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3401 Market Street suite 130, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (215-387-1865)
This address and the phone numbers have changed as of July 15, 2000
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Dear Friends,
If the treatment of False Memory Syndrome by the mainstream print
media is indicative, a qualitative and critical change has occurred.
Not only have there been many more articles, they have shown increased
depth and understanding of the issues and increased compassion for
those caught in the FMS nightmare -- accused and accusers. The
articles in the November 29 issue of Time magazine by Leon Jaroff,
Paul Gray and Jeanne McDowell set a landmark in public awareness by
placing the phenomenon in the perspective of the ongoing debate on the
foundations of psychoanalysis and our cultural beliefs.
There were four events this past month that prompted the giant step
in the number of articles: (1) Protests at McGill University in
Montreal which prevented Dr. Harold Lief from delivering a talk about
FMS, resulting in articles about the value of free speech; (2) The
accusation against Cardinal Bernardin by Steven Cook of Philadelphia
(based on repressed memories that were recovered in therapy one month
earlier), resulting in articles about the nature of memory and
repression; (3) The acquittal of Dale Anthony Akiki who had been in
jail for more than two years in a day-care case in San Diego,
resulting in articles suggesting that the verdict may have broad
implications for such cases nationwide where memories of very young
children are called into question; (4) A multi-million dollar lawsuit
filed by a former client against a well-known Chicago psychiatrist,
resulting in articles questioning satanic ritual abuse therapy and the
emergence of alter personalities in therapy.
The change in mainstream media is significant and contrasts to the
lack of factual accuracy and the virulence of ad hominem attacks found
in survivor newsletters and some Canadian publications. People who are
unable to deal with issues are resorting to the spread of
unsubstantiated accusations in an effort, we suspect, to deflect
criticism and discredit the Foundation.
The media attention has generated an avalanche of calls and letters
to the Foundation, more than 200 calls a day. Most calls come from
devastated families who don't understand why someone they love is
behaving in such a strange cruel way and refusing to talk to them.
This month we received many more calls from the following three
categories: people questioning their memories, spouses of people with
memories, and students writing papers on recovered memories. The other
change that we see is that a higher percentage of families tell us
that they are being sued.
Because we lack funding to return calls to 7,500 families, we have
changed our procedures. A caller selects a category in which to leave
a message. Within 24 hours we mail a starter packet containing
information about the Foundation, an article order-form, the phone
number of a contact in the state, and a short survey. This is followed
up with information sent back to us from the state contacts and with
phone interviews. Because of the increased volume of calls of all
types and because of the lack of a necessary increase in funding, we
now sample and report documented and potential families separately.
Will this change affect the comments of our critics? "The FMS
Foundation is an organization that represents the views of child
molesters," claimed a lawyer on CBC Morningside on November 25. Only
ten percent of the people contacting the FMS Foundation are innocent
according to Judith Herman, M.D. None of the critics of FMSF has yet
come to the office to look at the reports we have on file or to
interview the families. How do they know? We have never claimed to
know what went on in other people's lives decades ago. The people who
contact FMSF ask for help to get their cases investigated. They say
that they want the rigor of an inquiry. To accuse families and then to
refuse to investigate is, of course, a witch hunt.
After reading the following letter, we confess to an intense desire
to ask our critics if perhaps the professional organizations are
guilty of harboring poor therapists.
(with permission) November 10, 1993
Ms. Barbara Kaufman, Chairperson
NASW National Committee on Inquiry
Washington, DC 20002-4241
Dear Ms. Kaufman:
Your 10/21/93 letter reporting the National Committee's rejection
of our complaint against two of your members came as a shock to us.
It failed to answer the questions: did these social workers act
unprofessionally, in violation of the NASW Standard of Ethics?
You wrote: "The Committee noted that a directly affected party
could have filed a complaint and thus that you have no standing as
complainants." Actually, there are three directly affected parties
in this case, the daughter and her parents. The complaint was filed by
parents accused of childhood sexual abuse of their daughter -- on
behalf of a daughter who is disabled by manic depression.
You wrote: "No evidence was submitted that a representative
complainant was necessary because of incapacity or unavailability of
the allegedly affected person." Quite the contrary, our daughter has
been incapacitated for many years because of emotional instability
and she relies on Social Security Disability. Evidence of this was
submitted in more than 20 pages of information with letters from
lifelong acquaintances of our family, recounting her
hospitalizations and therapies with various professionals. Following
the social workers' misdiagnosis of her problems, she was wrongfully
subjected to months of intense therapy to elicit false memories of
childhood sexual abuse. You should know that the American Medical
Association has described these techniques as being "fraught with
problems of potential misapplication."
And finally, you wrote: "Nor did you persuasively demonstrate that
you were personally harmed by the alleged actions of the
respondents." We find this statement so callous as to be almost
unbelievable. Did nothing of what we wrote convey any sense to your
Committee of the acute agonies suffered by parents, ages 81 and 84,
in a two-year ordeal arising from social workers' uncorroborated
charges that we sexually abused our daughter as a child?
In conclusion, your Inquiry Committee's refusal to act on our
complaint seems to be based on arguments that might be expected from
a firm of defense lawyers on behalf of their therapist clients -- an
attack on the complainants rather than an answer to the complaint.
We would not have expected such an insensitive judgment by a
Committee representing a profession dedicated to the compassionate
concern of solving human miseries.
Do you not have any answers to the questions we raise?
If a medical product or procedure had received more than 7,000
complaints, it would be taken off the market. When more than 7,000
complaints come from families about the radical untested mental health
treatment of a relative for a condition that the patient did not have
and that resulted in dismemberment of that individual, the therapeutic
community response is to accuse families and FMSF. This past week we
listened to two doctors say that it is the FMS Foundation that is
causing a loss of credibility of psychiatry. They seemed to think that
if FMSF disappeared, there would be no problem.
Here are some comments from professionals (Cape Cod Register,
November 18, 1993).
Ms. Morosini-Heilman, a psychotherapist from Hyannis "cautioned that
the FMS Foundation should be viewed with suspicion because it was
formed primarily by accused parents, some of whom may themselves have
repressed memories."
Brewster psychotherapist Lin Hood-Glidden described FMS as "a neat
and nifty way for society to continue the denial it's held onto so
fiercely over the years. I don't believe in false memory syndrome."
Doug Frizel, the American Psychological Association's media
relations manager has said, "It's a name casually applied to a
phenomenon. There is no such thing in science."
As media relations manager, does Frizel speak for the APA? What
about the task force set up to study the question? Has the APA already
taken a position?
