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The FMSF Newsletter is published 10 times a year by the False
Memory Syndrome Foundation. A hard-copy subscription is in-
cluded in membership fees. Others may subscribe by sending a
check or money order, payable to FMS Foundation, to the ad-
dress above. 1994 subscription rates: USA: 1 year $20, Stu-
dent $10; Canada: $25 (in U.S. dollars); Foreign: $35; Single
issue price: $3. ISSN #1069-0484
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Dear Friends,
One of the most provocative challenges we receive is when we are
compared with those who would deny the Holocaust. There is, of course,
a monumental difference that anyone can see at once: the Holocaust-
deniers require a massive conspiracy theory for their argument. We do
not. Indeed, we have maintained from the very beginning that those on
the other side of the FMS debate are sincere people doing what they
think is best for their clients. They have become caught up in a
closed-system form of belief not a conspiracy. We do not have to say
that they are hiding or inventing evidence. Quite the contrary. What
we are saying is that they seem not to care about evidence.
Among those who require a conspiracy theory are those who would have
us believe that thousands of victims are being abused by satanists. It
is ironic that one of the chief purveyors of that theory has now
accused the FMS Foundation of believing in conspiracy theories.
Cavalcade Productions, Inc. sells VCR tapes to therapists on how to
treat "ritual abuse." The also made a tape entitled False Prophets of
The False Memory Syndrome. It was originally shown at the October
meeting of the International Society for the Study of Multiple
Personality and Dissociation (ISSMP&D) about which more later. The
narrator (unidentified on the tape) says many outrageous things and
among them is: "Doctor Pamela Freyd, Executive Director of the FMS
[sic] advances a conspiracy theory regarding those in the therapeutic
community who take their clients' recovered memories of abuse
seriously." The FMSF office called Cavalcade Productions, Inc. where
it was learned that the narrator and writer is one David McCulley. We
were connected to Mr. McCulley and he was asked for his evidence that
I believed in a conspiracy theory. He claimed that the evidence is on
his tape, in my very words. There is only one short segment on his
tape that quotes me (it's from a session of the American Psychiatric
Association): "It's a closed-system thinking and a refusal to
entertain an alternative hypothesis. It is cult-like -- without there
being a total cult with a charismatic leader in many cases. But
something very cult-like." This constituted belief in a conspiracy
theory? Mr. McCulley thought about it for a while and then explained
that a conspiracy is defined as two or more people who agree to do
something. [Footnote: From the American Heritage Dictionary.
conspiracy: 1. An agreement to perform together an illegal,
treacherous, or evil act; 2. A group of conspirators; 3. A combining
or acting together, as if by evil design: "a conspiracy of natural
forces;" 4. Law. An agreement between two or more persons to commit a
crime or to accomplish a legal purpose through illegal action.]
Below will be found a selection from the best known tape from
Cavalcade Productions, Inc. Ritual Child Abuse: A PROFESSIONAL
OVERVIEW (1989). It makes clear both the standards of Cavalcade
Productions, Inc. and the nature of beliefs in conspiracy theories
that have taken hold in certain therapeutic communities.
For further evidence on the prevalence of conspiracy theories we
have included in this Newsletter a selection from the CBC's Fifth
Estate interview with the President of ISSMP&D, Colin Ross, M.D who
has written a book entitled CIA Mind Control. We have not seen the
manuscript but we have seen his prospective. Yes, it says. "It appears
that Sirhan Sirhan, who shot Robert Kennedy, was mind controlled, and
this raises the question of whether Lee Harvey Oswald was also
controlled."
The contrast between what is printed about false memories by the
media and what is printed by professionals or accusers is an
indication of a tremendous credibility gap. It is an unfortunate gap.
It is an unnecessary gap. We have never questioned that sexual abuse
exists nor that it is a terrible problem. What we have tried to point
out is that there is a parallel problem of false accusations. If the
problem of false accusations is not addressed, it will undermine the
credibility of those truly abused. We have noted that because some
memories are true, some a mixture of fact and fantasy and some false,
it is necessary to have procedures in place to ensure that justice is
served to all parties.
In response, many professionals still claim that the more than
12,000 reports of FMS are not real, that there is no such thing as
FMS. They have misrepresented our goals and activities. They fault us
for not investigating the claims of families while at the same time
they claim that they are not responsible for investigating the
accuracy of memories before accusations are made, lawsuits initiated
and families destroyed. They still call accused families
"perpetrators."
Below in this Newsletter we have reprinted a few of the outrageous
assertions about the FMSF on the part of professionals. For contrast
we have also reprinted a few of the many accounts that appear in the
standard media.
If any other medical product had more than 12,000 complaints it
would be taken off the market and examined. It has taken FMSF two
years just to get the attention of the professionals and there are
still no procedures for examining repressed memory therapy --or, for
that matter, any kind of psychotherapy.
It is time to focus on the scientific evidence for the claims about
memory that are destroying families. The standards for the scientific
research must be those acceptable by the National Academy of Science.
By such criteria, the reading list given by the American Psychiatric
Association is greatly wanting.
A new level of scholarship is beginning. All parties can
participate. House of Cards by Robyn Dawes, and Suggestions of Abuse
by Michael Yapko and many fine books and papers "in press" promise
that the level of discussion should move us quickly to a
reconciliation of these issues and of families.
PAMELA
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| International Conference |
| Memory and Reality: Reconciliation |
| CoSponsored by The False Memory Syndrome Foundation and The Johns |
| Hopkins Continuing Education Program Baltimore, MD December 9, 10, |
| 11, 1994 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| FMS Controversy in brief: |
| I'll believe it when I see it. |
| v. |
| I'll see it when I believe it. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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Cavalcade Productions, Inc. on
RITUAL CHILD ABUSE: A PROFESSIONAL OVERVIEW, 1989
Transcribed selections from the tape:
The Cast:
BENNETT G. BRAUN, M.D.
Medical Director, Dissociative Disorder Program, Rush-Presbyterian-St.
Lukes Medical Center, Chicago, IL.
JEAN GOODWIN, M.D., M.P.H.
Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI
CATHERINE GOULD, Ph.D.
Clinical Psychologist, Encino, CA
D. CORYDON HAMMOND, Ph.D.
University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City, UT
RICHARD P. KLUFT, M.D.
Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia, PA
ROBERTA SACHS, Ph.D.
Training Director, Dissociative Disorder Program,
Rush-Presbyterian-St. Lukes Medical Center, Chicago, IL.
ROLAND C. SUMMIT, M.D.
Psychiatrist, Harber-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, CA
WALTER C. YOUNG, M.D.
Medical Director, Combine Psychiatric Center, Littleton, CO
GOULD: [The reports] include lots of sexual abuse, drugging of the
children, pornographic pictures being taken, threats to the child and
to the child's family, animal killings and blood rituals and even
human sacrifice including the child being forced to perpetrate in that
sacrifice which of course is probably the most damaging aspect of the
abuse itself. But I think that one of the most difficult aspects of
abuse in out-of-home day-care to cope with is that the fact that we're
finding that you can abuse a hundred children ritualistically with all
the overlay of terror and brainwashing that's been discussed and
pretty much a hundred children will keep the secret of their abuse
until there's some kind of intervention.
HAMMOND: Some of the children may retract a story at some point
because, for example, they've seen people killed...After all the
senses have been broken down in every conceivable way with electric
shocks, with drugs, with fatigue, with lack of food they can be
conditioned to do things on cue. And very strongly brainwashed. We've
seen people in Korea who were brainwashed but these are children who
are completely controlled by the cult that they're in.
KLUFT: You hear a kid who's obviously hurting saying something that
probably just couldn't be, and you say well, I guess it couldn't be.
Actually, that account that couldn't be is a tell-tale sign of
something that was so overwhelming that the child could not retain it
and could not process it in the normal sequential way.
YOUNG: Oftentimes in adults who are describing their own abuse one
can then also find the old wounds of things they have described in the
reports of their own abuse. I guess what we keep asking, why don't we
find more evidence of it? I don't think there'd be anyone trying to
advertise satanic activity of this sort publicly. Obviously it would
be a secret activity.
GOULD: The cases in my own practice represent approximately fifteen
different preschools in the Los Angeles area none of which have been
closed down since these disclosures have been made, all of which
continue to operate and presumably to perpetrate.
YOUNG: It's not uncommon for an adult to suddenly recollect events
which were occurring when they were small that had been completely
held in a state of amnesia. During the course of treatment they began
to recover and report events of a satanic type and these can be such
things as having adults participate in human and animal sacrifice even
as young as three years of age.
SACHS: Patients that I have dealt with who remained in the cult and
became active perpetrators and became leaders of the cult, when they
began to discover what they have done at an adult level there is
really very little desire to live. They lose all reason for going
on. It's a very difficult treatment issue to work with because it's a
reality. Whether they've been programmed or brainwashed or whatever,
the truth is they have participated in blatant murder.
YOUNG: Two examples I might just make. One was a young girl who
described a fire at a ceremony being chosen to be thrown in and burned
in the fire but they said that she could save herself if she picked
another child to be burned which she claimed is what happened and she
has to try to live with that experience. A second was a young girl who
to show complete obedience...brought her best friend into a ceremony
knowing that child would be sacrificed.
