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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,
"Memory with a Grain of Salt" is the title of the invited address to
be given by Ulric Neisser, Woodruff Professor of Psychology at Emory
University, at the April FMSF Conference, "Memory and Reality:
Emerging Crisis". (See schedule printed at end.)
We are pleased with the interest and excitement that this conference
is producing. The list of speakers is impressive. One psychiatrist
said to us, "You've got all the big ones!" She was right. We have an
extraordinary program in the areas that are of special concern to
FMSF: memory, therapy, law, child abuse and sociology. It is not often
that such a prestigious group comes together to address an issue of
mutual concern, and the fact that this will be a meeting that includes
both professionals and non-professionals makes it even more special.
The existence of the conference is a statement of the critical nature
of the FMS phenomenon.
The conference presents a unique opportunity to hear the views of
some of the nation's most highly respected researchers, and it will
also be a chance for professionals and families and people who have
gone through the FMS cycle to discuss the issues together and to find
ways to work together to resolve critical problems. It is not often
that a conference is held on such an emotionally sensitive and
politically charged topic.
We anticipate a balance of professionals and families in attendance.
We have planned the conference so that there will be opportunities for
the press to meet with any families or professionals willing to meet
with them but also to provide families who wish with anonymity. There
will be areas designated as no-photo areas, for example. Conference
talks will be open to any registrants, but round table sessions will
not be open to the press. During the time that round table discussions
are held, there will be special informational meetings for members of
the press.
A preliminary program of "Memory and Reality: Emerging Crisis" is
printed in this newsletter. We look forward to meeting you in April.
The mail brings new information about FMS each day. How can there be
so many stories of families torn apart because someone recovered
memories through hypnosis, dream interpretation, sodium amytal or
guided imagery? Each story seems so bizarre and impossible, but when
they are put together a pattern emerges. How widespread is the
phenomenon? We received a phone call yesterday from someone who had
spoken about FMS to a group of 80 doctors last week. She said that
after her presentation five doctors came up to her and said that s/he
had a child who had acquired "memories." We received our first letter
from Australia. It was a brief letter saying that there is also a
crisis in Australia.
Some of the stories appear in newspapers because they involve legal
actions or are the result of the accuser having a press conference. A
story that has caused many people, professionals and families both, to
call the Foundation to say they are alarmed is that of the Souza
family in Massachusetts. Two articles appeared in the Wall Street
Journal on February 22 commenting on the witch hunt aspect of this
case. (One was a review by Rabinowitz of a made for TV movie about the
story and one a column by Richard Gardner, M.D., a Professor of
Psychiatry at Columbia University.) According to an article in the
Boston Globe by Sally Jacobs on February 21, 1993, Ray and Shirley
Souza are to be sentenced in a criminal action for molesting their
grandchildren who "told of being locked naked in a cage in the
basement. Of being tied to the bedpost with a brown rope. Of being
forced to touch their grandparents' genitalia and of their
grandparents touching them." Gardner is quoted in the Globe article as
noting the fact that "the charges were triggered by the dream of one
of the couple's daughters -- reflects how families can become consumed
by the national 'hysteria' about sexual abuse."
The Globe article states that, "Not so long ago, the Souzas and
their children were a close-knit family, frequently gathering for
meals and conversation. But in the late 1980's, Shirley Ann Souza, the
youngest of the Souza's children, had a recurring dream that
ultimately shattered the family unit. In it she saw herself being
raped by her parents. Souza entered therapy, read a book called 'The
Courage To Heal' -- a popular but controversial handbook for incest
survivors -- and concluded 'that my entire family was very
dysfunctional.'"
Shirley Ann then told her sister-in-law that she thought she was
abused and that she thought her sister-in-law's daughter was being
abused. Later it seems that other daughters said they were having the
same dream. The physical evidence of pediatricians was
inconclusive. One of the younger children related in testimony that
"her grandparents made her drink a 'green potion' that made her
sleepy, and that a machine as big as a room was used to molest her."
The abuse was alleged to have continued from May 1989 through
November 1990, but neither of the girls told her parents before their
aunt told of her dream.
The prosecutor, Martha Coakley, chief of the child abuse
prosecution unit in Middlesex, says that "There was absolutely no
motivation on the part of these children to make this up or on the
part of their parents to program them."
Richard Gardner contends that videotapes of the interviews with the
children show that they were led in their responses.
PAMELA
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| When Your Mind Loses Its Head |
| |
| Neuroscientists have recently surmised that the mind is no |
| longer in the head but is in every cell. To understand the concept |
| of cellular memory we will look to genograms, eidetic imagery, |
| past lives, holograms, recent research, the triune brain and |
| unified field theory. We will also discuss various healing |
| techniques. |
| CEC Learning Objectives: |
| * Explore & distinguish between mind, body & memory. |
| * Be exposed to ways of exploring "cellular memory" patterns. |
| * Explore the implications of the unified field on the future of |
| healing. |
| * Examine how elements of past, present and fut-ure can impact on |
| healing. |
| |
| A course offered with APA credit at the 23rd Midwest Conference of |
| the Association for Humanistic Psychology to be held on |
| March 26-28 in Indianapolis, Indiana. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OKS BUDGET
FOR A PANEL ON REPRESSED MEMORIES
According to the APA Monitor, 24(2) February 1993, the APA Board has
recommended to its Council of Representatives that a working group be
established to study memories of childhood abuse. Board member Bruce
E. Bennett, Ph.D. noted that the topic "is going to be enormously
controversial within this association and outside."
The Board specified that any outside funding must be unrestricted
because of concern that if a group funding the task force meetings had
a publicly identified position on the issue, the conclusions of the
task force might be perceived to have been influenced by the group. We
are extremely pleased that the APA recognizes that a crisis is
emerging and that they will find the money to fund the task force. We
applaud the concern for entering this research with no bias.
One professional, however, sent us correspondence expressing concern
that the APA already has a very strong bias on the topic of repressed
memories. "The APA is already publicly identified with a position," he
wrote. The evidence he sent for us to examine was a collection of
programs of talks that have been presented at APA sponsored meetings
and a collection of brochures of workshops for which the APA gives
continuing education credit.
We were taken aback when we read the material and it has raised a
new level of questions. Hundreds and hundreds of talks and workshops
on how to use hypnosis and guided imagery to help people find
memories. Talks and workshops on how to treat victims of satanic
ritual abuse conspiracies. Talks and workshops on dealing with the
abreactions of clients after they recover memories. "Where is the
scientific evidence to support these practices?" our writer asked.
We noted for-credit workshops that appeared to present material
about memory that does not have the scientific support of memory
experts. Over and over we saw "Learn methods for facilitating
traumatic memory retrieval." A psychological industry has grown to
help people find memories. For an all-too-typical example see the box
above.
Mental health professionals (those who have licenses) are required
to take continuing education courses to keep their credentials
up-to-date. The selection of courses offered for approval is an
indication of the prevailing beliefs within the professional community
since courses must receive professional approval. We encourage
everyone to take a close look at course offerings for professionals in
the mental health field.