It's December. We should be making reference to the holiday season
but we do not. We do not want to tell families how they can cope with
the empty chairs, the returned presents, the heartache. To us that
seems like putting a band-aid on a finger when our hearts have been
ripped out and left gaping. This situation should not exist.
Therapists have advised families to, "Get on with your lives." Most of
us have done that. "Enjoy what you can." We travel and indulge
ourselves. "Have a funeral for your children." Although their behavior
is thoroughly unacceptable, our children are alive, held prisoners and
crippled by their "recovered memories." These are our children and we
love them and we want them back. We expect to fill the chairs, embrace
our children and restore our hearts and our lives. We will settle for
nothing less, and we will do whatever it takes to achieve that.
Last year we knew only a handful of families who had reunited by
Christmas. This year we know of hundreds of families that have taken
that first step. It is possible. The pattern of return without any
talk of the accusations is almost universal. How can people ever talk
about such a monstrous mistake? If it were not for the sadness and the
waste of resources, the FMS phenomenon is almost whimsical in an Alice
in Wonderland sort of way. We have a whole culture that has accepted
the notion that the proof that something happened is that the person
forgot it. We all contribute to a culture in which credible publishers
and academics take memories of satanic ritual conspiracies and space
alien abductions seriously but dismiss memories of fairy abductions
(which were believed in for many years). "Silly" is a word that comes
to mind. If we can see the silliness that has affected us all, will it
help families talk about the hurt, the embarrassment and the love?
Sex abuse is real and it is tragic. A society that loses its
critical thinking ability, however, is not able to remedy the horror
of abused children. If people really care about helping children and
women, they will demand that care be used in everything that pertains
to their welfare.
Best wishes for the holidays.
PAMELA
__________________________
Number of Cases Documented
8000 |
| XXX
| XXX
7000 | XXX
| XXX
| XXX
6000 | XXX
| XXX
| XXX XXX
5000 | XXX XXX
| XXX XXX
| XXX XXX
4000 | XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX
3000 | XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX XXX
2000 | XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
1000 | XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
| XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
+-----------------------------------------------------
Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec
92 92 92 92 93 93 93 93
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| A decline in public respect for the presumption of innocence is no |
| minor matter. A society that lets a notion like "recovered memory" |
| gain such force that it overwhelms its most basic judicial |
| principles has waded into deep and dangerous waters. |
| Trial by Accusation |
| Editorial, Wall Street Journal |
| December 1, 1993 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "I think a brain researcher at this point has little to say about |
| repression. There's no part of the brain that's been demonstrated |
| to be the part that represses. There's no specific electrical |
| activity that has been discovered that's related to repression. |
| There's nothing that a brain researcher can do to show me an |
| anatomical place right now or an electrical action right now in |
| the brain that corresponds to repression." |
| Lenore Terr, M.D. |
| Testimony at Akiki trial |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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NATIONAL FMSF PROGRAM
Memory and Reality
June 3 - 5, 1994
Kansas City
Continuing Education Credit Approved
Look for details in the January newsletter.
Speakers will include members of the FMSF Advisory Board. Sessions
will be held Friday through Sunday noon to be followed with a public
lecture Sunday afternoon.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| In every new and smart disease, |
| From housemaid's knee to heart disease, |
| She recognized the symptoms as her own! |
| Guy Wetmore Carryl (1873-1904) |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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FMSF ADVISORY BOARD MEETING
Where do we go from here?
On the weekend of November 20th, eleven members of the FMSF
Scientific and Professional Advisory Board met with Directors and
Staff. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the direction of
Foundation efforts. The executive director opened the discussion with
the suggestion that perhaps it was time for FMSF to close its doors
since it has achieved several of its initial goals: understanding the
problem and bringing it to national attention. This idea was
unanimously and vigorously defeated.
The day and a half discussion covered many topics. The consensus of
the meeting was that FMSF should increase the level of support to
families and initiate professional education efforts. In addition, the
members of the Advisory Board said that they would invite the more
than 3,000 professionals who have contacted the Foundation to take an
active and formal role in support of the Foundation. We are working on
the best mechanism for achieving this. Advisory Board members also
set some research and publication objectives for themselves.
The June 3-5 Memory and Reality Conference in Kansas City is a
concrete result of this meeting. Increased support to families will
require intense increased fund-raising efforts.
We thank the members of the FMSF Scientific and Professional
Advisory Board for their outstanding support. In some survivor
newsletters it has been stated that FMSF pays the members of its
board. To the contrary, board members make substantial donations to
the Foundation both in time and money. While professionals are aware
of the awesome reputations of members of the FMSF Board, some families
may not realize that we are supported by the most prestigious memory
researchers and clinicians in the world. It is the presence of the
Advisory Board that has given our efforts credibility.
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WE NEED YOUR HELP
At one year and nine months, FMSF is still a new organization. With
the number of families and professionals doubling on a regular basis,
daily operations can be quite challenging. An organization such as
ours which relies so much on volunteer help needs to plan carefully to
maintain a level of professionalism. An organization in which most of
the members don't want to have their predicament made public has
unique hurdles and problems. Our strengths far outweigh the problems.
The phenomenon has affected especially talented and caring people who
see beyond their own personal tragedy to the need to goad a change in
the mental health system. Following are some suggestions:
* Send us your story. These are archived as documentation of this
phenomenon.
* Make yourself known to your state contact. If you don't know who
that is, call us for the information.
* Become an expert. Read. Study. Inform yourself. Information is
power.
* Attend meetings with families, professionals and
retractors. Families and retractors tell us that after the initial
phone call to the office, this is the most important step they have
taken to help cope with the loss and accusation. It is through the
collective efforts of local groups that change is taking place.
* Pay your dues. FMSF is a small organization that relies on dues
and contributions. Take advantage of matching gifts from employers.
Some families have sent us donations that would have gone for holiday
gifts to accusing children. Let us know if there are any organizations
with which you have contact that might help us increase the level of
support to families. Organizations that help the elderly (yes that's
us!) and organizations concerned with mental health issues must be
informed about the desperate situation of families affected by FMS.
* Write letters. This is something that every person must do if
others are to know what is going on. Letters to the media are
essential -- not just letters of complaint but also letters of thanks
when a job is well done. Inform doctors, lawyers, educators and
professional organizations in your community and also local and
national representatives. Arrange for a talk by yourself or a
professional at other organizations you belong to. Unless you tell
them, people will not be aware of this nightmare.
* Spend a vacation in the FMSF office. The help that we have
received from volunteers who come to Philadelphia is fantastic. Frank,
who recently retired and whose daughter has retracted, has spent three
months helping with bookkeeping. He returns to his home in
Massachusetts for long weekends. Marjorie, recently widowed, is
coming south (!) for three months to help us coordinate Canadian
families. Carol and Milt came from Maryland for two days last week.
