to tell both
sides of the story. What’s interesting to me about all of this that
telling both sides has started to seem like a risky act.” (Stanton
1997: 49)….In 1994 the editor of the Journal of Psychohistory Lloyd
DeMause wrote to many professional subscribers to inform them that he
feared a lawsuit by the FMS Foundation for publishing a special issue
of his journal on cult abuse. Dr. Jean Goodwin a psychiatrist at
University of Texas Medical Branch responded with a letter that
conveys the overall feeling among the mental health community in the
early 1990s. Goodwin: From a Psychohistorical viewpoint it is
fascinating to watch this organization systematically limit freedom of
speech in this area. Their suits of publishers have driven many books
out of print. Board members have prevented publication of many
articles. As far as I know you are the first journal editor they have
targeted. The slander suit stopped the audio-tapping of many
presentations in this area. The licensing attacks and the malpractice
suits threaten freedom of speech in the psychotherapy consulting room,
which is where it is supposed to be most free. Silence still is the
priority for the perpetrator (Goodwin 1994) Goodwin’s letter captures
the effect that Foundations’ tactics had on the therapy community in
the early 1990s. Today the overall effect of the Foundation’s court
cases and tactics is more muted. One newly graduated MFT told me that
as far as she knows the Foundation has had no impact on the practices
of MFTs at all. A social worker who teaches a certification class on
mandated reporting includes the Foundation topic in her lectures,
saying that the Foundation “made us clean up our act.” I’ve also heard
a seasoned MFT who teaches a class titled, “Counseling as a Career
Option” lament that practicing psychotherapy is becoming a profession
only for the rich (both as practitioners and clients). Perhaps this is
due to recent constrictions and costs associated with lawsuits,
training programs, licensing and insurance policies? It appears that
the Foundations’ efforts to drive non-cognitive therapy beyond the
grasp of un-wealthy clients are having some success. Kondora’s and
Beckett’s studies indicate that the Foundation has been successful in
many of its efforts to manage public perception of child abuse
victims, therapists and the people accused of child abuse. Kondora and
Beckett show that not only has public perception of victimized
children become skeptical, but in fact, the press often goes beyond
the Victorian custom of neutrality on all fronts of the issue, to out-
right sympathy for accused molesters. What began in the 1960s and
1970s as a child welfare movement has arrived today as an accused sex-
offender welfare movement (Goldsmith 2003); and right in time for an
era when people are having more babies, less birth control and have
easier ways to create home based child pornography than ever before.
The Foundation has won many expensive malpractice lawsuits that have
made news headlines. Such cases have probably put a chill into more
than one therapy session, which is what they are intended to do. The
Foundation’s efforts in and out of the court room have provided
reasons for health insurance companies to reduce insurance payments
for mental health care and have tied those payments generally to
mental health diagnoses. Training programs for clinical therapists
have become more like the clinical training programs of the cold-war
years, more science oriented, more stringent, more bio-logically and
drug oriented, and less theory and talked based. Many of the support
groups, networks, newsletters, journals, and even significant names in
the child welfare movement of the 1980’s and 1990’s have faded,
vanished or been displaced by on-line and other services of the FMS
Foundation. Kondora, Lori L. 1997. A Textual Analysis of the
Construction of the False Memory Syndrome: Representations in Popular
Magazines; 1990-1995. Ph.D. diss. University of Wisconsin, Madison. -
Beckett, Katherine. 1996. Culture and the Politics of Signification:
The Case of Child Sexual Abuse. SOCIAL PROBLEMS, Vol. 43, No. 1,
February: 57-76. http://www.newschool.edu/nssr/historymatters/papers/NoelPackard.pdf
books and articles on memory:
Memory and Abuse - Remembering and Healing the Effects of Trauma C.
Whitfield M.D. Health Communications, Inc 3201 SW 15th St, Deerfield
Beach, FL.33442-8190.
Traumatic Amnesia: The Evolution of Our Understanding From A Clinical
and Legal Perspective, Dr. Charles Whitfield (Sexual Addiction and
Compulsivity, 4(2), 3-34, 1997)
Trauma and Memory: Clinical & legal understanding of traumatic amnesia
(Chapter 12) in Burgess, Ann W. (ed): Advanced Practice Psychiatric
Nursing. Appleton & Lange, Stamford, Ct., 1998, pp 171-186. C.
Whitfield, M.D.
Memory, Trauma Treatment, And the Law Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (D.
Corydon), 1998, W. W. Norton (0-393-70254-5), 1-800-233-4830 or
www.wwnorton.com.
Child Abuse & Neglect, 1999, 23, No. 12, pp. 1221-1224. Manufactured
Memory, Altered Belief and Self Report Mirage: The Alleged False
Memory of Jean Piaget Revisited by Frank Leavitt, Ph.D.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/psnews/message/328
Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 4, 2, 1997, Brunner/Mazel.Inc. c
1997, Traumatic Amnesia: The Evolution of Our Understanding From a
Clinical and Legal Perspective by C. Whitfield, M.D.
.
- References:
- False allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare
- From: childadvocate
- Re: False allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare
- From: Larry Caldwell
- False allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare
- Prev by Date: Re: False allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare
- Next by Date: Re: Medieval USA coastline
- Previous by thread: Re: False allegations of child sexual abuse by children are rare
- Next by thread: Re: How long is a generation?
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
Loading