HAMMOND: What we're talking about here goes beyond child-abuse or
beyond the brainwashing of Patty Hearst or Korean-War veterans. We're
talking about people -- in some cases who are coming to us as patients
-- who were raised in satanic cults from the time they were born.
Often cults that have come over from Europe, that have roots in the
SS, in death-camp squads in some cases. These are children who tell us
stories about being deprived of sleep all night, of then being
required to work at manual labor exhaustingly all day long without any
food or water. When they reach a point of utter fatigue they may then
watch other people tortured. Perhaps a finger might be cut off and
hung around their neck on a chain or a string as a symbol to them that
they had better be obedient. They may be given drugs.
BRAUN: What you're trained to do is to self destruct if you should
remember too much.
GOODWIN: Historical accounts of satanic cults: there was a monk who
lived from about 300 AD to about 400 AD who in his youth before he
became a monk, he later ended up as a bishop, entered briefly one of
these cults, the Sybionite Cult it was called at the time and
described and this was back now over 1500 years ago he was describing
nocturnal feasts, chants, infant sacrifice, cannibalism, ritual use of
excrement and various body excretions in a way that's very similar to
some of the fragments and material I've heard from patients.
SUMMIT: Around the country there are great numbers of centers that
have been identified, most of them investigated, most of them
confirmed by at least one agency, some fifty centers in my experience
where this kind of complaint has been made by dozens to hundreds of
children in each case.
**********************************************************************
DR. COLIN ROSS ON THE CIA
Transcribed from the CBC, Nov 8, 1993, "The Fifth Estate."
Screen shows Colin Ross speaking: It's a pseudo-debate, it's all
political and what it's all basically about is people don't want to
hear about child-abuse, and don't want to talk about it and don't want
their patients to talk about it.
Screen shows a title page: "CIA MIND CONTROL, Colin Ross, M.D." with
voiceover: According to a book-proposal by Dr Ross and obtained by The
Fifth Estate, he's a doctor who listens to his patients. Ross thinks
he's uncovered a government plot going all the way back to the '40's.
It seems some of his patients are starting to believe their MPD was
implanted by the CIA. Their doctor has been helping them remember just
how it was done.
Screen shows Ross speaking: They're taken to special training centers
where these different techniques like sensory isolation, deprivation,
flotation tanks, hypnosis, various memorization tasks, virtual-reality
goggles, hallucogenic drugs, and so on, are used on them to try and
deliberately create more alternate personalities that can hold
information.
Screen shows manuscript being thumbed through with voiceover: Dr
Ross thinks his discovery explains some of the criticism against the
MPD movement. He thinks the CIA and others could be out to discredit
them all.
Screen shows back of Interviewer with Ross speaking:...and if the
dissociative disorders movement is starting to uncover some of the
mind-control experimentation that was done, that's hidden in the
alternate personalities in the background, naturally they wouldn't be
enthusiastic about that happening. So it would be necessary to have
some sort of political strategy in place to counter that.
Voiceover: which would be?
Ross: It's all created in therapy, it's fantasy, it's not real, it's
hypnosis.
**********************************************************************
WHAT THEY'RE SAYING ABOUT US IN PROFESSIONAL PUBLICATIONS
Editorial, Psychology of Women, Winter 1994
American Psychological Association
"A third development is the coalescing of psychologists and the
legal community against therapists who treat survivors of sexual abuse
who recover memories. In the November, 1993 ABA (American Bar
Association) Journal (Buried memories, shattered lives, pp 70-73)
Elizabeth Loftus and Laura Rosenwald argue in favor of malpractice and
negligence actions against therapists as 'quality control tools for
recovered memory therapy.' Who stands to benefit from this tool kit?
Besides lawyers, psychologists can earn a fortune testifying on each
side; but as with many other legal situations, the older male
(defendant) is likely to hold the larger purse.
"Throughout this debate there are strong threads of antifeminism and
sexism. The older Freyds refer often to lesbian cults. Recovered
memories are likened to repression, and women who remember them are
tainted with a charge of hysteria--the November 29, 1993 cover of Time
asks, "Is Freud Dead?" Loftus and Rosenwald underline the gendered
nature of this concern with reference to "wars between father and
daughter, niece and uncle..."
(We received no response to our request for a single instance when
we have referred to lesbians, in or out of cults.)
_______________________________________________________________
False and Repressed Memories Gain Media Spotlight, Paul Herndon
Practitioner, American Psychological Association, February 1994
"The broadcast media does not appear to be the sole culprit. The
subhead of an extensive article (entitled 'Lies of the Mind')
appearing in the November 23, 1993 issue of Time magazine told readers
that repressed memory therapy is '...devastating families and
intensifying a backlash against mental health practitioners...'
"Representatives of the Foundation have approached at least one
state psychology licensing board (in Ohio) and asked the board to
develop and enforce standards for therapists about memory
recovery. The Ohio board declined to do so following a discussion with
psychologists in the state..."
(We have received no response to our query whether this declination
is to be understood as a good or bad example of professional
behavior.)
_______________________________________________________________
Bearing Witness to the Patriarchal Revictimization of Survivors
Connie M. Kristiansen, Ph.D., SWAP, Vol 20, No 2
Canadian Psychological Association
"Dr. Lief's presentation, 'True and False Accusations by Adult Sur
vivors of Childhood Sex Abuse,' pertained to False Memory Syndrome, a
nosologically unrecognized term referring to an unestablished
phenomenon whereby an unknown number of incompetent therapists, of
whom Freud is apparently representative, supposedly 'implant'
erroneous memories of childhood abuse into the vacuous minds of an
unspecified number of their unsuspecting, fantasy-prone, suggestible,
usually female, clients.
"Me [sic], four graduate students, a journalism student and a member
of Ottawa's Women's Place went to McGill and MGH to listen and learn.
And we heard a lot and we learned a lot. But not what we expected. And
that's why we spoke a lot, usually in panicked desperation, gasping
for what little air there was in a room stifled by ignorance...
"At McGill, Dr. Lief didn't stand a chance. He was drowned out,
reduced to a whisper, by the jeering, whistling, coughing, shouts and
rattling noisemakers of survivors...'False Memory is False Syndrome!'
These words ricocheted from one person to another, back and forth
across the hallowed hall of knowledge. 'He's protecting abusers!'
"So that was the McGill non-talk. And the seven of us walked back to
our hotel-apartment, welcoming the cleansing of the evening's drizzle.
Overwhelmed. Astonished. Shocked. But then we laughed and talked a
lot. We watched the news and laughed some more. We ate chips,
pretzels, cheese and grapes, and we had a few drinks too.
"Friday morning--three hours sleep. Seven women, one bathroom.
Beautiful laughing, moaning and groaning. Coffee on the brew. Tea in a
frying pan. Orange juice. Croissants. Diet Coke for one true addict...
"That's the main lesson I learned from Dr. Lief. You see, on
Remembrance Day 1992, I was trying to bear the pain of a needle
jolting into my shoulder. I was getting a tattoo to ensure I never
forgot the horrific, systemic violence against women and children.
It's a small heart, encased within a thundercloud, crying tears of
blood as it's ripped open by a patriarchal dagger. Now, on Remembrance
Day 1993, I realize that the tattoo was unnecessary."
(We have received no response to our query whether this is to be
understood as an example of proper professional behavior at public
meetings.)
_________________________
From the President's Desk
Newsletter of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis
Dabney Ewin, M.D., February, 1994
"The False Memory Syndrome Foundation continues to sue therapists
involved in suits alleging recovered memories of childhood sexual
abuse."
(Dr. Ewin did respond to our letter informing him that FMSF has
never been involved in any lawsuit. He said he will print a
correction. He did not tell us who so misinformed him.)
__________________________________________________
False Memory Syndrome: Can We forget About it Yet?
Rosemary Moskal
Psychologists Association of Alberta, January 15, 1994
"Perhaps the greatest danger we face in light of this new and
troubling psychological phenomenon which began in the United States
and is now starting to make in-roads into Canada, is the undermining
of the legitimate therapeutic process for which psychologists are
trained. What will happen to us specifically, and our profession in
general, if we do not stand in a united front against this strong
attack on our professional credibility? It is obvious that the media
loves to play 'experts' against each other."
--------------------
Remembering Past Trauma is Possible
Carol Waterloo
McKeesport Daily News, March 11, 1994
"Whitfield [Charles Whitfield, M.D. author of" Healing the Child
Within"] stressed that there is 'no such syndrome as 'false memory
syndrome.' It's a name coined by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
"Referring to statistics, he said, 'Two percent of the people in the
FMS debate are innocent. Untrue memories of abuse can happen. But that
leaves 98 percent of the accused who did do it. The emphasis should be
on them and not on the two percent.'
"Each year, some 4,000 therapists in the U.S. are sued for planting
false memories of sexual abuse in their clients. In most cases, he
said the charges are filed by the accused and less often by the
patient (who has retracted their claim)."
(We received no response to our query on such lawsuits. The Ramona
case now in progress is, to our knowledge, the only case brought by
the accused.)