Chris has come from Michigan several times to help and we've had
visitors from as far away as Utah and Arizona. Many many people come
for the day. There is work for everyone. We could not function without
the help of our volunteers both in the office and across the country.
* Send us articles, tapes, fliers. The library that we are building
is in almost constant use by reporters and students. While it is often
difficult to see what is happening from one vantage point, when we put
together all the brochures and articles that you send, we begin to see
the scope and direction that this phenomenon is taking. Some people
hesitate to send things that are critical for fear of hurting our
feelings. Don't worry. Critical material is vitally important. It lets
us know what the concerns are. We do not have a clipping service. We
depend on you. In fact, clipping services would not examine free
material at places like supermarkets -- a great place to gauge
opinion. Please remember to include the date and source of anything
that you send.
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MORE ON WITCH HUNTS
Are we experiencing a witchhunt? If we define a witch hunt as a
situation in which accusations are made and the accused cannot defend
themselves, the answer must be "yes."
The incident at McGill is an extreme example of witch hunt behavior.
Dr. Harold Lief was invited by the Department of Psychiatry to give a
public lecture on FMS to be followed the next day with professional
seminars. Impassioned by headlines such as "Hospital brings 'incest
lobby' to Montreal" (Peter Scowen, November 11, 1993, Mirror) letters
and phone calls protesting his visit flooded the Department of
Psychiatry at McGill. Dr. Lief even received threats at his home. On
the night of the scheduled lecture, protesters in the audience yelled,
waved noisemakers and set off a stink bomb. Dr. Lief was not allowed
to speak even though, when asked, a majority of those present said
they wanted to hear him. The prevention of the free exchange of ideas
is totalitarianism, nothing less. Is the idea that some memories are
true, some a mixture of fact and fantasy and some false such a threat?
The next day protesters again entered the hospital, blocking its
hallways and thus the orderly management of the hospital. The banner
they carried read, "Lesbians and Dykes against DR. LIEf." An
overreaction? To anyone who knows the accomplishments of Dr. Lief in
the area of Lesbian and Gay rights, a more inappropriate target could
not have been selected. The unthinking absurdity of the Lief incident
is a terrible embarrassment to women, McGill, and Canada.
To give an indication of the climate in Canada, the McGill Daily,
the student newspaper (Nov 10, 1993) had the following headline,
"False Memory Syndrome, an evening of backlash and questionable
science." In the article by Marie-Josee Johnston, which actually
slandered the FMSF director, the following appeared: "Don't be fooled,
says the FMSF -- the real victims are not abused children, but
innocent parents accused of heinous crimes." The author states that
"FMSF is directed specifically at the media, and is dedicated to
disseminating disinformation on incest to support their cause."
(McGill Daily, 3490 McTavish St, Montreal, QC, H3A 1X9)
Another example this month of a witch hunt climate comes from
testimony of Lenore Terr, M.D. in the Akiki case. Under oath, Dr. Terr
testified that, "The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is a political
action group out of Philadelphia run by a woman whose own child has
accused her of sexual abuse." The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is
a 501(c)(3), not a political action group (PAC). The executive
director of FMSF, has no knowledge that she had ever been accused of
sexual abuse. What is the accusation exactly? What a strange way to
find out about it. Perhaps the organization S.O.U.P.! that we
mentioned last month is busy at work. For $10.00 S.O.U.P.! will inform
employers, neighbors and others that a person is a "perp." The person
requesting this service may remain anonymous.
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9 p.m. (USA) Dying to Remember. A woman discovers during hypnotherapy
that she was murdered in a former life. Is it a good idea for her to
try to solve the crime? Stars Melissa Gilbert, Ted Shackelford and
Christopher Stone. (120 min.) TV Week, Nov 28.
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MEMORY BUSINESS
A lawyer in Minnesota called to say that he represented a 90 year
old man being sued by his 63 year old daughter for alleged abuse
taking place 57 years ago. The lawyer asked, "Is this what the people
who changed the statute of limitations had in mind?"
"Advanced estate planning, that's what it is," said another lawyer.
If the child gets the money through a court judgment, there will be no
estate taxes.
An article in Long Island Newsday, November 28 by Glenn Kessler is
the first we have seen that addresses some of the economic issues.
Kessler noted, "Insurance companies report an astonishing rise in
claims for post-traumatic stress disorder or multiple personality
disorder, almost all of which cite childhood sexual abuse as the
cause." According to Allen Savitz, senior vice president of Human
Affairs International, the mental health arm of Aetna, "claims for
post-traumatic stress disorder have risen fivefold in the past five
years, and 10 times as many multiple personality disorder claims are
received than 10 years ago."
Kessler also described a situation in one managed health care group
in which thirty percent of the mental health costs were used by less
than one percent of the participants. Two group-practitioners racked
up nearly $2 million in costs in just a year. Most of this was for
repressed memories and multiple personality.
The court records of the suit by Dennis Schwiderski against his
former therapist show that the oil executive and his insurance carrier
spent more than $2 million over 10 years for treatment for repressed
memories of being involved in satanic cults.
We wonder if and how the financial aspects of FMS will intersect
with seven current Federal Bureau of Investigation investigations of
private mental hospital chains.
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INCEST SUPPORT NETWORK CLOSES
According to an AP report on November 11, Marilyn Van Derbur Atler's
incest support network which once claimed to help 500 incest victims a
week, is closing its doors because it cannot raise needed funds.
According to Ms Atler, "People want to give money to children, but
many adults -- even if they don't say these words -- think, 'It
happened a long time ago, get on with your life.'"
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| The Fundamental Truths of Psychiatry. |
| |
| The most valuable lesson psychiatry has taught me is the |
| importance of listening to my instincts, of reading between the |
| lines. This basic lesson takes on profound significance in view of |
| a second fundamental truth of psychiatry: People will not always |
| tell you the whole truth. |
| Sandra Prager, M.D. |
| Third-year resident at the Menninger School of Psychiatry. |
| "False Memory Syndrome Furor" |
| Psychiatric Times |
| November 1993, page 11 |
| |
| We are relieved that the author of these central insights into her |
| profession is a critic of FMSF. A representative of the Menninger |
| School has sent a letter to Psychiatric Times to say that |
| Dr. Prager's views about FMS do not represent the views of that |
| institution. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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IgNOBEL PRIZES
On October 7 at MIT the IgNobel prizes were awarded. According to
Steve Nadis in the October 14 issue of Science, "These prizes, which
are as feared as their Stockholm counterparts are coveted, are awarded
for research that 'cannot or should not be reproduced.'" Nadis went on
to note that "the prize for psychology went to John Mack of the
Harvard Medical School and David Jacobs of Temple University for
lending credence to the notion that thousands, if not millions, of
people have been abducted by aliens from outer space. Neither Mack nor
Jacobs was there to accept the honor, but an alleged assistant
attorney general took the stage, reminding the audience that
"kidnaping is still a federal offense."