In the conference mentioned above, for example, we found yet another
example of how to "identify early childhood trauma": "Handwriting:
Landscape of the Mind"
"Unique as fingerprints, handwriting is frozen energy. Interpreted,
it is a significant projective technique being used by individuals,
therapists and businesses. Documented with remarkable examples, this
graphic and informative lecture will explore the origins of
handwriting. It will also reveal many insights into personality,
including childhood trauma, individual identity and performance
potential."
One of the objectives of this course is "To appreciate the use of
handwriting to identify early childhood trauma."
If these are the course offerings for continuing education credit,
then these are the techniques that clinicians who pay money to take
these courses will use. Just who is monitoring the mental health
system in this country?
The professional organizations have a tremendous responsibility. We
are very glad that the American Psychological Association has publicly
stated their intention to form a task force that is truly scientific
and objective to study the issues of memory, influence and therapeutic
techniques that are so critical to the phenomenon we have been
describing in this newsletter.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "I offer people $100,000 to find a place in my books or lectures |
| where I've blamed anybody. I don't even hold my parents |
| responsible." |
| John Bradshaw |
| Changes Magazine, April 1993, page 47 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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OUR CRITICS
Members of the American Psychological Society have circulated a
letter to be sent to the APS Observer. The signers object to the name
"False Memory Syndrome" as a non-psychological term originated by a
private foundation whose stated purpose is to support accused
parents." (The American Psychological Society is composed of research
psychologists who broke away from the American Psychological
Association because they felt that their voices were not heard in the
predominately clinical APA. At that time, some members stated publicly
that they were concerned with the fact that clinicians ignored
scientific evidence.)
Following is the letter we wrote in reply:
Lee Herring, Editor,Observer
American Psychological Society
1010 Vermont Avenue, N.W. Suite 1100
Washington, DC 20005-4907
202-783-2077
Dear Editor:
We have been informed that some members of the American
Psychological Society have written a letter to the Observer
questioning the name of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. We ask
for an opportunity to respond to that letter. We ask for the help of
APS in addressing a tragic phenomenon that is causing many people to
suffer and is destroying families.
The False Memory Syndrome Foundation was formed in March of 1992 by
a group of professionals and families to try to document and study an
emotionally sensitive and politically charged topic: accusations of
childhood sexual abuse that surface as a result of "repressed
memories" recovered during therapy. The current social climate is one
in which "therapy" has become political action (i.e., "Get strong by
suing" Courage to Heal, Bass and Davis, 1988) and one that many now
characterize as a "sex abuse hysteria", (e.g., Gardner Wall Street
Journal. Feb 22, 1993). This hysteria is causing many innocent people
-- both patients in therapy and their families to suffer terribly. Can
we try to calm some of that hysteria? In respect to FMSF:
* No one is saying that sexual abuse of children does not exist or
has never existed;
* No one is saying that people who truly have been sexually abused
are not now suffering or have not suffered in the past;
* No one is saying that genuine victims of sex abuse do not have the
right to competent therapy and healing;
* No one is saying that genuine victims of sexual abuse who present
bona fide evidence or corroboration of past abuse shouldn't be given
the opportunity to identify the perpetrator(s) or have access to the
justice system;
* No one is saying that genuine victims of sex abuse do not deserve
our compassion and our personal, professional and societal support.
What is being said is that:
* There are persons who truly have been abused and have always
remembered their abuse but only now are beginning to deal with their
trauma. The publicity and societal permission to address their trauma
has brought great relief, vindication and solace to them. And that is
good.
In less than one year more than 2,800 families have called FMSF to
say that someone in their family has recovered "repressed memories"
for which there is no empirical evidence and that the family has been
destroyed as a consequence. While FMSF cannot tell the truth or
falsity of any story, we have recorded the stories and looked for
patterns. We have done in-depth interviews and we continue to collect
written survey data to try to determine what is going on and how best
to proceed. There are currently graduate students from three
universities using FMSF records for research purposes and during
1993-94, one professor will be at FMSF on sabbatical continuing his
research on clinical training issues. Many other mental health and
legal professionals are examining the material we collect for their
own research purposes. Several grant proposals have been started and
every week we have professionals and reporters in the office looking
at the data.
There is no question that child sexual abuse is a terrible problem
and we support every effort to put an end to such abhorrent actions.
The issues that are the particular concern of FMSF, however, do not
involve child sexual abuse. The issues are about memory and influence
and historical truth versus narrative truth; about finding ways to get
the most accurate scientific information about memory to the public
and about training and monitoring of the mental health professionals.
The Foundation is trying to help 2,800 families reconcile.
The behaviors that are described by 2,800 case histories are as
follows: an adult enters therapy for any number of reasons: concerns
about body image, stress, relationship problems, depression, death in
family. In therapy it is suggested that the patient shows the symptoms
of someone who has been abused and that some sort of childhood trauma
is the cause for the problem that brought the person into therapy.
There begins a search for memories or what is referred to as "memory
work." (There is also "rage work" and "body work.") Families are asked
to write histories and send pictures, but they are not told why.
Techniques that are commonly used in "memory work" are hypnosis,
guided imagery, sodium amytal, relaxation exercises, trance writing,
dream interpretation, handwriting analysis, and body massages. The
patients typically are taught that these methods are guaranteed to
arrive at the historical truth and that they will resolve all doubts
as to the nature of the memories.
In time, the patient recovers "repressed memories" of abuse that
allegedly took place decades earlier (the range is from 10 to 50
years). The precise nature of what is "remembered" is dependent on the
therapist. Some therapists have patients who recover memories of
space-alien abduction abuse. Others specialize in memories of satanic
ritual abuse and there are those whose patients recover memories of
abuse in past lives. And some patients don't recover any memories but
they are certain that "their parents were not there for them," and
that they were emotionally abused.
Then comes the most disturbing part to the stories that people tell
us. In not a single case has the therapist sought the patient's
pediatrician records. In only a few of our 2,800 cases was there any
attempt to consult school records, other family members, standard
psychological tests or any independent sources. Nonetheless, the
patient and the therapist confront the alleged abuser who is
henceforth called a "perpetrator" or "perp." This is generally a total
surprise for the person accused. The alleged "perp" is offered the
opportunity to confess and enter therapy or to be cut off from all
contact with the child and/or grandchildren. Often the person receives
a letter demanding that he or she pay for the therapy of the person
with the memories or else the accusation will be made public.
If the people who are accused confess, they are considered guilty.
If the people who are accused profess their innocence, they are said
to be "in denial" and thus also guilty. This is the logic of closed
systems or cults.
The practices of the "trauma and recovery" specialists who are
described in the 2,800 stories are not prudent or standard medical
practices. The effects on the patients are devastating. FMSF has been
contacted now by more than 50 primary victims of this process, that
is, by the individuals who have been convinced by their therapy that
they were abused. These individuals have told us that the term False
Memory Syndrome accurately describes their experience. Many of these
individuals are now suing their therapists for malpractice.