_____________________________________
False Memory Syndrome, Susan M. Vella
National, Canadian Bar Association, January/February 1994
"FMS has not yet been accepted as a defense to criminal charges, but
that is certainly a Foundation goal. A second ambition is to silence
those therapists who the Foundation claims are abusing the legal
system..."
"Interestingly, the Foundation's stereotype of a likely victim of
false memory syndrome is exclusively female. This gender-biased
stereotype is reminiscent of a former stereotype which used to inform
our evidentiary rules requiring corroborative evidence in childhood
sexual assault cases..."
(We received no response to our query on the "exclusively female"
stereotype. The ratio of female to male victims parallels the ratio
of those entering psychotherapy.)
____________________________________________
President's Message, Carolyn C. Battle, Ph.D.
Maryland Psychologist, January/February 1994, 3(39)
"What is the 'repressed memory' controversy? Adults in psychotherapy
recall experiences of child abuse which may have been repressed for
some period of time; then con- front the abusing parent. The parent
(or grandparent or other relative) denies the abuse, then attacks the
credibility of the patient and blames the memory on the therapy and
the therapist."
___________________________________________
False Prophets of The False Memory Syndrome
Cavalcade Productions, Inc. 1993
Bessel van der Kolk, M.D.: "There is no such thing as a false memory
syndrome. It doesn't exist. A syndrome is something that people have
written up as a number of things that co-exist with each other. To my
knowledge nobody has ever done a piece of research that shows there is
such a syndrome called false memory related to anything but abuse and
non-abuse. I don't know what people talk about when they talk about
false memory syndrome."
David McCulley: "The false memory syndrome then is merely a catch
phrase designed to manipulate the media and attract support from
accused perpetrators."
(When our office pointed out to Mr. McCulley that he had referred to
people as "accused perpetrators" he said that wasn't the same as
referring to them as "perpetrators." Indeed.)
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "Are You Ready to Remember Your Childhood? If you have 'blank |
| spots' in your childhood memories, if you're puzzled by your |
| 'strange' responses to certain situations, if you're continually |
| frustrated in achieving certain goals, if you remember some abuse |
| but suspect there's more, you may hold buried memories that need |
| to surface and be healed." |
| "Open Exchange" March/April, 1994 p 68 |
| Advertisement for Certified Hypnotherapist. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "Her master's degree in movement and dance therapy enables her to |
| encourage the members of STRIVE to understand the effects of the |
| trauma from child abuse." |
| March 1994 LaGazette: A feminist forum for the central coast |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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WHAT THEY'RE SAYING IN THE REST OF THE MEDIA
Faith in Justice Upheld
The Cincinnati Post, Editorial, March 2, 1994
"Ten or 20 years ago, such a suit would probably never have been
filed--the evidence would have been regarded as too flimsy, the
allegations raised too long after the incident allegedly happened.
Even in this jaded age, even in light of the all-too-real examples of
sexual abuse by priests, we wonder how Cook's lawyers could have seen
fit to name Bernardin a defendant on the basis of the evidence
apparently available to them."
_______________
Abused Memories
Detroit Free Press, Editorial, March 2, 1994
"But as the Bernardin case suggests, false accusations arising from
false memories can damage the lives and reputations of innocent
people, too. The compassion and credibility we properly extend to
those who claim abuse long ago still must be balanced with a
reasonable degree of skepticism."
________________________
Bernardin's Cross Lifted
Chicago Tribune, Editorial, March 2, 1994
"Thanks also to some good lawyering and to Rule 11, a provision of
the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that appears to have had more
than a little to do with the decision of Cook and his lawyers to drop
the case against Bernardin. Rule 11 allows a 'federal judge to levy
financial penalties against lawyers who bring frivolous or
insupportable lawsuits.
"Less auspiciously, the travesty of Steven Cook's 'repressed memory'
of abuse inevitably will foster skepticism about all such claims --
meaning that some victims will be victimized yet again."
__________________
Dubious 'Memories'
Eugene Oregon Register-Guard, Editorial, March 4, 1994
"Despite the principle of presumed innocence, an accusation of
wrongdoing imposes a heavy penalty. Even if the accusations are
disproved or withdrawn, they can't easily be erased. That's the
troubling thing about allegations, often serious ones involving sexual
abuse, based on so-called 'recovered memory.' Accusations drawn from
such memories often prove to be unfounded, undermining the credibility
of charges based on better evidence."
___________________
Old, Cruel Memories
St. Petersburg Times, Editorial, March, 1994
"Courses of treatment once accepted as legitimate are increasingly
regarded with reservations by reputable researchers. The public and
the news media would do well to adopt a healthy skepticism,
too. Repressed memories without corroboration should not carry the
weight of evidence, and never should they cost a man his dignity or
his reputation."
___________________________
Cardinal Bernardin's Ordeal
New York Post, Editorial, March 3, 1994
"Cardinal Bernardin was the innocent victim of what can best be
described as a witch hunt. We're glad his ordeal is over, and wish
only that a measure of skepticism had greeted the original accusations
against him."
___________________________________________
Memories May be Recovered; Good Names Can't
Newsday, Editorial, March 2, 1994
"But no victim can justify the moral arrogance of victimizing
someone else without solid proof, armed only with self-righteousness
and that most fallible of instruments, memory."
_____________________________
False Memories Falsely Accuse
Oregonian, Editorial, March 7, 1994
"Memory can do more than play tricks. It can rob any of us of our
good names, our peace of mind and a large part of our lives."
___________________________
Cardinal Bernardin's Ordeal
The Washington Post, Editorial, March 2, 1994
"The case is bound to heighten the debate over the legitimacy of
techniques that claim to produce the recollection of allegedly
repressed events. No doubt some individuals who suffered abuse as
children do repress and later recall these memories. But many
psychologists have argued that the recall techniques now used can
implant 'false memories' that are later 'remembered' as the truth."
___________________________
Cardinal Bernardin's Ordeal
Boston Globe, Editorial, March 2, 1994
"Mental health professionals should become better gatekeepers of
searing tales, working harder to sort truth from fiction. The same
must be said for journalists. Cable News Network was irresponsible in
showcasing Cook immediately after he filed suit. The network, and
newspapers that ran the story on their front pages, including The
Boston Globe, lent credence to one man's charges, smearing another.
______________________
How to Remove A Smear?
Akron Beacon Journal, Editorial, March 2, 1994
"The best that can be hoped for from this sorry incident is that
expert advisers to victims of remembered abuse would take extra time
to check the evidence on which reputations will be nailed, and that
the media, in haste to publish salacious charges, not be made tools
for such abuse."
__________________________
The Cardinal's Exoneration
Salt Lake Tribune, Editorial, March 8, 1994
"Moreover, if accusations too thinly developed from the always
inexact probing of the human subconscious are now more uniformly
resisted, so much the better. Also, a healthy suspicion of the
procedure can substantially protect those accused by it until alleged
guilt is fully, formally proven.
_____________________________________
The Sickening Politics of Child Abuse
The News, Thomas Sowell, March 14, 1994
"There is nothing so bad that politics cannot make it worse. Child
abuse is one of the most sickening things anyone can do. But child
abuse plus politics is worse. On one side, there is the politics of
hysteria, in which an accusation is as good as a conviction...
"There may be 100 people who will remember the charges for every one
who will remember the recantation. Charges without any basis in memory
have become a growing social phenomena, as some crusading
psychoanalysts assert that the fact the the child or adult) remembers
nothing is evidence of how traumatic the experience must have been."
____________________________________
Truth Won Out for Cardinal Bernardin
Minneapolis Tribune, Andrew Greeley, March 11, 1994
"Yet innocent men and women can be and have been destroyed by the
same dangerous combination of publicity-hungry lawyers and story-
hungry journalists...Adversary law and the adversary media, especially
in cooperation with one another, are a dangerous combination. Neither
lawyers nor journalists are capable of worry about the reputation of
the falsely accused or about the possibility that some accusations
might well be false. Those who worry about the ethics of the country,
to say nothing of the consumers of the national media, are unconcerned
about the reputations of the falsely accused. If you're a celebrity,
you're fair game. There seems to be no impulse to recoil in horror
from our national disease of bearing false witness against our
neighbor...I was appalled when some members of the 'victim community'
automatically assumed the cardinal was guilty simply because charges
were made. They, too, must come to realize that because some
allegations are true it does not follow that all allegations are true.
The abuse of one kind of innocence does not justify the abuse of
another kind of innocence."
______________________________
Unsuitable Cases for Treatment
The Guardian, Madeline Bunting, February 23, 1994
"To win public confidence, the profession is beginning, belatedly,
to recognize that it needs to put its stall in order.
First, it must develop ways of assessing the value of therapies...
Most therapies' record for assessing or evaluating its methods is
abysmal--cognitive behavioural therapy being an honourable exception.
Second, it urgently needs to enforce a single system of
registration, accreditation and a code of ethics.
"For too long, therapists have put themselves beyond the reach of
public criticism. They have charged massive fees from people in great
emotional distress. Sometimes they are astonishingly effective, at
other times their intervention has proved catastrophic. What doctor or
lawyer can get away with the latter? As Weldon rightly says they have
claimed the status and the money of a profession without its
penalties."