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CHICAGO PICKETS
In November, families and professionals in Chicago held a meeting.
People attending had to go past pickets from the Northwest Action
Against Rape. The protesters were invited to attend the meeting and at
least two did venture in. We wonder if what they heard matched with
their preconceptions. We noted that the women left when Laura, a
retractor, started her speech by saying that her experience was not
about child abuse, but rather bad therapy.
The signs that the pickets carried held the following messages:
Memories are real.
Memories are not fantasy.
FMSF fanatics mistreating survivors .
Incest is not imagination
Try Truth.
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SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE
What is the type of evidence that mental health professionals will
accept about the validity of repression? Who can contribute to this
debate? We found the following courtroom testimony of interest:
Q. In terms of false memory, are there professional psychologists
and psychiatrists who are debating the actuality of repressed memory,
yes or no?
A. Yes.
Q. And among that debate is there some question about the scientific
validity of the theory of repression, yes or no?
A. Yes. But I think that they are wrong. They are not clinicians,
and they are not entitled to make that decision.
Q. Is it your position that only clinicians can make a decision
concerning the scientific foundation of psychiatric or psychological
principles?
A. Not all principles, but repression is a clinical principle, and I
thought we were talking about repression.
Q. Is it your position that repression can only be addressed by
clinicians and not by researchers?
A. The kind of researchers that are bringing this to question,
sociology researchers, researchers who are doing cognitive psychology
experiments, are not the ones who can make a value judgment on
repression. It is the clinicians who can.
Lenore Terr, M.D.
Akiki Trial Testimony
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "Oh, and I'm an incest survivor, you know. I haven't remembered |
| any specific instances yet, but ALL of my therapists agree that |
| something happened." |
| from the film "Single White Female" |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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VALUABLE ARTICLES
There were too many insightful articles about memory, FMS, and our
culture this month to even attempt to list them all now. We will add
them to our article order as quickly as we get permission to do so. We
will mention just two:
"Multiple Personalities: The Experts are Split" by Chi Chi Sileo in
Insight, October 25, 1993. This article gives a concise review of the
issues dividing the mental health community about MPD. An interesting
observation in this article is that "Almost everyone who is an avid
believer in the prevalence of multiple personality disorder is also an
avid believer in satanic cults." What would this mean if confirmed by
empirical evidence?
"Defining Deviancy Up" by Charles Krauthammer November 22, 1993, in
The New Republic. This article examines our changing definitions for
"deviancy" both over time and within populations. Some of the article
directly addresses issues of abuse.
"Child abuse is both a crime and a tragedy, but is it nineteen times
more prevalent today than it was thirty years ago? That is what the
statistics offer. In 1963: 150,000 reported cases. In 1992: 2.9
million."
"Now, simply considering the historical trajectory of the treatment
of children since the nineteenth century, when child labor -- even
child slavery -- was common, it is hard to believe that the tendency
toward improved treatment of children has been so radically reversed
in one generation."
"Plainly it hasn't. What happened then? The first thing that
happened was an epidemic of over-reporting. Douglas Besharov points
out that whereas in 1975 about one-third of child abuse cases were
dismissed for lack of evidence, today about two-thirds are dismissed.
New York state authorities may have considered it a great social
advance that between 1979 and 1983, for example, reported cases of
child abuse increased by almost 50 percent. But over the same period,
the number of substantiated cases actually declined. In other words,
the 22,000 increase of reported cases yielded a net decrease of real
cases.
"Note the contrast. For ordinary crime, to which we have become
desensitized, we have defined deviancy down. One measure of this
desensitization is under-reporting: nearly two out of every three
ordinary crimes are never even reported. Child abuse is precisely the
opposite. For child abuse, to which we have become exquisitely over-
sensitized, deviancy has been correspondingly defined up. One of the
measures of over-sensitization is over-reporting: whereas two out of
three ordinary crimes are never reported, two out of three reported
cases of child abuse are never shown to have occurred."
"The helping professions, committed to a belief in endemic abuse,
have encouraged a massive search to find cases, and where they cannot
be found, to invent them."
"If your life shows the symptoms. In a popular culture saturated
with tales of child abuse paraded daily on the airwaves, it is not
hard to suggest to vulnerable people that their problems -- symptoms
-- are caused by long-ago abuse, indeed, even unremembered abuse.
Hence the reductio ad absurdum of the search for the hidden epidemic:
adults who present themselves suddenly as victims of child abuse after
decades of supposed amnesia -- the amnesia reversed and the memory
reclaimed thanks to the magic of intensive psychotherapy."
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FROM OUR READERS
If my daughter were sexually assaulted or raped by anyone, I would
prosecute the perpetrator to the fullest extent of the law. If a
therapist using introspective therapeutic techniques created a memory
in my daughter that never happened, then that therapist is guilty of a
crime equal to a real perpetrator, and justice would demand that the
therapist be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
A Father
-------
In January of 1990, our daughter called us and asked if we would
meet with her and her husband after church. We knew that they had been
having marriage problems. My daughter was seriously overweight and her
husband had had an affair. They had been seeing a Christian marriage
counselor and we thought that she was going to let us know that things
were improving.
We said 'Yes,' of course, and made plans to meet them. My daughter
had always been very close to me and her dad. In fact, she had
recently nominated her dad as 'Father of the Year' in our town.
Imagine our shock when instead of talking about her current life,
she sat reading from a paper that she had been sexually abused from
age 5 to 13 by her dad and that I had failed to protect her. She read
that she wanted x amount of dollars for the past therapy and x amount
of dollars for the next two years that she would need for therapy.
A Mom
-------
I get so depressed. I have lost over 30 pounds, my hair has turned
quite gray, I have developed high blood pressure for the first time in
my life, I can't sleep, I am up pacing much of every night. I have no
appetite. I have almost become a hermit because I find it hard to be
with people recently. Even though everyone in my family thinks my
daughter needs serious help we are still caught in this nightmare
which is compounded by a lawsuit. It is as though her therapist has
turned what at one time, not too long ago, was love, into hate. In a
letter she wrote, 'If dad died, I wouldn't even go to his funeral,
except to spit on his ugly, old, wrinkled corpse.' It is hard to live
with statements like that, when they come from someone that you have
raised, nurtured, did everything that you could for. Sometimes I get
up in the morning and wonder why the hell I should even bother. What
can be good in the day ahead that can override the hell that I am
going through in my mind during every conscious moment?