If any members of APS have a better working term or way to describe
the set of destructive behaviors, please share it with us. We first
used the more medically established term "confabulations" but the
people affected by the phenomenon did not know what that word meant.
We tried to avoid a term that would be as alarming or threatening as
"hysterical" or "induced delusions," although these terms are also
more established from a medical perspective. (And the long-established
term "pseudo-memories" couldn't be used because of the resulting
abbreviation.) We tried to find a term from which all those caught up
in its frenzy could leave with some grace and face saving.
The families and the professionals who comprise the False Memory
Syndrome Foundation are not wed to the term "syndrome." We are
concerned about documenting and understanding the reasons for an
unbelievably destructive hysteria that is being spread through the
mental health system. We are alarmed about the misconceptions about
memory that are being relayed in the media and in the incest-survivor
movement and we are trying to get the most accurate and most
scientific information about memory available to the public. We ask
for your help with this and with finding ways for people who have been
unbelievably hurt and embarrassed to reconcile. When people are in
their 70's and 80's, there is not a great deal of time. Already many
parents have died.
Sincerely,
Pamela Freyd, Ph.D.
Executive Director
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| How to Become a Psychotherapist |
| |
| Last February, I decided to become a psychotherapist. |
| I found a comfortable office in the East Fifties for a mere $875 |
| a month. I.S. Furniture Rental was willing to outfit the place in |
| traditional style, with plenty of rich burgundy tones -- cherry |
| desks, medical-file cabinets, couch, even oil paintings -- for |
| only $335 a month. |
| The cost of business appointment cards would come to $70; the |
| phone, installed, would cost $621.81; a monthlong radio-ad |
| campaign (60-second spots, four times a day) would reach a |
| quarter-million listeners for only $2,000. |
| So for just $4,000, I could have become a professional healer -- |
| with absolutely no training, credentials, or license. |
| I didn't take this fantasy any further -- I didn't actually hang |
| up a shingle emblazoned psychotherapist. But I could have, because |
| a scam like that would be perfectly legal. "In New York, you need |
| no credentials to call yourself a psychotherapist," says Charles |
| Adams, Executive Director of the New York State Office of |
| Professional Discipline. |
| That's dangerous, because people in need of mental-health |
| services are among the most vulnerable of consumers: Their |
| defenses are weakened by self-doubt and personal crisis. |
| |
| "Head Hunt: How to find the right psychotherapist for the right |
| price" by Jeff Blyskal, New York, January 11, 1993 page 28 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| We cannot live the rest of our lives like this, looking over our |
| shoulders, wondering what our daughter will do next. We are |
| involved in our community in many ways and we find it very |
| difficult to focus on the task at hand. Our family, four other |
| children, loves our daughter who has become so estranged with her |
| bizarre memories. We want her to get competent help. We realize |
| that even with competent help she may choose to have nothing more |
| to do with the family. If that is the way it is to be, we can |
| accept that, sadly. Our primary concern is for her to get |
| competent care. |
| Mother and Father |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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GUILT TEST
Television talk shows seem to be assuming an increasing role in
public policy and public opinion. Even the presidential candidates
went on the "talks." It appears to us that there are two distinct
types of programs that are referred to as "talks." The original
"talks" were programs such as "Meet the Press," in which providing
in-depth information seemed to be the objective. In recent years
another type of talk show has developed in which entertainment seems
to be the objective. These are sometimes referred to as the "daytime
talks."
A few years ago, a father was voted guilty of molesting his
children on a daytime talk show. The issues in the case did not
involve recovery of repressed memories but arose in the context of a
custody battle. The basis for the conviction was that a sibling
supported the accusation. If more than one child believed the
accusation then the accused must be guilty according to the talk host
and the audience.
We thought that this was an interesting method to determine the
truth or falsity of an accusation -- certainly more tidy than dunking.
As we have been collecting family survey data, we have been examining
the sibling issue. We now have many hundreds of completed surveys and
are continuing to collect and enter into the computer the information
obtained. In a sample of 282 families whose information has been
entered into the computer, we found that there were 931 children (3.3
children per family). Of this sample, 357 children were accusing
family members of some sort of abuse, most often incest or emotional
abuse. Another 49 siblings believed that abuse occurred to the
accuser although they themselves were not accusing. That makes a
total of 406 who believed that abuse took place. In those same
families, 525 children did not believe that abuse took place and
thought that their siblings were confabulating. Does that mean
innocence has according to this test?
We recommend a recent research paper on the rate of false
accusations by Mikkelsen, Gutheil and Emons. [Footnote: Mikkelsen,
M.D., Gutheil, M.D. & Emens, B.A, "False sexual-abuse allegations by
children and adolescents: Contextual factors and clinical subtypes"
American Journal of Psychotherapy, October, 1992.] That paper noted
the following:
"False allegations of sexual abuse by children and adolescents are
statistically uncommon, occurring at the rate of 2 to 10 percent of
all cases with rates up to 50% in special situations such as heated
custody disputes. Nevertheless, when they do occur, they can be
extremely detrimental to all involved including the accuser. Thus it
is important to those who evaluate these allegations be open to the
possibility of a false allegation and have a knowledge of the
principal clinical subtypes of false allegation. Our research
indicates that it is a narrow focus on the reporter and ignorance or
dismissal of the broader contextual factors that often leads to the
perpetuation of a false allegation.
"The literature and our own clinical research has revealed four
clinical subtypes of false allegations: (1) Allegations arising in the
context of custody disputes: (2) Allegations stemming from
psychological disturbances on the part of the accuser; (3) Allegations
resulting from conscious manipulation by the child or adolescent; (4)
Allegations based on iatrogenic elements.
"This material is presented in the interests of heightening the
awareness of this serious miscarriage of clinical and legal processes
and its severe and potentially irreversible social consequences."
The Mikkelsen et al study does not address decade delayed
accusations, but it does point to the importance of considering
contextual factors in sex abuse accusations. We ask people to reflect
seriously on the contexts in which decade delayed accusations arise:
hypnosis, guided imagery, sodium amytal, dream interpretation,
survivor support groups, self-help books and a therapist who has been
told in workshops that the way to help a client is to help him or her
find traumatic memories.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "When treatment constructs a reality that emphasizes the |
| deficits and shortcomings of a client's interpersonal environment, |
| solutions for that client's problems are more difficult to find." |
| "Therapeutically in-vogue terms such as dysfunctional family and |
| toxic parents are likely little more than pejorative appellations |
| that can lead to counterproductive outcomes. If so, such terms |
| deserve the same scientific and professional disrepute that |
| designations such as the weaker sex and racially inferior have |
| justly earned." |
| Terence W. Campbell |
| "Therapeutic relationships and iatrogenic outcomes: |
| The blame-and-change maneuver in psychotherapy" |
| Psychotherapy, 29 (3) p 474-480 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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THE JOB OF THE THERAPIST
For a step-by-step set of directions for "reconstruction memories of
abuse" we suggest that readers examine a paper by that name in the
journal Psychotherapy 29/Summer 1992 #2 page 243.