________________
Cost of Violence
The Mail on Sunday , January 16, 1994
According to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board in England,
it makes payments of sixteen million pounds a year to victims of
sexual abuse purely on the basis of social workers' reports. Many
beneficiaries who are given an average of 10,000 pounds are adults
whose ordeal happened years ago. Compensation does not depend on a
conviction. Indeed, the article noted, "payouts are often in cases
where alleged attackers were acquitted. Figures for 1992 show that of
6,822 crime victims paid, 2,881 were victims of sexual assault of whom
1,661 were victims of sexual assault in the family." By contrast most
adult victims of muggings and assault receive just a few hundred
pounds.
"Most claims are made by local social services departments on behalf
of victims and are decided on the basis of paperwork only. Supporters
of the system say children are spared the ordeal of facing their
abusers in court -- but many fear insufficient supervision of the
money once it is paid."
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "It used to be stylish for therapists to help people blame their |
| lives on their mothers or on their wives --whoever loved them too |
| possessively. Lately, the style has been to blame everything on |
| fathers, husbands, or men in general--whoever failed to love them |
| enough. There are therapists who are expert at finding errors made |
| by parents and grant the now-grown children the right to consider |
| themselves adult children of imperfect parenting. People who |
| center their lives around blaming their parents aren't free to be |
| adults and parents themselves. This blaming of others may relieve |
| pain briefly, but it is not therapeutic; it does not lead to |
| empowerment or control over one's life and behavior. |
| "If people can't remember being victimized, some therapists |
| specialize in uncovering forgotten abuse of various sorts. |
| Forgotten incest is especially popular. I don't know whether it |
| does more harm to forget abuse or to remember it, but I'm sure |
| that much of the incest gradually remembered in therapy or under |
| hypnosis is a dutiful fabrication of dependent people trying to |
| please a victimizing herapist. |
| "If your therapist seems to give a great deal more weight to your |
| feelings than to the feelings of the people who share your life, |
| you may have to keep your attention focused on how you might be |
| affecting them rather than just on how they are affecting you. You |
| may even need to remind your therapist that acting on your |
| impulses may not necessarily be good for your loved ones." |
| |
| Frank Pittman III, M.D. |
| The Blaming Blight Psychology Today Jan/Feb 1994 |
| "A Buyer's Guide to Psychotherapy" |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "But the larger issues raised by this case-- the cavalier |
| diagnosis of childhood sexual abuse, the misuse of consultants, |
| and the unregulated use of unorthodox therapeutic techniques -- |
| remain unadressed." |
| Eileen McNamara March 13, 1994 |
| "Breakdown: A Harvard medical student, his psychiatrist, and a |
| tale of therapy gone haywire" |
| Boston Globe Magazine |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS:
MORE ON MULTIPLE PERSONALITY DISORDER
August Piper Jr., M.D.
Two items today about multiple personality disorder. I hope both
will stimulate the inquiring minds of this newsletter's readers!
The first is from Connecticut, where a reader noticed a newspaper
article and was kind enough to bring it to my attention. It says in
part
If someone has multiple personality disorder, it's not unethical to
assume there was abuse, because it's known that this disorder occurs
only when there is early, severe abuse.
This notion has been indirectly encouraged by the major contributors
to the MPD literature. These writers certainly do not come right out
and say baldly that "abuse causes MPD." Instead, they say that the
condition is "a response to," "arises from" "is linked to," or "is an
outcome of" childhood maltreatment.
The notion is appealing. It is also badly flawed. Why? First,
claiming that MPD occurs only as a result of trauma is like arguing
that because stress can cause insomnia, anyone having trouble sleeping
must have been under severe pressure, and that such pressure causes
every case of insomnia. Such logic ignores other potential
explanations for the sleeplessness (like the springtime midnight beer
bash and heavy-metal party at the frat house next door).
The studies written by the proponents of MPD, claiming to show a
link between this condition and childhood sexual abuse, suffer from
this defect: they fail to consider other aspects of the child's life
that contribute to the difficulties he or she has as an adult. These
aspects--for example, absence of one parent from the child's home for
extended times, poverty, or parental discord--also contribute heavily
to later problems developed by these individuals.
I wish to be clear: abuse of children is reprehensible. However, to
overstate its importance as a contribution to later problems in life
offends the spirit of scholarship and learning. A recent British
Journal of Psychiatry study (163:721-732, 1993) concludes that
The overlap between the possible effects of sexual abuse and the
effects of the matrix of disadvantage from which it so often emerges
were...so considerable as to raise doubts about how often, in
practice, [the abuse] operates as an independent causal element.
The authors of the study also warn that
To insist on a process of recalling and reliving...an experience of
abuse that a woman has consigned to the past may be damagingly
meddlesome.
There is another problem with the idea expressed in the newspaper
article. The leading proponents of MPD almost invariably approach the
subject of mistreatment of children simplistically. Their writings
give the impression that "child abuse" is some kind of single, unitary
phenomenon leading more or less inevitably to adverse consequences
later in life.
In contrast, the broader scientific literature recognizes that abuse
of children is an enormously complicated subject, one that does not
reduce well to simple analysis. For example, merely defining
"childhood sexual abuse" is difficult. What age limits are set for
childhood? Does the term include or exclude sexual contacts between
people of approximately the same age? Another example: the effects of
sexual abuse of children differ, depending on a multitude of factors
-- the child's age at the time, whether the abuser was a caretaker or
not, what the parents' reaction was, whether force was used, whether
the abuse was (mis) perceived by the child as an act of caring, the
frequency of the behavior, and many others.
The third problem with the idea in the newspaper is that the authors
of the papers on MPD and sexual abuse almost never take the elementary
step of verifying that the assumed abuse actually happened. This is
obviously loose scholarship.
A final difficulty with the notion expressed in the newspaper: the
connection between MPD and abuse is an unproven speculation. Whether
MPD is a discrete condition, or simply a collection of symptoms having
no intrinsic relationship to each other, is unclear and controversial.
Therefore, in view of the amount of knowledge currently available
about MPD, sweeping pronouncements about the cause or causes of the
condition are simply premature. Reserve, restraint, and tentativeness
should be the current watchwords!
The second item has to do with the cost of treating MPD.
I read that there was a paper written somewhere that said multiple
personality disorder patients get better quickly if they are treated
in the right way. That isn't happening with my sister. They have been
treating her for years and she's not any better. Her treatment is
costing a lot of money. My mom thinks she's worse. Do you have any
ideas about what's wrong?
Gina Without seeing your sister, Gina, I obviously couldn't say
what's wrong. However, I can tell you that, contrary to what is so
often written about MPD, the published information on how quickly
patients improve when they are treated for MPD deserves a healthy dose
of skepticism. Example: about a year ago, The American Journal of
Psychotherapy (47:103-112, 1993) published a paper in which the
authors compared treatment costs before and after the diagnosis of MPD
was made. They concluded that treating MPD might be the most cost-
effective mental health intervention known. There was just one problem
with this conclusion -- it was not well supported by the data. For
example, overall treatment costs doubled after the diagnosis was
reached, mostly because patients used the hospital much more after
finding out they had MPD.
I personally know of several patients who have repeatedly spent one
or two months or more at a time, several times a year, in the hospital
for treatment of this condition. A young woman I recently evaluated
told me her mother was in an MPD specialty inpatient unit in another
state. At the time of the evaluation, the mother had been there
continuously for over four months -- with no indication that she would
be leaving any time soon. Two months ago, a patient's father told me
that his daughter's therapy had cost $300,000 over the last five
years; just this week, an anguished member of the FMSF wrote, saying
that in four years, his daughter had spent about three quarters of a
million dollars on MPD therapy. The result? "Her original complaint of
depression has been exacerbated by her treatment and her overall
condition seems to have worsened rather than...improved."
In other words, Gina, what is happening to your sister appears to be
happening in other places, too. Where will it end?
August Piper Jr. M.D. is a psychiatrist in private practice in
Seattle, Washington. He is a member of the FMSF Scientific and
Professional Advisory Board. He has written a paper discussing the
costs of treating MPD that will appear in a 1994 issue of The American
Journal of Psychotherapy.
**********************************************************************
PROOF OF ABUSE: STATE OF THE ART?
Report From One Mother
Part 1
"We talked with our daughter's therapist (license # ...) and she
said that while she knew she could be sued for suggesting Sexual
Abuse, nonetheless, she was convinced that my daughter had been
Sexually Abused -- and while she did not believe in Hypnosis, she did
use "healing prayers" where the patient went into a sort of trance --
and it was the information that came out during one of these
"healingprayers" that had been the basis of her conclusion..."
"Finally, I said -- 'I'm sorry, I cannot accept any of this..' and
the therapist cut me off and said, 'You can't say that -- you can't
say that you don't accept this because that invalidates your
daughter's feelings!' So, I said, 'explain to me how I can disagree
with what is being said, speak the truth as I know it and not
invalidate my daughter's feelings--tell me how to do that!!' And she
replied, 'You have to frame your answers in a way that she can
accept!'
Part 2 Our daughter agreed to have a second opinion. This is the
report dated February 4, 1994 from Therapist #2, license #...
"I spent approximately 3-1/2 hours (in two sessions and one
telephone conversation) with your daughter. Within that time she
completed three checklists 1) Whitfield's Core Issues of a Person
Raised in a Dysfunctional Family 2) Blume's The Incest Survivors'
Aftereffects Checklist and 3) Fredrickson's Symptom Checklist for
Repressed Memories. Also your daughter gave me her personal journals
from the years 1991 through 1993 and a manilla file folder which
contained more notes and letters from those years...Below are the
reasons for my conclusion that the memories are valid...I used
Fredrickson's compilation of factors.
Presence of the repressed memory syndrome
Story matches depth of pain and symptoms
She responded in the affirmative to all 15 of Whitfield's Core Issues.
Supplied inconsequential detail
No corroborating data
Little evidence of sympathy seeking behavior
Presence of crippling disbelief. She fluctuates between believing and
disbelieving the memories which is common in a person recovering
repressed memories.
No evidence of lying. "If you are confused or unsure, you are not
lying."
"Your daughter did not think that her therapist was leading her...
When the therapist did "healing prayer" it seems the therapist did not
ask any leading questions."
Our reporting mother asked us, "How could anyone ever fail to be
diagnosed as a victim of incest with these checklists and reasoning?
Disbelieving the memories is proof that they are true!"
**********************************************************************
(Editors note: Fredrickson's Check List mentioned above was printed in
February. The Blume list which was also used by the therapist
mentioned above follows.)
The Incest Survivors' Aftereffects Checklist
by E. Sue Blume
Do you find many characteristics of yourself on this list? If so you
could be a survivor of incest.
1. Fear of being alone in the dark, of sleeping alone; nightmares,
night terrors (especially of pursuit, threat, entrapment).
2. Swallowing and gagging sensitivity; repugnance to water on one's
face when bathing or swimming (suffocation feeling).
3. Alienation from the body -- not at home in own body; failure to
heed body signals or take care of one's body; poor body image;
manipulation of body size to avoid sexual attention.
4. Gastrointestinal problems; gynecological disorders (including
spontaneous vaginal infections); headaches; arthritis or joint pain.
5. Wearing a lot of clothing, even in summer; baggy clothes; failure
to remove clothing even when appropriate to do so (while swimming,
bathing, sleeping); extreme requirement for privacy when using
bathroom.
6. Eating disorders, drug or alcohol abuse (or total abstinence);
other addictions; compulsive behaviors.
7. Self-destructiveness; skin carving, self-abuse.
8. Phobias.
9. Need to be invisible, perfect or perfectly bad.
10. Suicidal thoughts, attempts, obsession (including "passive
suicide").
11. Depression (sometimes paralyzing); seemingly baseless crying.
12. Anger issues: inability to recognize, own, or express anger,
fear of actual or imagined rage; constant anger; intense hostility
toward entire gender or ethnic group of the perpetrator.
13. Splitting (depersonalization); going into shock, shutdown in
crisis; psychic numbing; physical pain or numbness associated with a
particular memory emotion (e.g., anger), or situation (e.g., sex).
14. Rigid control of one's thought process; humorlessness or extreme
solemnity.
15. Childhood hiding, hanging on, cowering in corner
(security-seeking behaviors); adult nervousness over being watched or
surprised; feeling watched; startle response.
16. Trust issues: inability to trust (trust is not safe); total
trust; trusting indiscriminately.
17. High risk taking ("daring the fates"); inability to take risks.
18. Boundary issues; control power, territoriality issues; fear of
losing control; obsessive/compulsive behaviors (attempts to control
things that don't matter, just to control something).
19. Guilt, shame; low self-esteem, feeling worthless; high
appreciation of small favors by others.
20. Pattern of being a victim (victimizing oneself after being
victimized by others), especially sexually; no sense of own power or
right to set limits or say no; pattern of relationships with much
older persons (onset in adolescence).
21. Feeling demand to "produce and be loved"; instinctively knowing
and doing what the other person needs or wants; relationships mean big
tradeoffs (love was taken, not given).
22. Abandonment issues.
23. Blocking out some period of early years (especially 1-12), or a
specific person or place.
24. Feeling of carrying an awful secret; urge to tell, fear of its
being revealed; certainty that no one will listen; being generally
secretive; feeling "marked" ("the scarlet letter").
25. Feeling crazy; feeling different; feeling oneself to be unreal
and everyone else to be real, or vice versa; creating fantasy worlds,
relationships, or identities (especially for women: imagining or
wishing self to be male, i.e., not a victim).
26. Denial: no awareness at all; repression of memories; pretending;
minimizing ("it wasn't that bad"); having dreams or memories ("maybe
it's my imagination"); strong deep, "inappropriate" negative reactions
to person, place or event; "sensory flashes" (a light, a place, a
physical feeling) without a sense of their meaning; remembering the
surroundings but not the event.
27. Sexual issues: sex feels "dirty"; aversion to being touched,
especially in gynecological exam; strong aversion to (or need for)
particular sex acts; feeling betrayed by one's body; trouble
integrating sexuality and emotionality; confusion or overlapping of
affection, sex dominance, aggression, and violence; having to pursue
power in sexual arena which is actually sexual acting out (self-abuse
and manipulation, especially among women; abuse of others, especially
among men); compulsively "seductive" or compulsively asexual; must be
sexual aggressor or cannot be; impersonal, "promiscuous" sex with
strangers concurrent with inability to have sex in intimate
relationship (conflict between sex and caring); prostitute, stripper,
"sex symbol," porn actress; sexual acting out to meet anger or revenge
needs; "sexaholism"; avoidance; shutdown; crying after orgasm; all
pursuit feels like violation; sexualizing of meaningful relationships;
erotic response of abuse or anger, sexual fantasies of dominance or
rape (Note: Homosexuality is not an aftereffect)
28. Pattern of ambivalent or intensely conflictive relationships
(intimacy is a problem; also focus shifted from incest issue).
29. Avoidance of mirrors (connected with invisibility, shame/self-
esteem issues, distrust of perceived body image).
30. Desire to change one's name (to disassociate from the
perpetrator or to take control through self-labeling).
31. Limited tolerance for happiness; active withdrawal from
happiness, reluctance to trust happiness ("ice=thin").
32. Aversion to making noise (including during sex, crying,
laughing, or other body function); verbal hypervigilance (careful
monitoring of one's words); quiet-voiced, especially when needing to
be heard.
33. Stealing (adults); stealing and starting fires (children).
34. Multiple personality.
**********************************************************************
PAYING FOR THERAPY: STATE OF THE ART?
report from one father
August 1992
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Blank:
Your child has retained me to represent her for the sexual and
physical assaults perpetrated on her by Mr. Blank when she was a
minor. She has suggested that we attempt to settle this matter
outside the legal arena, although she is prepared to file a lawsuit if
necessary. She has been severely emotionally damaged by the abuse of
Mr. Blank and Ms. Blank's ignoring the above.
At this time, prior to filing a lawsuit, we are prepared to settle
the case to $250,000.00. If we do file the lawsuit, we will ask for
and expect to be awarded substantially more money.
This offer to settle the case will remain open until September. If I
do not hear from you or your attorney by that date, I will presume
that you have no interest in settling this matter without litigation
and I will file the original of the enclosed complaint in Superior
Court.
Yours sincerely, Your daughter's lawyer
The lawyer who prepared the above letter also prepared a 4-sheet
handout of legal information for women that is distributed by a
Woman's Law Center. The advice includes the following:
"Although money never makes up for the damages suffered, it can be
used to pay for therapy and other "wants" of the injured person.
"Often a civil action is very therapeutic, and makes the survivor
feel better and more powerful"
"Sometimes another person or organization is responsible for the
offender's behavior or access to the victim, or has a duty to protect
the victim from harm. Additional defendants can include apartment
owners, hotels, schools, churches, day care centers, babysitters,
employers, organizations for children (such as Girl Scouts, Little
League organizations, camps) or the State (for placement of a child in
an abusive foster home or allowing a dangerous criminal to be in
society.)"...
"It may be true you don't have a case or that the case does not
make economic sense. Before taking "no" for an answer, get a second
and maybe a third opinion from other lawyers."
**********************************************************************
LEGAL CORNER
We are pleased to note that the "Legal Corner" will be a regular
feature of the FMSF Newsletter. If you have questions or concerns to
be answered in the Newsletter, please send them to Legal Corner, care
of James Simons at FMSF.
FILING COMPLAINTS
James Simons, J.D.
Practicing Attorney
People who have experienced the devastation that a false accusation
can inflict should be particularly sensitive to the serious
consequences that filing a complaint may have to a professional. A
complaint is a very serious action. Yet filing a complaint is also an
obligation if there is reason to believe that a professional violated
the code of ethics or standard of care. It is an obligation because it
alerts the monitoring agencies to an existing problem and has the
potential to prevent harm.
State licensing, ethical oversight boards and professional
monitoring committees are generally charged with ensuring that mental
health professionals meet minimum standards of practice, protect
clients and the public from practices that violate professional
ethics, and afford a means of redress for aggrieved parties.
The following practices that are associated with "memory retrieval
therapy" have been questioned by both professionals and families as to
whether they are sound and responsible:
to use techniques such as hypnosis, guided imagery or deep relaxation
without informing the client of the risk and dangers of suggestion;
to ignore sound warning from research data that false memories are
easily created;
to disregard evidence that there is no reliable scientific or
professional methodology by which a therapist may, without access to
objective corroborating evidence, reasonably distinguish false from
true memories;
to assume that statements made under suggestive influences are true
without seeking independent corroborating evidence;
to ignore a client's past history which may be important in
determining diagnosis and treatment;
to encourage client dependency or to cross therapist-client
boundaries;
to refuse to speak to other family members even if issues raised
concern them;
to recommend that a client break family relationships.
The welfare of clients may be jeopardized by such practices. Family
estrangement and false accusations of criminal acts may result from
such practices. Funds may be misused by such practices.
Many families tell us that they have written to state and
professional monitoring agencies seeking to open an investigation or
hoping to bring attention to the effects of "memory retrieval
therapy." At this point, most states will not investigate a grievance
filed by a third party (someone other than the client) because therapy
records are considered confidential unless a release is signed by the
client. In most cases a third party is not privy to the diagnosis or
treatment plan. Nevertheless, a carefully written grievance may have
far-reaching educational effects. Issues of minimum knowledge and
prudent practice should be of interest to a monitoring agency. Just as
awareness has been heightened to the effects of cigarette smoke on
people who do not themselves smoke, so may complaints increase
awareness of the fact that many people may be harmfully affected by
the results of "memory retrieval therapy."
Primarily a grievance may serve to alert ethical practice review
boards, professional organizations and insurance carriers of a problem
area. As a result, professional organizations or even insurance
carriers often draft statements of minimum knowledge and skills needed
for work in that area (e.g., How best to treat adults exploring their
past for understanding of today's problems. How best to work with
patients for whom sexual abuse is an issue). Both groups sponsor
seminars and offer educational programs to mental health professionals
on how to avoid similar complaints (and possibly malpractice claims).
They may hold hearings or sponsor a task force to study the problem
and recommend proper and prudent care standards.
Many states have licensing and/or oversight boards for professionals
in each of the following areas: Therapists (e.g. family services,
marriage and family counselors, drug and alcohol counselors), social
workers, psychologists and psychiatrists. Each state's Department of
Consumer Services has references to monitoring agencies and their
jurisdiction and functions.
Filing a complaint or grievance against a mental health professional
must be done in a careful and responsible manner. A false or
unsubstantiated accusation can cause harm. A belief that unethical
behavior took place must be examined very carefully. Many monitoring
agencies publish a code of ethics. The facts as known should be
examined in light of that code. Someone who is filing a complaint
should state the facts as known and identify the statements as
assumptions or hypotheses where appropriate. The following questions
were suggested by one state review board as a guide to understanding
the complaint procedure:
What steps must be taken to file a complaint?
On what grounds may the complaint be made?
Must the complaint be filed on a special complaint form?
How is the complaint reviewed by the Board?
What kind of action can the Board take?
Is it possible to follow-up a written complaint with a hearing?
Is it possible to meet with members of the Board to offer
additional information?
Under what conditions is the identity of the complainant released?
How long will the complaint review process take?
How can one find out about the status of the complaint?
Are there any costs associated with filing a complaint?
Once a complaint is filed, can an individual also take legal
action?
Who is on the Review Board?
Complaints filed against a professional may have serious consequences
and must be considered carefully. It is hoped that by working with
state licensing and ethical oversight boards and with professional
monitoring committees, the overall quality of mental health care will
improve.
**********************************************************************
NEWS NOTES
Results of Filing Complaints in Colorado
"Therapists Under Fire" by Bill Scanlon
Rocky Mountain News, March 10, 1994
"Ninety complaints have been filed with the Colorado Mental Health
Grievance Board, most in the past two years, says Amos Martinez,
administrator for the mental health regulatory section of
state. Complainants in most cases are not the clients, who generally
believe they were molested, but the clients families, who do not, says
Martinez. The complaints 'have become so problematic that the board
empaneled a group of five Ph.Ds to study the situation.'
"Also, at lease one lawsuit has been filed accusing a Colorado
therapist of substandard care for implanting false memories, and more
such suits appear imminent...It's the flip side to the deluge of
reports in recent years of repressed memories of childhood sexual
abuse. People are starting to recant their earlier accusations..
"Colorado Sen. Jim Roberts, R. Larimer County, is considering
sponsoring legislation that would offer an incentive for getting a
second opinion from a different therapist after memories of long-ago
abuse are first resurrected...
"'The grievance board dismissed all but six complaints,' Martinez
says. 'When a case is dismissed the therapist in question receives a
form letter stating the grievance board doesn't endorse his or her
treatment.' But Martinez concedes fault is hard to prove.
"'The bottom line is the board didn't know if the therapist acted
appropriately,' he says."
_____________________________________
Illinois Considers Limit on Sex Suits
New York Times, March 27, 1994
Last year the Illinois "Legislature voted overwhelmingly to repeal
the provision after hearing emotional testimony from child incest
victims well past their 30's who argues that some victims may recall
episodes of abuse only after decades of repressed memory. But since
the limitation was repealed, a heated debate has erupted among
psychologists and legal experts over 'restored memory,' which often
involves the use of hypnosis or drugs, or both, to unlock supposedly
repressed memories."
Cardinal Bernardin's experience "raised grave questions as to
whether or not this General Assembly should put a mark of approval on
the quality of evidence which may be at best speculative," said
Senator Petka, the bill's sponsor.
_____________________
Child Abuse Registers
New York Times, March 6, 1994
"A Federal appeals court in Manhattan has ruled that the standard of
evidence used by New York State to place a suspect's name on its
central child abuse register poses an "unacceptably high risk of
error," and that many people are placed on the list who do not belong
there... But it is the application of the legal standard for placing
a suspect's name on the register -- 'some credible evidence' -- that
is at the heart of the appeals court decision.
___________
Ramona Trial
Chicago Tribune, March 25, 1994, Jane Adams
"Holly Ramona was a 19-year-old in the throes of an eating disorder
when, under the care of two therapists, she began to remember vague
images of her father sexually abusing her as a child. Now her father,
Gary Ramona, is taking her therapists to court, saying that they
planted false memories of sexual abuse that have caused him to lose
his $400,000-a-year executive job, his marriage and contact with his
three daughters."
The lawsuit is for $8 million. One of the issues is the fact that
the daughter became convinced of her memories only after being given
sodium amytal. She was told that it would provide
verification. Another issue in the case is whether a therapist has a
duty to a third party.
__________________________________________
Seattle Families Picket Therapist's Office
"I know that the Foundation does not endorse picketing. But if the
professional organizations and the monitoring boards will not publish
standards for memory cases and will not handle our complaints, we'll
take care of it ourselves," said a telephone caller. "We picketed in a
shopping center and most of the people who passed by were very
sympathetic. The therapist was very upset. First we got a permit from
the police. We didn't want to do anything illegal."
______________________
Martensville Case Ends
Toronto Star, March 7, 1994, Donna Laframboise
Author calls for a public inquiry into the Martensville Day Care
case. Claims were of satanic rituals and an organized child sex abuse
ring. The arrests were big news but of the 170 charges only 15 result
in convictions. Those are being appealed.
Like McMartin, Edenton, Kelly Michaels and dozens of other cases,
there seems no reason to ruin so many lives.Sure Signs of An Abusing
Family
**********************************************************************
REPORT FROM A PROFESSIONAL MOM
"Sexual assault prevention training" for very young children has
been introduced into the public schools in Massachusetts. In my town,
the program is for first and third graders, with refresher and
advanced material in sixth grade. The program, prepared in cooperation
with the Sexual Assault Program of New Hope, isn't mandatory. If
parents do not want their child to attend, they must sign a letter,
thus identifying themselves as protesters.
I decided to attend a parents' meeting to see what it was all about.
It opened with the all too familiar statistics: one in three girls is
sexually assaulted during childhood, one in five boys and one in every
two special needs children. The newest group of "perpetrators" is
boys under twelve, with boys twelve to fourteen a close second. We
were told that the largest percentage of children being ritually and
cult abused are children ages one to six years. "How many children
are satanically ritually abused each year?" I asked.
"I don't know," she replied, and went on speaking.
I raised my hand again. "What percentage of all children abused are
victims of satanic ritual?" I asked.
"You see me afterward," she said. "Give me your name and address so
I can send you material."
The parents accepted the statistics unquestioningly. No one asked
which studies had produced the figures or who had done the studies. It
had been so instant and so easy to produce horror in these parents; no
one was able to see past emotion to any critical thought.
"Should I send my child to a home where I don't know the family
well?" a mother asked anxiously.
"No," our leader, a registered nurse, replied firmly. "Never send
your child into any home where you don't know the parents extremely
well, and even then, these parents may be molesters. In today's world
you can never tell who may be doing this."
Another mother wrung her hands. "But it seems they're not safe
anywhere!" she cried. "I can't keep them in a closet!"
"No," the leader reassured her, "but by studying our materials and
talking with your child after the school training, she will be better
armed to face what's out there."
I read the materials. These included: "Some common family patterns
noted in Incest Cases: Extreme over protectiveness of the child,
Extreme paternal dominance, Family isolated from the community and
support system, History of sexual abuse for either parent, Extreme
reaction to sex education or prevention education materials being
presented.
How many parents felt as I did? I thought that it was very sad that
this "training," an introduction to sex for many children, will be an
ugly picture. What should be introduced gently and lovingly is
instead presented in a perverted view of the world as a sinister place
with all adults described as suspicious characters. Is the worldreally
this bad?
Did I say anything? Did anyone say anything? Who would dare? Anyone
who protests this program is labeled as "having a common sign of
family patterns noted in incest cases." A form of coercion?
Absolutely!
**********************************************************************
FROM OUR READERS
American Psychiatric Association Reading List
"I noticed that some of the papers listed by the American
Psychiatric Association as the sources for their December statement on
memory were not published in peer-review journals. Such papers are
usually not considered proper academic papers and thus beneath the
notice of professionals. The trouble with too many psychiatrists is
that they forget that they are physicians. In 30 years of medical
writing, I never met a gastroenterologist or cardiologist or any other
qualified "ist" who would grant validity to an article in Prevention
magazine. But psychiatrists--they even recommend The Courage to Heal
to their patients!
A Professional, A Dad
---
"There is genuine child abuse and there are false accusations of
abuse. They exist parallel to each other; they do not negate each
other. Rather than attacking people who claim that they were falsely
accused and who are automatically presumed guilty with being given any
opportunity to prove their innocence, the anger should be aimed at bad
therapy, the primary source of the false accusations."
A Professional, A Mom
---
My Sister
"On a dismal day in November, my sister checked into a motel and
took an overdose of medication that had been provided to her by a
medical doctor associate of her therapist--even though she was
considered suicidal. Her body was discovered 24 hours later by a motel
maid. My sister left behind a devastated family: a husband of many
years, two young children and many other family members who loved her
dearly."
A Sister
----
Sister-in-Law
"On Father's Day in 1992 my sister-in-law told my husband and me
that she had been abused as a child by her father. We had just had a
pleasant dinner celebrating Father's Day at my in-laws' house and the
three of us went for a short walk when we heard the news.
"It was her therapist who put the idea into her head. My sister-in-
law's second marriage was falling apart and she went to the therapist
for help. The therapist told her: 'Anybody who is as mixed up as you
are must have been abused as a child.' My sister-in-law believed it
and showed us the book (Courage to Heal) as proof of the abuse. She
had no memories of any abuse just a 'weird feeling.' When we asked her
why she would keep visiting her father she said he had this
'incredible hold' over her, and she had to be with him. Her mother
died in 1979 and her father has since remarried.
"When we were skeptical my sister-in-law became verbally abusive,
yelling and screaming. My husband and i finally went back to the
house, said quick goodbyes and left. My sister-in-law, however, stayed
for another couple of days.
"The relationship between us came to a stop, even though she
continued to see her father who was unaware of the allegations. We
just could not bring ourselves to be with both of them at the same
time as long as these terrible accusations were still in the air. When
we were planning a party for my father-in-laws 75th birthday in
January 1994, we made it clear that we would not invite my
sister-in-law to a birthday party for the man who allegedly abused
her.
"Well, she phoned about a week before the party and apologized for
yelling at us that Father's Day. When we asked about the abuse she
finally said, "That never happened."
"We did have a nice birthday party for my father-in-law, but the
family will never be the same. At some time during these months, my
sister-in-law had confronted her father, and he denied the charges of
course. But his personality has changed. He hardly talks any more. The
doctors say it might have been a small stroke.
"When I compared our story to the others in your newsletter I
noticed several similarities. All the accusers have problems in their
lives and a therapist finally tells them who is to blame. The main
difference in our story is that my sister-in-law never stopped seeing
her father and actually pretended everything was fine. Maybe she knew
all along that he was innocent. My husband and I, on the other hand,
had to live for 1 1/2 years not knowing whether his father was a child
molester. Back then, we had never heard of FMS and only knew that
women "don't make these things up." Now, we know better but it will
take a long time before our relationship with my sister-in-law will be
the way it was before her allegations.
Sister-in-Law
--------
Confusing
"It is all very confusing. My other daughters have some impression
that the accuser could be moving toward recantation, but that she
doesn't know how. All I can do, I think, is to continue to reach out
to her. And that is often difficult; my internal distress is bone
deep. It was at least a year before I could turn any attention and
interest to anything else. At all. I am not sure that I have the
capacity to "go back" without some recantation. I'll try if the
opportunity comes, but..."
A Mom
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| N O T I C E |
| Any FMSF members who have filed a complaint with the California |
| Board of Behavioral Science or California Board of Psychology |
| identifying a therapist, and have not received a satisfactory |
| reply, please get in touch with the northern California contacts. |
| 916-961-8257 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "FMS is a phenomenon, whereby, an adult child who can't remember, |
| accuses a parent, who can't remember, of abuse that no one can |
| remember, but a therapist who was not there, has no evidence, |
| won't talk to the parents, and may not even have been born when |
| these events supposedly occurred, KNOWS for sure it did." A Mom |
| Shame and guilt answer to no time constraints. They are a 24 hour |
| fact that blends into a retractor's "recovered" life. |
| from "The Heart of a Retractor" by Susan M. Catalano |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
FMSF MEETINGS
FAMILIES & PROFESSIONALS WORKING TOGETHER
FUTURE MEETINGS
MIDWEST REGIONAL MEETING
May 21-22, 1994
Michigan State University
Lansing, MI
American Psychiatric Association
ANNUAL MEETING
Philadelphia, PA
Wednesday, May 25, 1994
2-5:00 pm Seminar Speakers:
Drs. Green, Lief, McHugh, Singer
CSICOP
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
The Psychology of Belief
June 23-26, Seattle, WA
Carl Sagan, Robert Baker, Richard Ofshe, Elizabeth Loftus, Stephen Ceci
UNITED STATES
Call the contact person listed for time and location of meeting.
key: (MO) = monthly
ARKANSAS
Little Rock
Al & Lela (501) 363-4368
CALIFORNIA
Central Coast
Carole (805) 967-8058
North County Escondido
Joe & Marlene (619)745-5518
Orange County (effective May 1st)
Chris & Alan (714) 733-2925
1st Sunday (MO) - 10:00 am
Jerry & Eileen (714) 494-9704
3rd Sunday (MO) - 6:00 pm
Rancho Cucamonga Group
Marilyn (909) 985-7890
1st Monday, (MO) - 7:30 pm
San Jose-San Francisco Bay Area
Jack & Pat (408) 425-1430
Last Saturday, Bi-Monthly
Valencia
Jane & Mark (805) 947-4376
4th Saturday (MO)10:00 am
West Orange County
Carole (310) 596-8048
2nd Saturday (MO)1:30 pm
COLORADO
Denver
Roy (303) 221-4816
4th Saturday, (MO)1:00 pm
CONNECTICUT
New Haven area
George (203) 243-2740
3rd Sunday (MO)1:00 pm
FLORIDA - April Meeting Cancelled
Dade-Broward Area
Madeline (305) 966-4FMS
Delray Beach
Esther (407) 364-8290
2nd & 4th Thursday [MO]1 pm
Contact for subscription information:
The Florida Newsletter Update Report
P O Box 6826, Hollywood, FL 33081
GEORGIA - neighboring states welcome
Atlanta Meeting - Call for information
Jean (404) 840-7097 Nancy (404) 922-7486 Lee (404) 442-0482
Sunday, May 22, 1994, 2:00 pm
INDIANA
Indianapolis area (150 mile radius)
Gene (317) 861-4720 or 861-5832
Helen (219) 753-2779
Nickie (317) 471-0922 (phone & fax)
IOWA
Des Moines - Call for location & reservations:
Betty/Gayle (515) 270-6976
Saturday, April 16, 9am -3pm
Speaker: Dr. Gary Wells, Iowa State U
KANSAS
Kansas City
Pat (913) 238-2447 or Jan (816) 276-8964
2nd Sunday (MO)
KENTUCKY
Lexington
Dixie (606) 356-9309
Louisville
Bob (502) 957-2378
Last Sunday (MO) 2:00 pm
MAINE
Freeport
Wally (207) 865-4044
3rd Sunday (MO)
MARYLAND
Annapolis area
Carol (410) 647-6339
1st Sunday, bi-monthly
MICHIGAN
Grand Rapids Area - Jenison
Catharine (606) 363-1354
2nd Monday (MO)
Michigan Information Newsletter
P O Box 15044, Ann Arbor, MI 48106
(313) 461-6213
meeting notices & state topics
MINNESOTA
St. Paul
Terry & Collette (507) 642-3630
MASSACHUSETTS
Waltham - New England Meeting
Joseph (508) 752-0554
Sunday, April 10, 12:30-4:30 pm
NEW YORK & VICINITY
Manhattan
Sunday, April 10, 1-4 pm
West Side Jewish Center, 347 W 34St
Speakers: Eleanor Goldstein, author Bernard Seidler, J.D., Ph.D.
$10 contribution (includes refreshments)
For information & to RSVP, please phone:
Eileen (516)379-5285, Barbara (914)761-3627, Merwin (212) 595-1556
NEW YORK, (Upstate) - See Vermont
NEW JERSEY (South) - See PENNSYLVANIA
OHIO
Cincinnati
Bob (513) 541-5272
PENNSYLVANIA
Pittsburgh
Rick & Renee (412) 563-5616
Wayne
Jim & Joanne (610) 783-0396
TEXAS
Central Texas
Nancy & Jim (512) 478-8395
Houston
Jo or Beverly (713) 464-8970
Saturday, May 21 - Guest: Richard Ofshe
VERMONT (& Upstate New York)
Burlington
Elaine (518) 399-5749
Monday, May 9, 7:00 pm
WISCONSIN
Katie & Leo (414) 476-0285
To participate in a phone tree.
CANADA
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Vancouver & Mainland
Ruth (604) 925-1539
Last Saturday (MO) 1:00-4:00 pm
Victoria & Vancouver Island
John (604) 721-3219
3rd Tuesday (MO) 7:30 pm
MANITOBA
Winnipeg
Joan (204) 257-9444
1st Sunday (MO)
ONTARIO
Ottawa - Eileen (613) 592-4714
South/Western Ontario
Adriaan (519) 471-6338
Toronto - Pat (416) 445-1995
General Meeting - FMS
Volunteer Center
Sunday, April 17, 1:00 pm, Holiday Inn
22 Metropolitan Rd ,Scarborough
AUSTRALIA
Ken & June PO Box 363
Unley, S.A. 5061
NEW ZEALAND
Dr. Goodyear-Smith
tel 0-9-415-8095
fax 0-9-415-8471
UNITED KINGDOM
Adult Children Accusing Parents
Roger Scotford (0) 225-868682
To list a meeting: Mail or fax info to Nancy in advance (2 mos.) of
meeting date, (for June newsletter, send by April 25th). Standing
meetings will continue to be listed unless notified otherwise by state
contact or group leader.
**********************************************************************
NEW BOOKS
House of Cards:
Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth
by Robyn M. Dawes
The Free Press $22.95 338 pages
A critical examination of some of the most cherished clinical
assumptions and therapeutic methods now in use.
"Dawes has, indeed, let the cat out of the bag. This book speaks for
all of us who have watched in distress as the profession of psychology
ran roughshod over the science of psychology. This is a powerful book
that draws on the science of psychology to help us understand our
gullibility to the profession of psychology."
--Marilyn Brewer, former member of the Board of Directors of The
American Psychological Association; A President of The American
Psychological Society.
"For generations, voices crying in the wilderness have urged a
close, critical, and continuing examination of the research and
scholarly underpinnings of psychotherapy. Dawes adds his voice to this
chorus of concern suggesting that many of our commonly held 'myths'
within psychology have little or no supporting data and/or scientific
justification. This book is a wake-up call to psychologists and
psychotherapists to be more responsible practitioners."
--Bonnie R. Strickland, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology, University of
Massachusetts at Amherst; Past President of The American Psychological
Association.
**********************************************************************
Suggestions of Abuse
by Michael Yapko
Simon & Schuster $22.00
This timely book reveals how and why a startling number of mental
health professionals, ignorant about suggestibility and the workings
of memory, are unwittingly leading their patients to believe that they
are victims of sexual abuse that has been entirely repressed.
Sensitive, realistic advice for individuals and families whose lives
have been damaged by questionable accusations, and for those who
suspect they have been falsely led to believe they were abused.
"Michael Yapko brings a cool head to a hot subject...An
indispensable consumer guide for victims of abuse -- and for victims
of abuse accusations"
--Carol Tavris, Ph.D. Author of "The Mismeasure of Woman"
"He points out where therapists go wrong, and how they may learn to
go right. In short,tell the truth about false memory."
--Alan W. Scheflin, L.L.M., Author of "Trance on Trial"
**********************************************************************
Remembering Satan:
Case of Recovered Memory and the Shattering of an American Family
by Larry Wright
Knopf $22.00 205 pages
Nominated for National Magazine Award, Reporting Category
In "Remembering Satan," his painstaking account of the Ingram case,
New Yorker journalist Lawrence Wright explores the controversial
phenomenon of recovered memory and its more lurid cousin, the issue of
satanic-ritual abuse...Ingram, the first accused party to ever plead
guilty in a ritualistic-abuse case, was himself persuaded by this
argument. His daughters would not lie, he reasoned so he must be
guilty of something. Within hours of his arrest, he began inexplicably
to envision scenes of abuse....Ultimately, the Ingram family's
hysterical eagerness to remember created so many conflicting stories
that the state's case all but evaporated, and two other men arrested
were released for lack of evidence. In 1989 Ingram came to his senses
and sought unsuccessfully to withdraw his guilty plea. But the courts,
which are never eager to grant an appeal to anyone who has pleaded
guilty, have consistently turned him down. He is serving a 20-year
sentence."
Newsweek, April 4, 1994
**********************************************************************
RECENT ADDITIONS TO BIBLIOGRAPHY
MAGAZINE & NEWSPAPER ARTICLES:
__174 "Some law suits simply therapy," by Claire Bernstein. London
Free Press, December 21, 1992. [$1.00]
__265 "Of Memory and Emotion," by Daniel Reisberg. Reed College
Magazine, June 1993. [$1.00]
__292a "Real or Imagined?" by David McKay Wilson. The Reporter
Dispatch, October 20, 1993. [$1.00]
__298 "Family gets blamed for everything," by Kathleen Parker. Orlando
Sentinel, December 31, 1993. [$1.00]
PROFESSIONAL ARTICLES:
__518 Dittburner, T. & Persinger, M.A. (1993) "Intensity of Amnesia
during Hypnosis is Positively Correlated with Estimated Prevalence of
Sexual Abuse and Alien Abductions: Implications for the False Memory
Syndrome." Perceptual and Motor Skills, 77, 895-898. [$1.00]
__537 Frankel, F.H., (1993) "Adult Reconstruction of Childhood Events
in the Multiple Personality Literature." American Journal of Psychia
try , 150:6, June 1993. [$3.00]
__574a Persinger, M.A. (1992) "Neuropsychological Profiles of Adults
Who Report 'Sudden Remembering' of Early Childhood Memories:
Implications for Claims of Sex Abuse and Alien Visitation/Abduction
Experiences." Perceptual and Motor Skills, 75, 259-266. [$3.00]
__574b Pope, H. G. & Hudson, J. I. (1992) "Is Childhood Sexual Abuse
a Risk Factor for Bulimia Nervosa? American Journal of Psy chiatry
149:4, pp. 455-463. [$3.00]
__581 Slovenko, R. (1993) "False Memories/Broken Families." AAPL
Newsletter, Vol . 8, No. 2, September. [$1.00]
__581a Slovenko, R. (1993) "The Multiple Personality and the Criminal
Law." Medicine and Law 12: 329-340. [$4.00]
"Lies of the Mind," by Leon Jaroff (TIME, November 29, 1993). Send
request to purchase back issue to the Mail Processing Center, 3000
University Center Dr, Tampa, FL 33612. Or, telephone 1-800-843-8463.
Journal of Psychology & Theology Fall 1992, is devoted to the subject
of Satanic Ritual Abuse in patients diagnosed with Multiple
Personality Disorder. Guest editor Martha L. Rogers. To order the
Special Issue (Fall 1992, Vol 20, No. 3) or to obtain reprints of
specific articles, write to Journal of Psychology & Theology, 13800
Biola Ave, La Mirada, CA 90639. (Special Issue: $12 ppd., $14 ppd.
overseas; article reprints, $3 each.)
CBC, The Fifth Estate, "Mistaken Identities" produced by Michele
Metivier. Air Date: November 9, 1993. For further information: CBC TV
613-724-1200 or 800-663-3607.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Do you have access to e-mail? Send a message to |
| pjf@cis.upenn.edu |
| if you wish to receive electronic versions of this newsletter and |
| 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 False Memory Syndrome Foundation is a qualified 501(c)3
corporation with its principal offices in Philadelphia and governed by
its Board of Directors. While it encourages participation by its
members in its activities, it must be understood that the Foundation
has no affiliates and that no other organization or person is
authorized to speak for the Foundation without the prior written
approval of the Executive Director. All membership dues and
contributions to the Foundation must be forwarded to the Foundation
for its disposition.
**********************************************************************
RE: INFORMATION UPDATE
Thank you for completing the Information Update Survey in the February
Newsletter. If you have not returned the survey as yet, please take a
few minutes to do so. It will help update our files and better
document this phenomenon
**********************************************************************
End Note
"Gosh, I hope I live long enough to see how this ends. I remember
being in Europe in the war and lying there and thinking the same
thing. I wanted to live to see the end. I used to say to my buddy,
'How is this going to end? I hope I don't get it so I see how it
ends.' The only thing now is I'm running out of years."
A Dad
**********************************************************************
Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., Executive Director
FMSF Scientific and Professional Advisory Board April 2, 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; AUGUST T. PIPER, Jr., M.D., Seattle, WA; 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,
Piscataway, 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.