A Dad
------
This week I was glancing idly through a booklet sent home by my
son's PTA Auction. Suddenly I noticed that for only $50, I can
purchase through my son's school now, the services of a
hypnotherapist. I called her up, asking what I might get for my fifty
bucks and it's a lot. She will take me into my past lives, where I
will identify people who have abused me; I can then rid myself of
these people, as they have reappeared in my present life. I will learn
how I chose my gender, how to become successful in my chosen or
another career, and how to rid myself of blocks. Half-kidding, I said,
'I just read an ad in a magazine which offered to certify me as a
hypnotist after only one weekend of training.' She responded that she
had had four weekends of training; eight whole days instead of just
two, and that she had personally gone beyond that by attending many
workshops. "Although," she added," I know a lot of people who started
right up after the four weekends and are doing very well." The $50 is
only the beginning; it really takes at least three hours at $50 an
hour to get going, after which I should anticipate 6-7 three hour
sessions to really get into it. All this in my small, bucolic, New
England town."
------
One of the problems I have with the concept of mental illness is
that if suggestion is as universal and pervasive and as strong as the
theory of implicit memory suggests, then dealing with a person as if
he or she is 'mentally ill' may mean that we begin to see iatrogenic
illnesses. In this regard, I am interested in how quickly the
retractors start to turn around as soon as they begin to reject their
identity as mental patients and to rely upon the truth of their own
experience.
I think that 'mental illness' does not have to do with an
'unconscious' in the sense that the client is blacked out and totally
unaware. I think it does have to do with the acquisition of HABITS of
thought and interaction which may become so automated (and reactive)
that we have lost the connection between the inciting incident/s and
the reactions we have now.
A Mom
------
While I am thrilled to hear that the 'tide' has turned for many
families, there are still many of us who have absolutely no contact
with the FMS victim and grow more and more hopeless every day. While
my brother and I used to write often, I have not heard from him since
last March."
**********************************************************************
WAVES OF EMOTION
Time alone brings the tide in - crashing,
beating on my mind and drowning my soul.
First anger, then shock and disbelief.
Next, sorrow and tears - as if he were no more.
Trapped in an ocean, often rippling and unexpected.
One moment is calm while the next is stormy.
How dare he ignore me! as if he is in control, then
shock that this could happen to someone like him.
As the tide washes the sand away, I know I'm loosing him.
Memories of our closeness seem to sift away to the unknown.
For moments at a time, I feel hardened to it all.
For my parents in more pain than I, I graciously accept this loss.
A sense of urgency then splashes on me without warning,
The water is becoming glass and I can no longer see inside,
I feel panic and continue to reach toward him,
knowing I must fight my own despair.
With greater force each day, the currents pull at my heart.
I struggle to breath, I struggle to free myself.
Is he letting go or am I letting him go?
Is there a right thing to do?
Waves of emotion inside of me yield their own speechless reality,
as I know this tide will be rough and forever changing.
I can only search to keep my own peace and
hope that his will come with time.
A Sister
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Why would someone believe these memories if they were not true? |
| When you first remember your abuse or acknowledge its effects, you |
| may feel tremendous relief. Finally there is a reason for your |
| problems. There is someone, and something to blame. |
| |
| p.173, Courage to Heal, Bass and Davis |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
RE: MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER (MPD)
"Do you believe in MPD?" is a legitimate question, and I fear you
have not understood it. At least, on page 10 of your November, 1993
Newsletter you state "we do not nor have we ever questioned the
reality of MPD," but the following sentence makes it clear that you
are referring only to the symptoms.
As you will be aware, the diagnostic and statistical manual of the
American Psychiatric Association grants "status" to a collection of
symptoms, under the term "Disorder." The question, "Do you believe in
MPD?" really means do you feel that this collection of symptoms is in
fact a separate disorder, distinct from other psychiatric disorders,
with its own prognosis and treatment requirements.
In the light of this, I think you do "question the reality of MPD."
At least, I hope you do?
A.C. Carr, M.D.
Dr. Carr is correct. It is the symptoms of MPD that we do not
question. We leave the issue of whether the collection of symptoms
is in fact a separate disorder to professionals and professional
organizations. In the case of False Memory Syndrome, we also have
recognized a collection of symptoms. Whether this is something
professionals will ever consider a separate disorder is not clear.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| We quite literally "make up stories" about our lives, the world, |
| and reality in general. Often it is the story that creates the |
| memory, rather than vice versa. |
| Robyn Dawes, December 1993 |
| Mirabella |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
A SURVIVOR WHO NEVER FORGOT
Recently I attended a seminar given False Memory Syndrome. while
there, I related a personal experience I had with a therapist. At the
end of the seminar, a man asked if I would write to you about it. At
first, I wasn't sure, but I have given it some thought and after
realizing who you are and what you're trying to do, I am happy to
share this with you. Please feel free to use this anyway you see fit.
"I am 45 years old. I am a survivor of incest and systematic
torture, not to mention gross neglect and emotional abuse. All my
memories are intact. I remember them from the time the events took
place till presently. My abusers were not Satan worshipers. I never
forgot.
When I was 24, I had many problems (as you can imagine) and I found
a psychiatrist who helped me get my head together and through the
years, we worked out my problems. I became very interested in mental
health and got some education and training and am presently employed
by a non-profit agency dedicated to helping people who are mentally
ill. I've been doing this for the last 10 years. I work as a counselor
in community support.
I have many friends who know I do this and many talk to me about
their problems. They also tell me about their friends' problems.
About 1 1/2 years ago, I first heard of people going to therapists
and being diagnosed with MPD and accusing various people of cult
abuse. I didn't think I knew anyone with this problem but it seemed
rather odd to me. Also 3 years ago, my sister called me and told me of
an incest survivor group in her area who used a book called "Courage
to Heal" as a "Bible" for the group. She was thinking of getting
involved and asked if I had heard of this book. I hadn't. I purchased
the book and by the time I got to page 93, I couldn't stand to read
another page. It was the biggest piece of trash I've ever read. It
mead me angry to think think that two underqualified women were
passing themselves off as experts and getting rich on the misery of
incest victims. I told my sister of my feelings and she declined the
group.
Late this spring, a young man called to talk about some flashes of
thought he was having. By this time I heard many stories of different
people who say they found out they were ritually abused. We talked at
length and he told me of a mutual friend who was seeing a therapist in
NY and how he was helping her to see she was a victim of ritual abuse
at the hands of family members. This is the same therapist the others
went to. It happens I know the young woman's family (our mutual
friend) and there is no way her family could be involved in anything
like this! I didn't want to invalidate her feelings but I felt I must
get to the bottom of this.