"The recovery of traumatic memories is an important part of therapy
with survivors of abuse."
"The job of the therapist is to help the client bring previously
unremembered aspects of the trauma to the surface and deal with their
impact. Therapists use aids such as art therapy (Greenberg & van der
Kolk, 1987; Hale, 1990), dream work (Edward, 1987), group therapy with
other victims (Herman & Schatzow, 1987), and childhood photographs
(Gil, 1988) to help clients remember. Hypnotic techniques can be used
to access memories that otherwise seem completely out of reach.
p 246 "Anticipating Memories. Explaining the theory. To begin with,
clients were told that people who have very traumatic experiences are
usually plagued by reminders of the experience until the emotional
trauma is resolved
p 247 Reviewing the Past. Clients were then asked about patterns of
emotional hypersensitivity they had observed in themselves.
p 247 Predicting the Direction. Patients were then asked, "If these
experiences hid the pieces of your memories, what sort of memories do
they suggest to you?"
We urge readers to examine this article as it reflects the
assumptions for survivor therapy. Survivor therapists know that their
clients are "survivors" when the clients themselves do not have
memories of having been abused. This knowledge of the therapist
appears to be based on lists of symptoms. Carol Tavris in the "Beware
the Incest Survivor Machine," New York Times Book Review on January 3,
1993 pointed out the fallacies of such lists.
"When therapists assume that clients have endured a history of
betrayal by significant others, their assumptions can substantially
influence a course of treatment," Terence W. Campbell, reported in
"Therapeutic relationships and iatrogenic outcomes: The blame-and-
change maneuver in psychotherapy," Psychotherapy, 29(3). Campbell
reviewed cases reported in recent issues of Psychotherapy and noted
that therapists make significantly more negative inferences-compared
to positive inferences-about significant others in their clients'
lives.
Campbell notes that through this negative perception of significant
other people in the life of the client, the therapy relationship comes
to be organized around victim and savior roles. The client is the
victim and the therapist is the savior and a triangulated relationship
develops."
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "My daughter has given up her memories of abuse due to a TV |
| program on Prime Time that she saw." |
| - a mother |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| As scholars and teachers, we cannot hope to challenge mass |
| paranoia or outlandish conspiracy theories if we accept the notion |
| that one version of reality (past or present) is as "truthful" as |
| another; ...The distinction between fact and fiction is essential |
| both to our sanity and to our ability to make moral judgments. We |
| may never know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the |
| truth, but we have to believe that some descriptions of our past |
| and our present condition are more truthful than others. |
| Dan T. Carter, professor of history at Emory University |
| "The academy's crisis of belief" |
| Chronicle of Higher Education, November 18, 1992 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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MIXED FEELINGS
Is this the way it ends?
For years I waited to see my daughter whom I love with all my heart.
I never understood where she got her ideas or why she cut me out of
her life. And then a breakthrough -- contact. My daughter started
visiting me occasionally after the birth of her child but it was only
after I was extremely ill that she began to spend more time and to
bring her family with her. She became friendly and came home for her
birthday. Never a recanting or apology for the suffering she caused me
-- Just acting as if nothing had ever happened.
I'm accepting all of this and feel as though I'm picking up the
crumbs she tosses my way and being grateful when in reality I'm
resentful and feel the need of an explanation if not an apology and
recanting. Nothing is ever mentioned -- we act as if nothing ever
happened. It is difficult for me to forgive and forget but I'm trying.
**********************************************************************
Dear FMSF Editor,
In reviewing your literature, I notice quotes and comments from
victims. I also notice the objecting parent or spouse as being the
partner of the alleged offender. I can empathize with these women.
They carry a heavy load. I am interested in responses from the alleged
perpetrators themselves, rather than someone else denying for them. It
would add to FMSF credibility if the responses were limited to the
offenders (alleged) themselves. Peace and Caring
A number of people have commented on the active role of mothers and
sisters in FMSF. Why? We have no answer, only speculation. Some of the
most moving letters we have received have been from widows. They spoke
of their feelings of having their dead spouses accused and unable to
defend themselves.
Unfortunately, it is also the case that many of the fathers who have
been accused have died before there was any resolution. Some mothers
have died but not as many.
We have not written about this because it seemed unnecessarily
depressing for readers already trying to cope with such a terrible
situation. Perhaps the time has come to talk of the hospitalizations
and the deaths that took place following an accusation. Perhaps we
really should write more about accusations that took place on "death
beds." Maybe one of the reasons that there are more quotes from women
is because women live longer and so there are more 70 and 80 year old
women to write.
But when these women write, it is not in self-pity. They write to
express concern about the children "temporarily insane" as they often
say, who must live with the results of what they have done. "How will
they live with themselves?" This even prompted one person to say,
"Maybe they will be better off if they just keep their memories."
Some people have written to us to say that they thought that this
FMS was primarily about "women." Most of the people with memories are
women and while some men are not accused, every woman who has
questioned the historical accuracy of the memories has been accused of
something. We take a long term view of the mother-blame. It has been
part of our culture for a century. A generation ago mothers were
blamed for schizophrenia and autism.
There have been other omissions in what we have reported. We have
not reported the comments from parents who have received death threats
from their children. We have not reported the comments from parents
who have been told their children are missing. Frankly, we have not
begun to cover the extent of the personal tragedy that has been
revealed to us through the letters.
We do have many many letters from accused people. We will try to
include more from men. We would also like to include stories from
accusers that we could pair with stories from accused. Although we
have received a few, we have not received permission to print them.
**********************************************************************
EVIDENCE THAT IS CITED TO SHOW THAT RECOVERED MEMORIES ARE TRUE
Herman and Schatzow, 1987
"Historically, patient reports of childhood sexual abuse were
thought to be fantasies. One study (Herman and Schatzow, 1987,
Psychoanalytic Psychology 4(1), 1-14) powerfully demonstrated that
patients' accounts of abuse could be supported by corroborating
evidence in most cases."
The above quote was from a newsletter of a clinic. The Herman and
Schatzow study is often cited as evidence for the validity of
repressed memories. Is that conclusion warranted?
The H&S study deserves respect because it is a pioneering
investigation into the memory of incest survivors. The authors claim
that in their sample of 53 therapy patients, "the majority of patients
(74%) were able to obtain confirmation of the sexual abuse from
another source. On the surface the figure is impressive. One must
note, however, that all the patients were in treatment for incest
survival; it is not particularly surprising that the majority should
have valid memories of sexual abuse.
The issue is not the validity of incest survivors' memories of
sexual trauma, but the validity of ostensibly repressed memories of
such trauma, recovered long after the fact. Here the study's results
are not dramatic.
In the sample of 53 patients, 20 (38%) had no amnesia at all. The
remaining 33 patients (62%) reported at least some degree of amnesia,
with 14 of these patients (26% of the total) reported severe memory
deficits.
When the patients attempted to gather corroborating evidence of
childhood sexual abuse, 39 patients (74%) were reportedly successful:
21 patients got direct corroboration, while another 18 discovered
another victim, strengthening a "prima facie" case that they
themselves had also been abused. Note that 20 of the patients had no
amnesia for their abuse, while another 19 patients only reported
difficulty in remembering details.
Confirmation of remembered abuse is not the same thing as
confirmation of a newly recovered, previously repressed memory of
abuse. Thus, it is entirely possible that the 39 patients who
succeeded in corroborating their memories of childhood sexual trauma
were the same 39 patients who had little or no memory difficulties to
begin with. There is no evidence in the paper that the 14 patients
with severe amnesia were able to validate any memories of childhood
trauma.
The paper reports the interesting observation that the patients with
the most severe amnesia also had the earliest abuse: mean age of onset
at approximately 5 years, compared to approximately 9 years in
patients with none, mild, or moderate amnesia. This is interesting,
but it does not justify the leap to attributing this to "massive
repression." H&S fail to consider the impact of infantile and
childhood amnesia arising from cognitive and physiological changes
occurring normally over the course of early development. Because of
the inherent weaknesses in retrospective research, and the precise
pattern of results obtained, the Herman and Schatzow, 1987 study
cannot be considered definitive, or for that matter even relevant in
any way to the question of the validity of long-repressed memories of
child sexual abuse.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Where do 2,846 families live? - 03/01/93 |
| AK(8) AL(8) AR(6) AZ(85) CA(487) CO(41) CT(36) DE(7) |
| FL(125) GA(36) HI(4) IA(20) ID(17) IL(102) IN(22) KS(32) |
| KY(9) LA(12) MA(82) MD(45) ME(12) MI(87) MN(58) MO(59) |
| MS(2) MT(14) NC(31) ND(3) NE(11) NH(7) NJ(79) NM(19) |
| NV(16) NY(121) OH(93) OK(24) OR(53) PA(173) RI(7) SC(10) |
| SD(7) TN(15) TX(99) UT(130) VA(36) VT(11) WA(146) WI(109) |
| WY(5) DC(6) VI(1) Canada - AB(14) BC(34) MB(36) NS (5) |
| ON(105) PQ(4) SK(7) PE(1) |
| England(6) France(2) Ireland(1) Israel(2) Germany(1) |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
"TELL ME, WHEN DID IT HAPPEN?"
(Title of an Associated Press story)
For more than a century scientists have been pondering how people
know when things happen. We recommend that readers examine "Memory for
the time of past events," by William Friedman, Psychological Bulletin,
1993, 113 (1), 44-66 which is a review of the research into how people
determine when events happened.
Research indicates that people sift through the memories of an
event, associated memories and general knowledge about time patterns
to reconstruct a plausible answer about when something happened. If
you were a kid at the time, it happened before you grew up. If the
weather was unbearably hot, it was summer. If your swim in a lake was
interrupted by your older sister's going away to college party, you've
stumbled onto a good clue.
One consequence of this reconstruction process is that people may
remember the time of day but not have any idea about how many weeks
ago something happened. That effect showed up about nine months after
an earthquake in Ohio, when Friedman asked Oberlin employees to recall
when it occurred. The employees knew the time of day within about an
hour. They were off by about two months.
Sometimes even accurate memories don't help. In one study some
British participants thought Kennedy was assassinated in the summer
because they remembered that he rode in an open car. They did not know
what Dallas weather was like. According to Friedman the information we
recall can sometimes lead us astray.
Scientific research shows that memory is reconstructed and
reinterpreted. There is no scientific evidence for memories that are
kept in a "time capsule" to emerge perfect and unchanged decades
later.
**********************************************************************
FROM A FAMILY THAT HAS RECONCILED
After four years of no contact, our 30 year old daughter has
since recanted her memory and accusation of abuse from when she was 4
to when she was 10 years old. I don't think it will ever be as open
and free as it once was, but that's life. I consider myself lucky that
we came out as well as we did.
She is bright, beautiful, accomplished. Why would she make up such a
horrible story? These were the thoughts her brothers and sister shared
with us as the distancing set in. We were left alone to anguish.
My first reaction was that she was doing it on purpose to hurt. I
thought she was lying. She always needed so much attention, needed to
be the center of attention. Was she just a small fish in a big pond
when she left home? Did the big world not afford her the same
pampering she had received at home and she was angry. I have since
changed my mind after much reading. The memories were false but they
were real to her. She was the victim of the cruelest form of
malpractice -- an incompetent therapist. A trendy fellow. A real
desire to help but not much training.
Perhaps our hurt would not have been as bad had we not seen it at
first as deliberate and spiteful
In our case, and now in several of the family stories, I see an
"over dependency" or "over attachment" by these young women to their
fathers. There doesn't seem to be the normal distancing during the
teen years that others go through, by rebellion in one sort or
another. Could this be their way to close this love for dad or mom?
My friends had always complained that their spouses were so uncommon
and uncommunicative and I was always so glad my husband was so open,
sharing and so demonstrative to all of us. Those dear traits also
nearly did him in as it left him vulnerable to betrayal by his
daughter.
I don't know if I will read another newsletter because it brings all
the pain back... and I'm just too tired. I wish you all strength and
love for one another to carry you through.
**********************************************************************
AVAILABLE TO ORDER FROM FMSF
Meeting your child's therapist booklet has been mailed to
members. Additional copies are available for $3.00.
"Doors of Memory" by Ethan Watters, Mother Jones, Jan 1993 is
available for $2.00.
"Probe of ritual-abuse therapy urged" by Okerblom and Sauer, San Diego
Union Tribune 1/18/93 $1.00.
**********************************************************************
RESEARCH REQUEST
"I would like to contact anyone who believes her/himself to have had
a false or otherwise problematical diagnosis of Multiple Personality
Disorder (MPD). My work is oriented toward a social-historical
understanding of the origins and evolution of the concept of multiple
personality, and a practical understanding of how the idea is applied
in therapeutic situations. I will be attending the FMSF Conference in
April and would be happy to speak with anyone about any aspect of the
MPD problem. Please contact Michael G. Kenny, Department of
Sociology-Anthropology, Simon Fraser University, Burtnaby B.C. V5A
1S6, Canada, or call me (collect if you wish) at (505) 988-389"
**********************************************************************
COMMENTS FROM PEOPLE WHO TELL US THEY HAD FALSE MEMORIES
"We thought we were part of this martyr crusade against satanic
ritual abuse and it felt good. But my sister got worse. Me -- I kind
of went along with it. It makes me sick to think about it now." A
person who told us that the memories of satanic ritual abuse that came
in therapy were false. This person became suspicious when the
therapist validated stories retold from the book Communion .
"My psychiatrist was understandably fascinated with my various
personalities, however fictional A book was being written. Videos were
made. My intermittent cries of denial about the abuse were rejected as
'an unwillingness to co-operate.' The interpretation that 'she must be
hiding more of these repressed memories' led to even more intensive
psychotherapy and hypnosis.
"Seven years, including lengthy stays in hospital and countless
emotional crises, brought about loss of job, husband, children and any
feelings of self-worth I had ever possessed.
"Five years later I am in the process of rebuilding my shattered
life."
from a letter in The London Free Press
London Ontario, March 3, 1993.
**********************************************************************
CONCERN OF A HYPNOTHERAPIST
As a hypnotherapist, I know a fair amount about the iatrogenic
creation of memories and have devoted considerable time and energy to
attempting to convince some of my colleagues that not all memories of
childhood abuse are objectively valid. I have also argued, at length,
that the FMSF is not a "public relations front for perpetrators", that
you take a balanced view, that your position is not that all memories
of childhood sexual abuse are false, but rather that some can be
false. Now I feel as if you have pulled the rug out from under me.
In your December 5, 1992 newsletter, you say "remembered past lives,
space alien abuse, satanic ritual conspiracies or after-death
experiences are splinter notions, not traditional practices so silly
that they do not dignify a response." So much for objectivity and a
balanced view! If we are truly working to understand these phenomena
and to heal the psychological pain that they cause, we can ill afford
to take positions which lead to polarization of opinions. And we are
talking about opinions, here, we are talking about beliefs. How
effective would you be in your work if you were to talk about belief
in the Godhood of Jesus Christ as "the splinter belief of a small
minority of individuals which is so silly that it does not deserve the
dignity of a response?" I feel that your credibility (and mine by
association) suffers tremendously when you make such didactic
statements.
Much of my practice involves working with individuals whose
subjective experience is that of having past-life memories, alien
abduction memories, ritual abuse memories, or after-death memories. I
work very hard to ensure that I am not responsible for implanting such
"memories", but where they do exist, I work with them as if they were
real. And for the individual, in their subjective reality, they are,
in fact "real". They may or may not be real in objective reality --
that's something which I submit none of us will know with absolute
certainty in our current lifetimes -- but to dismiss these perceptions
as "delusions" is doing a great disservice to the individuals involved
and to our search for the truth. Do you really wish to be so arrogant
as to assert unequivocally that these phenomena are "so silly that
they do not dignify a response?" After all, there was a time when
"everybody" took a similar position relative to the earth's being
spherical and its revolving around the sun.
I certainly sympathize with your concerns relative to some of the
mindless attempts to discredit your work, but responding in kind is
not the way to accomplish your objectives (at least as I understand
them). Please, let's get our of the name-calling business and get on
with a search for the truth.
We thought a great deal about this letter and how best to respond.
We risk the danger of unnecessarily angering many people. Perhaps we
view the problem differently because we come from different
disciplines and have different training and experiences in working
with people. In education, we generally try to move in the direction
of "truth" as it may be approached through empirical evidence. Far
from perfect,with our perceptions and interpretations unquestionably
biased by cultural factors, still, it's the best that we have. In our
lives we have areas of "faith" and areas of "understanding." In the
classroom, helping children see the difference between faith,
subjective reality, and scientific understanding is part of what are
usually referred to as critical thinking skills.
We don't wish to be arrogant. We do think that it is important to
remember the difference between narrative truth and historical truth
when the consequences involve other people. Subjective reality is fine
until it infringes on the lives of others. "Delusions" is a loaded
term. We would never say that children were deluded when they were
caught up and living in a creative writing story.
Perhaps it sounds better to say that space alien abduction stories,
satanic ritual conspiracies and past lives are narratives that have
subjective reality to the clients. We have no argument with that. When
people loose sight of what is subjective reality or narrative truth
and what is historical truth, however, a problem occurs if others are
involved in the memory.
What therapists do with clients in their own offices is a matter of
professional responsibility. It is not for us to say. When families
are destroyed or legal actions are started as a consequence, however,
another set of criteria must be devised.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Most investigators, attorneys and mental-health professionals will |
| be the first to admit that falsely accusing someone of child abuse |
| is possibly one of the worst things you can do to a fellow human |
| being. |
| Lawrence W. Daly and J. Frank Pacifico |
| in The Legal Investigator, Nov. 1992 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
PARENTS TELL US
"It has been seven years since Dr. H stopped all family contact. I'm
allowed to write to him, then he passes them to my daughter. She
mentioned that she didn't read the last two letters -- I believe he
reads parts of them to her. He said she would get too upset.
"She lives alone in an apartment. She said it is very very hard. The
last time we spoke her speech was so slurred I had to concentrate to
understand her. She said she can't read or watch television because
she can't concentrate (This is a woman who graduated from B College
with honors). She also said she can't do much during the day. She
shocked me when she said that she is now Bulimic.
"My youngest grandson, 9 years old, (I last saw him at three) now
gets therapy four times a weed for a fractured psyche because of my
daughter's problems.
"My family's entire life has been ruined by Dr. H's treatment and
isolation of my daughter. I've missed my grandson's childhood. Dr. H
wouldn't even give me the courtesy of an office visit to try to
understand her illness or to be of help in some small way and yet he
answers to no one!
"My daughter was a well educated woman of 31. She had a wonderful
professional husband and a beautiful home, two beautiful sons, loving
family and many friends. She was a teacher and full of life and
love. After a shock of her father's death and a depression following
the birth of a baby, she went into therapy. She is now a non-working,
drugged, lonely, divorced bulimic vegetable who has been torn from her
family and friends."
------
"I would like you to discontinue our mailings. It only hurts us to
be reminded of the situation once a month. Good luck to you in all
your endeavors. I hope there will be a lot more people who realize
they made a mistake but in the case of my husband, age 70, it is too
late."
------
"We received a letter from our daughter's lawyer stating that we had
to send him $12,000 for our daughter's therapy costs. We were told
that she would probably be in therapy for two more years and that we
would have to pay for that. I asked the lawyer to send us an itemized
statement from the therapist. The therapist told the lawyer that she
thought that it was not a good idea to send an itemized statement. We
have not paid any money to the therapist."
------
"Our daughter has deteriorated alarmingly since we saw her in
May. Then she was a fully her own person and even masterful. When we
saw her in November she was drawn and appeared frightened to be in the
same room with us".
------
"It appears that our daughter is being treated for a cause that
never happened. It is impossible for us to accurately evaluate her
progress over the past ten months, but conversations we have had with
her older sister would not indicate any improvement. It is beyond our
comprehension as to how she can ever be cured by using us as the
culprits."
------
We are the parents of a fifty year old daughter who has been in and
out of therapists offices for many years because of her weight
problem. Last year we were shocked to learn that she is accusing me
of sexually abusing her when she was a child. We have three other
children and we are very close. Our daughter does not have anything to
do with her sisters or brothers. We thought that she had become
mentally ill until we learned about FMS. We are both suffering from
stress and depression."
------
"The charges made against us have been devastating. My sleepless
nights have gone on and on as if forever. Life has lost all meaning to
me. One reason I had hoped my children would continue to bring me joy
and comfort in my "golden years." This has been shattered. The only
thing that has kept me sane is the fact that I truly believe this is
the fantasy of a highly disturbed individual. No one, not even my
wife, will ever know the living hell I have gone through. I suggest
that before you use this type of therapy again, you might want to make
certain the charges of your patient are accurate."
**********************************************************************
MEETINGS / NOTICES
Professionals and Parents in Support of the FMS Foundation.
To place a notice in this column in the April newsletter, please be
sure that we receive the information in writing by the 25th of March.
Contact your state liaison to find out about meetings in your
area. Not all meetings are listed. Because FMSF does not make any
names of families public, the only way for you to make contact is to
call. Everyone who has attended a meeting with other families has told
us that it helped them to come to terms with the situation.
MICHIGAN
The Michigan PFA Information Newsletter
P.O. Box 15044
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
313-461-6213
Notices of meetings and state-related topics in this newsletter.
KANSAS CITY
Every second Sunday of month at 1:00
For details call Jan 816-276-8964
ILLINOIS AND WISCONSIN
March 13, 1993
Call Liz and Roger 708-827-1056
PHILADELPHIA AREA
Second Saturday of each month
Same time, same place, March 13
Call the office for details.
NEW YORK -- CONNECTICUT -- NEW JERSEY AREA
March 14, 1993
1:00 P.M. -- 5:00 P.M.
Manhattan
for details contact
Grace 201-337-4278, Renee 718-428-8583
Ethel 516-676-0939, Evelyn 201-835-4647
NEW ENGLAND REGIONAL MEETING
March 21, 1993
Call Jean for details 508-250-1055 (before 9 pm)
COLORADO
Wyoming and Nebraska
Saturday March 27, 1993
2:00 P.M.
meeting will be in Arvada, Colorado
For information, call Judy at 303-674-4278
or Eunice at 303-422-2292
CALIFORNIA
April 1, 1993
For details call Marlene 619-745-5518
ARIZONA
April 3, 1993
Jerry and Helen Barr, Guest Speakers
For information contact Jim 602- 860-8981.
CANADA
Ontario - Quebec
April 25, 1993 1pm - 5pm
Holiday Inn Metropolitan Road
Highway 401 exit Warden, Toronto
MINNESOTA
May 15, 1993 9:00 am - 4:00 pm
St. Paul
Guest, Pamela Freyd
Call Terry or Colette 507-642-3630 for details
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Do you have a computer? Do you belong to Prodigy? Join the FMSF |
| electronic mail crowd. Contact - Jean Doerfler ID# PKRR0BB |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
NEWS FROM THE FRONT
Study Disputes Link Between Eating Disorders, Sexual Abuse
By Andrew Meacham
Changes, April 1993
Reprinted with permission
A woman goes to her therapist in a large Northeastern city
complaining of depression. Within the first five minutes, the
therapist declares, "Well, you're overweight, that means you were
sexually abused, so let's talk about that."
Not necessarily, says a review of scientific literature exploring
the link between sexual abuse and eating disorders. The report was
published in the April 1992 American Journal of Psychiatry. The
authors, Harrison Pope and James Hudson, both of Harvard Medical
School, concluded that four of the six controlled studies -- in which
the patients with bulimia were compared to normal populations for
sexual abuse prevalence -- showed no support for the idea that sexual
abuse is a risk factor for bulimia. Uncontrolled studies also did not
advance that idea.
A fifth study showed 50 percent of the bulimic patients and 50 percent
of anorexic patients to have sexual abuse in their backgrounds;
compared to 28 percent of the control group, a significantly higher
rate. However, Pope and Hudson state, the authors did not consider
that the eating disorder group of 56 patients contained only one male,
compared to 14 male in the control group., The same results, but with
a statistical balance of sexes, show no significant difference between
the eating disorder and control groups for past sexual abuse.
A sixth controlled study showing that 50 percent of bulimic women
had been sexually molested, compared to 40 percent of depressed women
and 28 percent of the control group, is also flawed, Pope and Hudson
claimed. Since the control group of 100 required that the female
subjects be "supernormal" -- without having psychiatric symptoms, or
having ever sought psychiatric treatment, and having no immediate
family members with psychiatric diagnoses -- the findings could be
misleading. Other studies have show that families with alcoholism
and/or bi-polar disorders are more likely to abuse a child sexually.
Thus the authors caution, "Even if bulimia nervosa were not _caused_
by sexual abuse, one would still expect bulimia nervosa to be
_associated_ with sexual abuse because of the known association
between bulimia nervosa and these familial psychiatric disorders."
Other common problems in studies claiming a cause-and-effect
relationship included:
* Factoring in sexual abuse that occurred late in adolescence. In one
study, 15 percent of the sexual abuse cases had occured at age 17 or
above. Since bulimia and anorexia often begin in adolescence, the
authors said, such reports are frequently talking about people who
were sexually abused _after_ developing the eating disorder.
* Lack of appreciation for the extent of sexual abuse in the general
population. Four commonly-cited studies show rates of 27 percent to 51
percent sexual abuse history among randomly chosen women, with abuse
defined as actual physical contact. Studies of sexual abuse among
bulimic patients fall within this same range.
* Disparity in interview situations. Women in the general population
used for control groups are most often interviewed only once, whereas
the bulimic women in some studies were patients in therapy. People may
be less likely to disclose personal information to a stranger in a
single interview than to a therapist with whom one has a trusting
relationship.
* "Effort after meaning." People with psychological problems usually
try to figure out a reason for their distress by searching their
pasts. "Bulimic patents, particularly those who become aware of the
sexual abuse hypothesis, may be more likely to remember and/or report
childhood sexual abuse than control individuals," the report notes.
Pope reached at his offices in McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass.,
said he was concerned about therapists who assume that sexual abuse
must underlie eating disorder, and treat their patients accordingly.
"The sensitive nature of the material makes empirical evidence all
the more critical," he added.
**********************************************************************
FMS FOUNDATION CONFERENCE
VALLEY FORGE PA
April 16-18, 1993
Registration information was included in the February newsletter.
Preliminary program is reprinted below. Please call the FMSF office at
215-387-1865 for additional information.
Limousine Services
The following companies provide a shuttle service between the
airport and the hotels in the Valley Forge area. All the companies
need to be notified of the date, time, and flight number of the
airline at least one day in advance
Dave's Limousine Service 215-288-1000
$15.00 one way
$25.00 roundtrip
Trinity Limousine Service 215-586-6005
$15.00 /person each way.
All the major car rental agencies are located at the airport, and
lower weekend rates are available if tied in with flight
arrivals. Weekend deals can start on Thursdays, and this may be a less
expensive way to travel if a family is traveling.
Sponsor a trip
Many of the people who have recognized that they have experienced
false memories have told us that they would like to come to the
Conference but that they need help in paying for the ticket. We are
looking for sponsors to help defray transportation expenses for these
people who can tell us so much.