I made an appointment with the therapist myself. I didn't tell him I
worked in mental health, but that I was a survivor of incest and
brutality. I decided to focus on a real nightmare I had as a child and
see where he would go with it.
What an amazing experience! After 1 1/2 hours he told me I had
MPD. Even one of my alternate personalities came out while he was
talking to me and my parents were Satan worshipers and I had been gang
raped by the cult. When I refuted this he told me I was in denial and
would not be whole again until I remembered all these things and
worked through them. He also said that was the reason I was so
overweight. he told me that inside me there was a lovely 4 1/2 year
old girl waiting to grow up and become the very best person she could
be!
Had I not had my education and training, I could have bought into
nonsense. It bothers me to think what these people are doing to their
clients and their families.
He didn't hypnotize me. But he "walked" me through my dream pushing
and prodding until I actually saw weird pictures in my mind. I realize
what he did was coach my imagination and then label the fantasy a
memory. How frightening to think how much of this going on around the
world.
If in anyway I can be of service to you, please feel free to contact
me. I wish you the best in your wqork.
Survivor
**********************************************************************
LETTER
Believers in the false memory syndrome do not believe that false
memories sprout up from nothing, but that seeds are planted in fertile
minds by one or more of the following: cultural myths, misleading
literature, charismatic speakers, peer group influence, custody battle
pressure, police interrogation, or misguided therapists. Therefore, a
more appropriate term would be "suggested memory syndrome" or, when
misguided therapists are the source, "iatrogenic memory syndrome."
These terms, by indicating the outside instigation of false memories,
avoid moral condemnation, whereas "false memory syndrome"
inadvertently labels the carrier as being the originator of
falsehoods.
If you've been falsely accused by your child, the last thing you
want to do is label your child in such a way as to promote an
adversarial relationship. Yet that is what you do when you label your
child as having a "false memory syndrome," which sounds to your child
like you're calling them an originator of falsehoods. If instead you
were to say they have a "suggested memory syndrome" or an "iatrogenic
memory syndrome," then you and your child are on the same side,
against the outside source or person that planted the seed of the
false memories.
I'm not saying that a name change would be a panacea. In the short
run, it might not make any difference. But it would plant a seed for
reconciliation.
Another thing that antagonizes potential allies of the FMSF is that
a few vocal members make alienating pronouncements. In particular,
while having little or no in-depth nonforensic experience with
multiple personality disorder, they say derogatory things about it.
This antagonizes all the good therapists of bona fide multiple
personality who would like only too well to rid their field of the
small number of misguided therapists who hurt the reputation of
multiple personality. If the good therapists of multiple personality
did not get the impression that FMSF throws the baby out with the bath
water when it comes to multiple personality, they would be natural
allies. Likewise, there are many real abuse survivors who would be
natural allies against false survivor stories, if only FMSF did not
have such an anti-survivor aura, however inadvertent and
understandable it may be.
Kenneth A. Nakdimen, M.D.
**********************************************************************
The August 30th newsletter just arrived with news of change! The day
before, one of our daughters spoke to her father on the telephone for
15 minutes after two years of refusing to have anything to do with
him. She had phoned the house - just that is a big change - to make a
supper date with me. I was out and my husband took the opportunity to
try to chat with her about ordinary non personal things, and it
worked. She even asked him about the garden -- something they both
used to work on.
A Mom
-------
My prayers have been answered! My son no longer believes we sexually
abused him. He arrived unannounced last evening. We talked for three
hours.
However he is very confused and full of mixed feelings. His anger
and outrage at us are still there and also toward others. It seems he
was taught to hate. It will take a long time, as you know, but it's a
start.
A Mom
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Where do 5,757 families live? Dec 3, '93 |
| not including 1,676 Potential families and 94 retractor Families |
| AK(11) AL(20) AR(19) AZ(176) CA(893) CO(102) CT(56) DE(20) |
| FL(251) GA(63) HI(10) IA(45) ID(32) IL(241) IN(64) KS(52) |
| KY(23) LA(22) MA(138) MD(93) ME(28) MI(178) MN(160) MO(106) |
| MS(7) MT(33) NC(75) ND(7) NE(27) NH(26) NJ(132) NM(39) |
| NV(22) NY(256) OH(224) OK(54) OR(141) PA(289) RI(17) SC(27) |
| SD(14) TN(42) TX(222) UT(168) VA(86) VT(24) WA(259 WI(167) |
| WV(13) WY(11) DC(8) VI(3) PR(1) Canada: AB(19) BC(65) |
| MB(40) NS(11) ON(163) PQ(8) SK(7) Australia(9) France(2) |
| Germany(2) Ireland(1) Israel(2) Netherlands(1) NZ(1) |
| S.Africa(1) UK(230) |
| Each family represents many people. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
[Hard copy edition includes here a reproduction of a "Calvin and
Hobbes" 1993 comic strip by Watterston. It can be found on page 16
of Freyd, Pamela & Goldstein, Eleanor (1997) Smiling Through Tears.
Upton Press. The dialogue:
CALVIN: Nothing I do is my fault. My family is dysfunctional and
my parents won't empower me! Consequently I'm not self-actualized!
My behavior is addictive functioning in a disease process of toxic
codependency! I need holistic healing and wellness before I'll
accept responsibility for my actions!
HOBBES: One of us needs to stick his head in a bucket of ice
water.
CALVIN: I love the culture of victimhood.]
**********************************************************************
PERSPECTIVE ON PSYCHIATRY
"Recovered" Memory's Real Victims
This article appeared in the The Los Angeles Times, November 18, 1993
Reprinted with permission of the author.
Most traumas are literally unforgettable. Why would only sexual abuse
be buried, for recovery years later?
By John Hochman
[Hard-copy edition includes picture of the author and a Signe
Wilkinson cartoon (originally from the Philadelphia Daily News)
reproduced from the L.A.Times. The Wilkinson cartoon can be found on
page 95 of Freyd, Pamela & Goldstein, Eleanor (1997) Smiling Through
Tears. Upton Press. It shows a receptionist asking a potential
client "How much abuse can you afford to remember?" Next to her is a
display board that reads:
Dr. VIC TIMM
Psychiatrist
Rates
$10,000 Memory of abuse by a parent
$20,000 Memory of abuse by a teacher
$30,000 Memory of abuse by a priest
Specialty memories: price on request]
A man in Philadelphia says that two priests molested him numerous
times in the mid-1970s, when he was a high-school seminarian. Now, in
1993, he sues for $10 million. Because one of the accused priests went
on to become Chicago's cardinal, the story is national news.
The claim of molestation by 34-year-old Steven Cook comes years
after the alleged events because, he says, he lost all memory of the
acts shortly after each occurred, and only in 1992 did he "recover"
the "memories" that are the grounds for his lawsuit.
Cook's charges are similar to recent claims of childhood sexual
victimization by roughly 10,000 adults in America. These claimants
(mostly women) almost always say that the "perpetrators" were trusted
adult figures, very often their own fathers. They further claim that
they lost all memory for each and every molestation shortly after each
event occurred. Such claims were almost unheard of five years ago. And
almost everyone complaining is white, as opposed to Latino, black or
Asian American. What's going on here?
Welcome to the strange world of memory recovery therapy. This is a
pseudoscience based on the notion that tens of thousands of Americans
were repeatedly molested as children and don't know it.
People involved in memory recovery therapy have been convinced by
misguided self-help books or therapists that they are "survivors" of
totally forgotten sexual crimes. They are told that their eating or
sexual or marital problems will clear up once the "lost memories" are
found. The real message being sold by these new therapy messiahs is
the ultimate crybaby solution to everyone's pitiful human problems:
It's all someone else's fault.
Not quite. Here are the facts:
* Memories of emotionally charged events are among the least
forgettable memories we have. Consider the "Vietnam syndrome" where
ex-GIs are still haunted by unwanted "flashbacks" of combat
experiences that intrude into their daily thoughts. Similar symptoms
occur in individuals months after experiencing horrible accidents or
crime victimization.
* Barring flood, fire and electromagnetic disruptions, computer disks
retain all the data you enter, and videotapes keep all the TV programs
and birthday parties you recorded. But the human brain forgets most of
what it experiences -- for good.
* Sexual molestations of children do occur, but so do other
overwhelming experiences, such as witnessing fathers beating up
mothers, or seeing family members killed, or having a broken bone set
without sufficient anesthesia. These horrible events in childhood
become literally unforgettable. However, people undergoing memory
recovery therapy seem to only talk about sexual abuse.
* Even accurate memories fade or alter with time, more than we
think. Often people's absolute convictions that their memories are
accurate have failed to stand up to scientific scrutiny. Subjects in
laboratory studies can be coached into distortion of memories without
their realizing it, and even children can be taught to believe that
they underwent distressing events that never occurred.
While there are a few well-trained psychiatrists and psychologists
who subscribe to the notion of recovered memory, many of the "experts"
promoting these treatments are counselors with a master's degree or
less, who were never required to scientifically study memory as part
of their training. In fact the most popular self-help book pushing
these ideas (with sales of more than 1 million) was written by two
women with no formal training in memory, psychology or psychiatry.
People who sincerely believe that hidden memories are making them
sick understandably want to get better, and rapidly gain conviction
that their "recovered memories" are true. Unfortunately, the results
whether obtained through "mediation," dream interpretation, hypnosis
or "truth serum," are likely to be visions that seem to be memories
but never in fact occurred.
And there is more. Many memory therapists urge their patients to
believe that their "recovered memories" are the only proof needed that
long-trusted friends and family are actually perverts and
perpetrators, never to be trusted again.
One interesting wrinkle is the trend to sue the "perpetrator" in
order to aid the "victim" in "healing" and to "educate society." And
you can, according to this theory, ignore the "perpetrator's" side of
the story since all of them are "in denial" and won't tell the truth,
anyway. And if anyone tells you that you might be having "false
memories" don't talk to them either, because they are hindering your
"recovery."
People desperate for "recovery" are finding "proof" of "forgotten"
crimes in therapists' offices and in the revival-like atmosphere of
"survivor support groups." But in order for Steven Cook to get $10
million, the courts will have to decide whether he is a victim of
pedophilic priests or whether the priests are victims of "recovered
memories."
John Hochman is a forensic psychiatrist in Encino with a special
interest in therapy cults.
**********************************************************************
FMSF MEETINGS
Mid-December thru January
Families & Professionals Working Together
Please note: In order to list your February meeting notice in the
January newsletter, please observe the early deadline -- Wednesday,
January 3, 1993. Mail or fax your announcement to Nancy's
attention. Thank you...and Happy Holidays!
NATIONAL
FMSF PROGRAM
Memory and Reality
June 3-5, 1994
Kansas City
Continuning Education Credit
University of Kansas
Details in January newsletter.
MIDWEST REGIONAL MEETING
Michigan, Ohio,
May
Michigan State University
Details in January
WEST COAST
CALIFORNIA*
Rancho Cucamonga Group
Upland
1st Monday, 7:30 pm
Call Marilyn (909) 985-7980
North County Escondido
Contact Joe or Marlene
(619) 745-5518
Central Coast Meeting
Call Carole (805) 967-8058
Valencia
note: no december meeting
Meetings resume in January
4th Sat. each month - 10 am
Call Jane/Mark (805) 947-4376
NORTHWEST
IDAHO
Saturday, January 8, 1993
Call Richard (208) 357-7194 for details
SOUTHWEST
ARIZONA
Tempe
Sat., January 29, 1994
9 am - 4:30 pm
Embassy Suites Hotel
FMS - Understanding the Crisis
Paul Simpson,Ph.D. , Eric Nelson, and an Arizona retractor and her mother
RSVP Barbara (602) 924-0975
by January. 24th
COLORADO
Denver
4th Saturday each month - 1:00 pm
Cherry Creek Branch,
Denver Public Library
3rd & Milwaukee
Contact Roy (303) 221-4816
CENTRAL TEXAS
Call Nancy or Jim
(512) 478-8395
MIDWEST
KANSANS & MISSOURIANS
Kansas City
2nd Sunday each month
"Help educate professionals"
Contact Pat (913) 238-2447
or Jan (816) 276-8964
KENTUCKY
Lexington
Dixie (606) 356-9309
MICHIGAN
Grand Rapids Area - Jenison
2nd Monday each month
Call Catharine (606) 363-1354
MINNESOTA
January 15, 1994
For time and location, please contact
Terry/Collette (507) 642-3630
OHIO
Cincinnati Area
Contact Bob (502) 957-2378
NORTHEAST
PHILADELPHIA
SO. JERSEY & DELAWARE
Saturday, January 15, 1994 - 1-5:00 pm
Valley Forge Hilton,
King of Prussia, PA
Call Jim or Jo (215) 783-0396 for details
MAINE
Freeport
3rd Sun each month - 1:30 pm
call Wally (207) 865-4044
FMSF NOTICES
MICHIGAN
Michigan Information Newsletter
PO Box 15044, Ann Arbor, MI 48106
(313) 461-6213
Meeting notices & state-related topics appear in this newsletter.