**********************************************************************
MEMORY AND REALITY: EMERGING CRISIS
April 16-18, 1993
A Conference at the Valley Forge Pennsylvania Convention Center
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM
Friday, April 16, 1993
8:45 WELCOME: Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., Executive Director, FMSF
8:50 A MENTAL HEATH CRISIS
CHAIR: Peter Whybrow, M.D., Ruth Meltzer Professor and
Chair of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania
MAKING MONSTERS: AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY
Richard Ofshe, Ph.D. Professor of Sociology,
University of California, Berkeley
RESULTS OF FMSF FAMILY SURVEY
Pamela Freyd, Ph.D. and Zipora Roth, M.SA. FMSF;
Hollida Wakefield, M.A. and Ralph Underwager, Ph.D.
Institute for Psychological Therapies, Northfield, MN
THERAPIST ZEAL AND PSEUDOMEMORIES
Margaret Singer, Ph.D., Emer. Adj. Professor of Psychology,
University of California, Berkeley
SYSTEMATIC BIASES IN RETROSPECTIVE MEMORY AND JUDGMENT
Robyn Dawes, Ph.D., Professor of Social and
Decision Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
10:55 BREAK
11:10 INTRODUCTION: Aaron T. Beck, M.D., University Professor
of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania
INVITED ADDRESS: MEMORY WITH A GRAIN OF SALT
Ulric Neisser, Ph.D., Woodruff Professor of Psychology,
Emory University
12:00 LUNCH
1:30 MEMORY: THE RESEARCH TO DATE
CHAIR: Martin Seligman, Ph.D., Psychology Department,
University of Pennsylvania
VULNERABILITY TO FALSE MEMORIES: ROLE OF TRUST, EXPECTATION
FOR CHANGE, AND LOWERED CRITICAL JUDGMENT
David F. Dinges, Ph.D. and Martin Orne, M.D., Ph.D.,
The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital and
University of Pennsylvania
THE PROBLEM OF HYPNOSIS AS A TIME MACHINE
Campbell Perry, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology,
Concordia University, Montreal, Canada
MEMORY DISTORTIONS
Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology,
University of Washington
QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
3:30 BREAK
3:45 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS
4:30 EPIDEMIOGRAPHY OF FMS
CHAIR: Joseph deRivera, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology,
Clark University
A PERSPECTIVE FROM THE CHILD ABUSE COMMUNITY
Lucy Berliner, M.S.W., Clinical Associate Professor of
Social Work, Director of Research, Harborview Sexual Assault
Center, University of Washington
THE PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING OF
RITUAL ABUSE SURVIVOR STORIES
Jeffrey Victor, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology,
Jamestown Community College
BODY MEMORIES AND OTHER PSEUDOSCIENTIFIC NOTIONS OF
SURVIVOR PSYCHOLOGY
Susan Smith, M.A., Author, Phoenix, AZ
PICKING UP THE CHECK FOR REPRESSED MEMORIES
Jack Leggett, Ph.D., Integrated Behavioral Health,
V.P. for Clinical Services
QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
RECEPTION
7 PM to 10 PM
In Honor of FMSF Speakers, Families and Professional
Institute for Experimental Psychiatry Research Foundation
111 North 49th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19139
SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1993
8:45 PERSPECTIVES ON RECOVERED MEMORIES: TRAUMA, CONFLICT, AND
DEFICIT OR DETACHMENT VS. ATTACHMENT
CHAIR: Harold I. Lief, M.D., Emeritus Professor of
Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON RECOVERED MEMORIES
Paul McHugh, M.D., Phipps Professor of Psychiatry,
Johns Hopkins University
DISSOCIATIVE DISORDERS: TRAUMA VS. CONFLICT AND DEFICIT
George Ganaway, M.D., Director, Ridgeview Center for
Dissociative Disorders; Clinical Assistant Professor
of Psychiatry, Emory University of Medicine
VERIFICATION OF RECALL: A CRITIQUE OF THE LITERATURE
Fred H. Frankel, M.B.Ch.B., D.P.M., Psychiatrist-in-Chief,
Beth Israel Hospital; Professor of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School
QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
10:45 BREAK
11:00 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS
12:00 LUNCH
1:30 PANEL OF PEOPLE WHO REJECTED FALSE MEMORIES:
THROUGH THE WRINGER
CHAIRS: Eleanor Goldstein, Author, President SIRS and
Margaret Singer, Ph.D., Emer. Adj Professor of Psychology,
University of Berkeley
QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION
3:30 BREAK
3:15 LEGAL ISSUES: WHAT DO LAWYERS NEED? WHAT DO SCIENTISTS HAVE?
CHAIR: Judge Lisa Richette, Philadelphia, PA
RESULTS OF FMSF LEGAL SURVEY
Anita Lipton, M.A., Robert Koscielny, Andre Brewster, Esq.,
FMSF Legal Task Force
PERSONAL BACKGROUND, EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE BASE AND ATTITUDES
Martha Rogers, Ph.D. and Laura Brodie, M.S., Tustin, CA
WHAT LAWYERS NEED
William B. Craig, J.D., Irvine, CA
AMERICAN LAW RESPONDS TO ALLEGEDLY REPRESSED MEMORIES OF
CHILDHOOD SEXUAL ABUSE
Richard Green, M.D., J.D., Professor of Psychiatry,
UCLA School of Medicine
5:30 RECEPTION (Cash Bar)
SUNDAY, APRIL 18, 1993
9:00 ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS
10:00 LEGAL ISSUES: DID THE CRIME OCCUR?
CHAIR: Judge Phyllis W. Beck,
Superior Court of Pennsylvania
THE EFFECT OF REVIVAL OF MEMORY ON THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS
Ralph Slovenko, J.D., Ph.D., Professor of Law and
Psychiatry, Wayne State University
OCCULT COP: POLICE INVESTIGATION OF RITUAL ABUSE ACCUSATIONS
Randy Emon, Sergeant, City of Baldwin Park, CA
WHEN LITIGATION IS THREATENED IN REPRESSED MEMORY CASES
Steven Garver, Esq., Garver, Moller & Assoc., Reston, VA
REPRESSED MEMORY IN THE CRIMINAL COURTROOM:
THE FRANKLIN MURDER CASE
Harry N. MacLean, Esq., Author
12:00 CLOSING LUNCH
CHAIR: Peter Freyd, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics,
University of Pennsylvania
REFLECTIONS ON MEMORY
Henry Gleitman, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology,
University of Pennsylvania
FMSF PROGRAM COMMITTEE:
Charles Curry, President, Curry Foundation; Joseph deRivera, Ph.D.,
Psychology Department, Clark University; Allen Feld, Professor of
Social Work, Marywood College; Eleanor Goldstein, Author, President
SIRS; Robert Koscielny, President, Ray Fogg Building, Emily Carota
Orne, The Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital and University of
Pennsylvania Medical School.