WISCONSIN
Attention Wisconsin!
To participate in a phone tree,
call Katie/Leo (404) 476-0285.
CANADA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Vancouver and Mainland
For information, call Ruth (604) 925-1539
Victoria &
Vancouver Island
Tue, Dec 15, 1993 - 7:30 pm
(3rd Tuesday each month)
Contact John (604) 721-3219
MANITOBA
Winnipeg
1st Sunday each month
Call Joan (204) 257-9444
ONTARIO
Toronto
Call Pat
UNITED KINGDOM AFFILIATED GROUP
Adult Children Accusing Parents
Parents with relatives in the UK contact Roger Scotford at ACAP on (0)
225 868682
AUSTRALIA
Group forming Contact FMSF Office.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Do you have access to e-mail? Send a message to |
| pjf@cis.upenn.edu |
| if you want to receive notices of radio and television broadcasts |
| about FMS. All the message need say is "add to the FMS list". It |
| would be useful, but not necessary, if you add your full name (all |
| addresses and names will remain strictly confidential). The list |
| is not a "bulletin board". Its only use is to send occasional |
| notices of broadcasts. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
We are proud to report that Dr. Paul McHugh's article Psychiatric
Misadventures, has been chosn to appear in Best American Essays of
'93, published by Norton. Dr. McHugh has been on our board of
advisors from the very beginning.
**********************************************************************
VIDEO TAPES AVAILABLE
FROM ONE DAUGHTER TO ANOTHER
Tape formed from life experience of Janet Puhr. The approach is
designed to lead a daughter down a situational path of reality in the
hope that this will bring the daughter back into the light on heart to
heart journey back home to love and good times. 50 min. Cost $30
(includes shipping. For 2-say express add $3.) Make checks payable to:
Janet Puhr, PO. Box 293, Chicago Ridge, IL 60415. Enclose name,
address and phone number.
ADULTS BELATED ACCUSATIONS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE
by Richard A. Gardner, M.D.
Seventy-five minute recording of a presentation to the FMSF in New
York City on Sept. 19, 1993. Describes Dr. Gardner's views of the
factors which have brought about the sex-abuse hysteria which we have
been witnessing in the US since the early 1980's. Valuable to
therapists, lawyers and those in a position to help families. To
order, 800-544-6162. In NJ call 201-567-7295 or FAX 201-567-8956. Cost
$15 (NJ residents add 6% sales tax--$.90/tape) plus $2 postage &
handling or write to Creative Therapetics, Inc., P O BOX 522,
Cresskill, NJ 07626-0317.
**********************************************************************
Criminal Lawyers' Association Conference
The Abuse and Misuse of Science: Recovered Memories
November 5-7, 1993 Toronto
Contact Alan D. Gold, Barrister, 20 Adelaid Street East, Suite 210,
Toronto, On M5C 2T6, 416-368-1726,fax:416-368-6811
**********************************************************************
TO APPEAR SOON
* Seligman, M. What You Can Change and What You Can't, Knopf, 1993
* McHugh, P. "Psychotherapy Awry," American Scholar, Winter, 1994.
**********************************************************************
The FMSF Newsletter is published 10 times a year by the False Memory
Syndrome Foundation. A subscription is included in membership fees.
Others may subscribe by sending a check or money order, payable to FMS
Foundation, to the address below. 1993 subscription rates: USA: 1 year
$20, Student $10; Canada: 1 year $25; (in U.S. dollars); Foreign: 1
year $35. Single issue price: $3
**********************************************************************
FMS Foundation
3401 Market Street, Suite 130
This address and the phone numbers have changed as of July 15, 2000
Philadelphia, PA 19104-3315
Phone 215-387-1865
ISSN # 1069-0484
Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., Executive Director
**********************************************************************
FMSF SCIENTIFIC AND PROFESSIONAL ADVISORY BOARD
December 1, 1993
Terence W. Campbell, Ph.D., Clinical and Forensic Psychology, Sterling
Heights, MI; Rosalind Cartwright, Rush Presbyterian St. Lukes Medical
Center, Chicago, IL; Jean Chapman, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin,
Madison, WI; Loren Chapman, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison,
WI; Robyn M. Dawes, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA;
David F. Dinges, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, The Institute of
Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA; Fred Frankel, M.B.Ch.B.,
D.P.M., Beth Israel Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA;
George K. Ganaway, M.D., Emory University of Medicine, Atlanta, GA;
Martin Gardner, Author, Hendersonville, NC; Rochel Gelman, Ph.D.,
University of California, Los Angeles, CA; Henry Gleitman, Ph.D.,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Lila Gleitman, Ph.D.,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Richard Green, M.D.,
J.D., UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA; David A. Halperin,
M.D., Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY; Ernest Hilgard,
Ph.D., Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA; John Hochman, M.D., UCLA
Medical School, Los Angeles, CA; David S. Holmes, Ph.D., University of
Kansas, Lawrence, KS; Philip S. Holzman, Ph.D., Harvard University,
Cambridge, MA; John Kihlstrom, Ph.D., University of Arizona, Tucson,
AZ; Harold Lief, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., University of Washington, Seattle, WA; Paul
McHugh, M.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; Harold Merskey,
D.M., University of Western Ontario, London, Canada; Ulric Neisser,
Ph.D., Emory University, Atlanta, GA; Richard Ofshe, Ph.D., University
of California, Berkeley, CA; Martin Orne, M.D., Ph.D., University of
Pennsylvania, The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia,
PA; Loren Pankratz, Ph.D., Oregon Health Sciences University,
Portland, OR; Campbell Perry, Ph.D., Concordia University, Montreal,
Canada; Michael A. Persinger, Ph.D., Laurentian University, Ontario,
Canada; Harrison Pope, Jr., M.D., Harvard Medical School, Cambridge,
MA; James Randi, Author and Magician, Plantation, FL; Carolyn Saari,
Ph.D., Loyola University, Chicago, IL; Theodore Sarbin, Ph.D.,
University of California, Santa Cruz, CA; Thomas A. Sebeok, Ph.D.,
Indiana Univeristy, Bloomington, IN; Louise Shoemaker, Ph.D.,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA; Margaret Singer, Ph.D.,
University of California, Berkeley, CA; Ralph Slovenko, J.D., Ph.D.,
Wayne State University Law School, Detroit, MI; Donald Spence, Ph.D.,
Robert Wood Johnson Medical Center, Princeton, NJ; Jeffrey Victor,
Ph.D., Jamestown Community College, Jamestown, NY; Hollida Wakefield,
M.A., Institute of Psychological Therapies, Northfield, MN; Louis
Jolyon West, M.D., UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA.