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F M S F O U N D A T I O N N E W S L E T T E R (e-mail edition)
September 1999 Vol 8 No 6
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ISSN #1069-0484. Copyright (c) 1999 by the FMS Foundation
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The FMSF Newsletter is published 8 times a year by the False
Memory Syndrome Foundation. A hard-copy subscription is in-
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FMS Foundation, to the address below. 1999 subscription rates:
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3401 Market Street suite 130, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3315
This address and the phone numbers have changed as of July 15, 2000
Phone 215-387-1865, Fax 215-387-1917
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Feld
Book Reviews:
"Creating Hysteria" The next issue will
"Selling Serenity" combine
Legal Corner October and November
Slovenko
From Our Readers
Bulletin Board
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Dear Friends,
The cruelty and injustices of the recovered repressed memory
phenomenon continue to haunt families, especially those whose children
have not resumed contact. While some situations seem to have improved,
others have not changed at all. As just one example, consider: many
years ago the American Psychiatric Association (1993) and American
Medical Association (1994) warned of the dangers of repressed
memories, but in all this time the monitoring boards of the relevant
professions, with just a few exceptions, have taken no significant
actions.
One of those few exceptions is the case of Bennett Braun, M.D.
After many lawsuits, one settled in the amount of $10.6 million, a
license hearing by the state of Illinois will be held in November.
Patricia Burgus, the plaintiff in the $10.6 suit, has been public in
her efforts to have the Illinois board protect others from the harm
done to her and her family. In Texas, however, where there were also
settled lawsuits and complaints by former patients about Judith
Peterson, Ph.D., the Texas Board of Psychology, to our knowledge, has
as yet taken no action. In this case, transcripts of some of
Peterson's therapy sessions have become easily accessible (they were
produced in evidence in the federal trial last year). Professional
inaction can be seen to imply that these sessions constitute an
acceptable standard of care. The public is poorly served and can
scarcely be blamed if confidence in the mental health profession
decreases. (See www.FMSFonline.org for examples of therapy
transcripts.)
Very few families and former patients have filed lawsuits. Some
have gone directly to licensing boards and in almost all cases the
boards have refused to act -- invoking a remarkable variety of excuses
in the process. Page 12 of this newsletter recounts one family's
experience with a regulatory agency and the agency's quite
unbelievable excuse ["Do Standards of Care Apply in Recovered Memory
Therapy?"]. Families and professionals should be deeply concerned
about what this case says about the state of professional oversight.
One thing, though, that has changed dramatically is the amount of
information now available on the subject of false memories. In
August,1999, we searched the database PsycINFO using the topic "false
memories." We organized the results by year of publication. In the
table below, it is easy to see the dramatic increase in articles
starting in 1994.
1990 0 1993 3 1996 64
1991 0 1994 14 1997 67
1992 2 1995 27 1998 60
But has all this information helped families? Obviously it has:
more people now understand important facts about how memory works;
more articles mean there are more places to find information; and more
articles make it easier to talk about the problem with others.
But have the articles contributed to the return of children? Yes,
they have also done that, sometimes directly but most often in a
circuitous way. As information about memory threads its way through
society, there will be less acceptance of misinformation. There seems
little doubt that the public has become more skeptical about recovered
memories in the past few years. Those who hold firm belief in the
accuracy of recovered memories or who make their livelihood or
reputations in this area now complain vociferously about the effect of
the FMS Foundation.
Over the years, there have been several groups that have formed to
counter the skeptical trend to which we may have contributed. On page
3 of this issue readers will find information about the most recent of
these groups ["New Organization Alert"]. It is a characteristic of
such groups that the position of the Foundation is misstated and so we
take this opportunity to clarify by repeating what we have said since
1992: Some memories are true, some memories are a mixture of fact and
fantasy, and some memories are false -- whether those memories are
continuous or are recalled after a period of being forgotten. The
issue in all cases is corroboration. Professional societies agree that
it is only with external corroboration that one can know the truth or
falsity of a memory.
As is typical with these groups, the charge is made that the
Foundation has proposed informed consent legislation or lobbied for
its passage. Some members of the Foundation, to be sure, are involved
in these activities, as, indeed, are many many members of the mental
health profession. The Foundation is not. The debate on informed
consent is a broad one within the profession as can be seen in Allen
Feld's comments on page 4. One must ask why some professionals who
are opposed to informed consent focus on the Foundation rather than
debate the issue with their peers.
Critics also err when they claim the Foundation is focused on
bringing lawsuits against therapists. They forget that the Foundation
came into existence because of the many lawsuits that were being
brought against families based on no other evidence than a claim of
recovered repressed memories. As of today, we are aware of more than
eight hundred lawsuits against families but fewer than two hundred
brought by former patients. On page 15 of this issue is a moving
letter from a former patient about the harm done to her ["Open
Letter"], and in the Legal Corner is mention of an ongoing trial in
Wisconsin in which a therapist is being sued by a former patient. It
is not the FMS Foundation that is responsible for such lawsuits. It is
substandard treatment by some therapists.
The issue is not child abuse, a reprehensible crime that civilized
society should work to eliminate. The issue is misinformation and the
misuse of science. While the two books reviewed this month each credit
the FMS Foundation with diminishing the recovered memory craze, it
makes no sense to blame the Foundation for the current state of
therapy.
Professionals need to examine the practices that brought the
Foundation into being in the first place and consider the changed
culture in which therapists now practice: managed care and higher
consumer expectations. In addition to acting on the clear need for
more effective monitoring by regulatory boards, professionals could
also take a big step in bringing the memory wars to a speedy end. The
Recommendations of Royal College of Psychiatrists point to a way:
"Once the accusation is taken outside the consulting room,
especially if any question of confrontation or public accusation
arises, there can rarely be any justification for refusal to allow a
member of the therapeutic team to meet family members."
"Reported recovered memories of child sexual abuse: Recommendations"
Psychiatric Bulletin (1997), 21 663-665
The families who have contacted the FMS Foundation were all
unwilling parties to a "confrontation or public accusation." Yet, we
know of almost no families who have had a meeting with the accuser and
a psychiatric team. And the only efforts for corroboration have come
after the filing of a lawsuit. Harvard professor Thomas Gutheil,
M.D., recently wrote:
"To mitigate injustice in cases of recovered memory, the forensic
evaluator should be a separate professional from the treating
clinician. Information from third parties is crucial and can include
journals, diaries, social service agency records, hospitalization
and other treatment records, and police reports. Interviews with
siblings and friends may yield useful information. Memory is never
fully reliable. The only way to protect the presumption of innocence
is to require tangible evidence. The damage to those accused because
of recovered memories can be significant."
Thomas Gutheil, M.D.
"The controversy over recovered memories"
p 4. Lahey Clinic Medical Ethics Newsletter, Spring 1999
Families torn asunder because of claims of recovered memories
deserve to have independent professionals intervene and bring the
parties together in order to weigh the claims of each. However,
corroboration remains the sole reliable method for separating true
from false memories.
Some assumptions might need to change. For example, by their
silence, mental health professionals and some segments of society
currently give approval to unilateral and arbitrary accusations
against someone and then cutting off communication -- allowing the
accused no defense. To end the memo wars, people will need to talk to
each other.
The recovered memory debate has been referred to as the "most
passionately contested battle that has ever been waged about the
nature of human memory." (see box on p. 3 [Schacter, Norman &
Koutstall]) It won't be easy to bring this to conclusion, but for a
society that has turned 180 degrees on smoking, that has gone to the
Moon and is mapping the human genome, it is surely possible. Unless we
try, we will never know.
PAMELA
+----------------------------------------------------+
| SPECIAL THANKS |
| |
| We extend a very special `Thank you' to all of |
| the people who help prepare the FMSF Newsletter. |
| |
| EDITORIAL SUPPORT: Toby Feld, Allen Feld, Janet |
| Fetkewicz, Howard Fishman, Peter Freyd |
| RESEARCH: Michele Gregg |
| COLUMNISTS: August Piper, Jr. and members |
| of the FMSF Scientific Advisory Board |
| LETTERS and INFORMATION: Our Readers |
+----------------------------------------------------+
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NEW ORGANIZATION ALERT
FMSF Staff
A new organization called The Leadership Council for Mental Health,
Justice and the Media formed in spring of, 1999 with headquarters in
Bala Cynwyd, PA. According to a May 24, 1999 release on Business Wire,
the mission of the group is "to insure the public receives accurate
information about mental health issues..." Leadership of this new
group is composed of professionals, many of whom have published
MPD/recovered memory articles (e.g. Kluft and van der Kolk), lawyers
who have written against legal action by retractors (e.g. Mertz) and
writers for David Calof's journal Treating Abuse Today (e.g. Crook and
Kendall).
It is not clear that the mission of this group is only to present
accurate information. After interviewing its president, Dr. Paul
Fink,[1] one journalist wrote:
"Fink is angry that the False Memory Foundation has launched a
public relations campaign to say that recovered memories of child
abuse can't occur. Psychotherapy has always been about uncovering
the past to fix the present."
Jamie Talan. 05/04/99 Newsday
"Mental Health Leaders Suggest Flawed Research May Promote Pedophilia"
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* *
* CORRECTION *
* From the October/November issue *
* In the September issue of FMSF Newsletter on page 3 the correct *
* title of the Newsday article by Jamie Talan (5/4/99) should be: *
* "The Plural Personalities/ Memories Debate" *
* *
**********************************************************************
In a November 1998 column in Clinical Psychiatry News, Dr. Fink, a
past president of the American Psychiatric Association, described the
FMS Foundation as:
"a group of zealots who know nothing about what psychotherapy is or
how it works. This includes some prestigious psychiatrists and
psychologists who are trotted out by the FMSF to assert that we who
practice this 'vile form of alchemy' called psychotherapy are, at
best, unproven, and at worst, charlatans." [2]
To say that about the FMSF Scientific Advisors including
supporters of psychotherapy such as Aaron Beck, M.D, D.M.S., Fred
Frankel, M.D., George Ganaway, M.D., David Halperin, M.D., Ernest
Hilgard, Ph.D., N.A.S., John Hochman, M.D., Harold Lief, M.D., Harold
Merskey, D.M, and Donald Spence, Ph.D., seems not only insulting but
absurd.
Following is the Council's list of Officers and Advisory Board:
Paul J. Fink, MD; President; Joyanna Silberg, PhD; Alan W. Scheflin,
JD, LLM, MA, Vice-President Justice,; Wendy Murphy, JD, Vice-President
Media,; Steven Frankel, PhD, JD Treasurer; Stephanie Dallam, RN, MS,
FNP Secretary; Advisory Board: Peter Barach, PhD; Laura Brown, PhD;
Lynn Crook, MEd; Philip Coons,MD; Leah Dickstein, MD; Esther Geller,
MA; Joshua Kendall, MA; Richard P. Kluft, MD, PhD; Richard
J. Loewenstein, MD; Elizabeth Mertz, JD, PhD; Robed Pyles, MD; Lloyd
I. Sederer, MD; David Speigel, MD; Bessel van der Kolk, MD; Deborah
Zarin, MD
[1] See FMSF Newsletter July/August 1999 for a report of Dr. Fink's
appearance on television program Jane Wallace Live in which he
suggested that three women he was not known to have ever
interviewed had been sexually abused.
[2] When asked, Dr. Fink admitted he could not supply a reference for
the "alchmeny" quote.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Vice President of the Leadership Council for Mental Health |
| speaking about the Amiraults upon hearing the Massachusetts |
| Supreme Judicial Court decision not to allow them a new trial: |
| |
| "Stick a fork in them," said attorney Wendy J. Murphy, |
| a child rights advocate, "They're done." |
| |
| "Experts say Amiraults may be out of options" |
| Analysis/by Jack Sullivan, Boston Herald, August 19, 1999 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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Relationship between dissociation, childhood sexual abuse, childhood
physical abuse, and mental illness in a general population sample.
Multer, Beautrais, and Jouce, et al.
American Journal of Psychiatry 155: 806-811 (June 1998).
Summarized in The Harvard Mental Health Letter, February 1999 (page 6)
A sample of 1,200 New Zealanders of both sexes chosen from the general
population were asked about childhood physical and sexual abuse and
given a standard clinical interview for the purpose of psychiatric
diagnosis. They also answered a 15-item questionnaire on dissociative
symptoms.
Only six percent of respondents had a high level of dissociative
symptoms using the researchers' criteria. A high level was more common
in people with psychiatric disorders. Apart from the physical abuse
that often accompanied it, however, sexual abuse was not specifically
linked to dissociation. The authors suggest that people with
psychiatric symptoms (including dissociation) may be more likely to
see mental health professionals if they were sexually abused as
children. Further, most victims of childhood sexual abuse are women
and it is women who are more likely to seek treatment.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "The recovered memories debate is the most passionately contested |
| battle that has ever been waged about the nature of human memory. |
| Students of memory are no strangers to controversy: arguments |
| about single versus multiple memory systems, storage failure |
| versus retrieval failure theories of forgetting and laboratory |
| versus naturalistic methodologies have persisted for years. But |
| all of these debates have been restricted to academic participants |
| and are largely unrelated to the concerns of people in everyday |
| life. Controversies over recovered memories, in contrast, have |
| touched the lives of thousands of families; the emotional stakes |
| for all involved are incalculably high." |
| Schacter, Norman & Koutstall in Conway (Ed) |
| Recovered Memories and False Memories, Oxford U Press, 1997 p. 63 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
/a>
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INFORMED CONSENT
Allen Feld
It is impossible to read the many articles and letters, etc. that
come into the Foundation without being exposed to the acrimonious, and
often shrill, debate about informed consent. It is also perplexing and
confusing to me why there would be significant attempts to organize
opposition to the notion of informed consent. Rather, one would hope
that the same effort would be directed toward developing a consensus
among professions to assure that clients are fully informed of the
risks inherent in the psychological service they are about to receive.
Those uncomfortable with informed consent will undoubtedly and
erroneously conclude that this is an endorsement of what is often
called the Barden Bill. In fact, my wish is that legislation such as
Attorney Christopher Barden has drafted would be unnecessary, because
professional organizations were meeting their responsibilities in
protecting the public. Barden and his small and thoughtful group have
provided a significant service by placing the issue of informed
consent on the table and causing it to be a subject of discussion.
It is also becoming evident that not all psychiatric professionals
are necessarily unhappy with the need for informed consent. Milwaukee
psychiatrist Herzl Spiro, testifying as an expert witness in Hess v.
Fernandez (see legal section), expressed his support for informed
consent. Spiro said all patients must give doctors "informed consent"
to proceed with treatment:
"It is a doctor's responsibility to tell a patient all of the risks
of therapy and present alternatives so the patient can make informed
choices."
Wausau Daily Herald, Aug 15, 1999
Another recent example of professional support for informed consent
appeared in the Harvard Mental Health Letter dated March 1999.
"For many years, informed consent involved strictly medical
procedures. The advent of managed care, the elaboration of ethical
codes, and the influence of patients' rights movements now speak in
favor of expanding informed consent to include psychotherapy.
Sharing information helps to fulfill a clinician's responsibility to
ensure that a client is able to make treatment decisions. From a
clinical perspective, few things can disrupt a treatment more than
an event that surprises a client -- an unexpected disclosure of
confidential information, an unanticipated bill for a missed
session, a refusal to testify in court."
Hames T. Hilliard, J.D. and Stephen H. Behnke, J.D., Ph.D.
Before the idea of formal written informed consent became
important in counseling services, some helping theories offered clear
direction that a joint decision should be made between therapist and
client about entering into a therapeutic relationship. Among the
suggestions for both parties to consider were their individual
responsibilities, what they could expect from each other, the
reciprocal demands that grow from the therapeutic approach being used,
and such logistical aspects as scheduling, between session
availability and fees. This interactive process seemed to ask both
parties to agree to work together with a similar vision. It was not
unusual to consciously and verbally redefine some aspects of the
therapy as the relationship developed and both parties came to know
each other more fully within the context of the therapy.
Until professional organizations and graduate psychiatry/
psychology/counseling programs take an active leadership role in
establishing meaningful informed consent standards, legislation may be
the only alternative. I believe there is more to fear from informed
consent becoming a bureaucratic and automatic procedure, geared more
to protecting the service provider than to informing the client.
Allen Feld is Director of Continuing Education for the FMS
Foundation. He has retired from the faculty of the School of Social
Work at Marywood University in Pennsylvania.
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Memory Functioning in Adult Women
Traumatized by Childhood Sexual Abuse
Stein, Hanna, Vaerum & Koverola
Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 12,
No. 3, 1999 p 527-534
Memory tests were administered to 22 female adult survivors of
childhood sexual trauma and to 20 demographically and educationally
similar nonvictimized women. No evidence was found of explicit memory
impairment in the abuse survivors. Neither PTSD severity, dissociative
symptom severity, nor the extent of preexisting amnesia for the
childhood trauma contributed to the variance in memory functioning.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| On Pseudoscience |
| |
| "I worry that, especially as the Millennium edges nearer, |
| pseudoscience and superstition will seem year by year more |
| tempting, the siren song of unreason more sonorous and attractive. |
| Where have we heard it before? Whenever our ethnic or national |
| prejudices are aroused, in times of scarcity, during challenges to |
| national self-esteem or nerve, when we agonize about our |
| diminished cosmic place and purpose, or when fanaticism is |
| bubbling up around us -- then, habits of thought familiar from |
| ages past reach for the controls. The candle flame gutters. Its |
| little pool of light trembles. Darkness gathers. The demons begin |
| to stir." |
| Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, pp. 26-27 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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B O O K R E V I E W S
Reviews by FMSF Staff
__________________________________________________________
Creating Hysteria: Women and Multiple Personality Disorder
Joan Acocella, Jossey-Bass Pub. $25.
Joan Acocella has written an outstanding history of the American MPD
epidemic. She traces its emergence, the extensive damage it caused and
finally, we all hope, its present death throes. In the process --
using little more than their own words -- she exposes the folly of its
main perpetrators: Peter Barach, Bennett Braun, David Calof, Richard
Kluft, Frank Putnam, Colin Ross, Gloria Steinem, Cornelia Wilbur --
and the most recent addition -- Cameron West. (The index, alas, does
not list all of these names. Some interesting quotations --
particularly from Barach, Calof and West -- appear only in the
end-notes.)
When an earlier version of this work appeared in The New Yorker
(April 6, 1998), MPD defenders mounted an ad hominem attack: Joan
Acocella, they said, was just the dance critic for the The New Yorker.
Indeed, Acocella's book on the Nijinsky diaries was the year's most
important book about ballet. That, apparently, was quite enough to
confuse the MPD defenders; they forgot (or just couldn't believe) that
the very same Joan Acocella is co-author of one of the standard
textbooks: Abnormal Psychology: Current Perspectives (now in its
eighth edition).
Creating Hysteria is more than a history. Acocella develops the
thesis that the MPD craze was, in fact, a predictable backlash against
women. What was, however, totally unpredictable was that so many
feminists would join the effort. As Acocella documents, by joining the
MPD movement they joined a movement devoted to portraying woman in a
most antifeminist manner: the MPD movement emphasized woman's
notorious volatility, her moral incapacity, her childlike, passive,
and wounded role-playing, her hysterics, fits, and weeping spells, her
subjectivity and preference for emotion over action. After describing
these stereotypes so central to MPD, Acocella writes, "I have listed a
number of characteristics here, but they can be boiled down to two,
sex and childlikeness. In MPD therapy, the woman is visualized as a
nymphet."
Acocella does not claim to understand completely how her fellow
feminists were so misled. But she does pinpoint the single most
important development: they had bought into the recovered memory
movement and that led them to support the MPD movement in all of its
absurdities, even to that greatest of absurdities, the satanic ritual
abuse craze. And she tells us what was the most important single
development in the demise of the MPD craze: "the founding of the False
Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) in Philadelphia in 1992."
This book is a "must" read.
________
EXCERPTS
from
Creating Hysteria: Women and Multiple Personality Disorder
In the past few years the recovered memory movement has been
analyzed and condemned in so many books...that it seems unnecessary
to rehearse its errors one more time. But the movement is far from
dead, and it was the main source of the MPD epidemic. (p. 39)
In short, recovered memory, beginning as a political movement,
became a craze, a juggernaut. Judith Herman says that in her
survivor groups, "virtually every woman who has defined the goal of
recovering memories has been able do to so." (p. 43)
To explain [how MPD is created by the therapist] I will rely on the
therapy outlined by Frank Putnam in his Diagnosis and Treatment of
Multiple Personality Disorder. I choose Putnam in the interest of
fairness. His book is the most respected in the field -- a "classic
text," as his colleague Richard Kluft has called it. (p. 61)
Here is the therapy, according to Putnam. The woman, when she comes
for her first appointment, typically shows no multiplicity, no MPD.
The job of the therapist, then, is to "smoke out" the alters. Putnam
asks the patient whether she has ever felt like more than one
person, and if her reply is encouraging in any way, he then asks,
"Do you ever feel as if there is some other part...of yourself that
comes out and does or says things that you would not do or say?"
Again, if her response is even so much as ambiguous, he presses
forward, asking, "Can this other part come out and talk with me?"
Often, this yields nothing. "I would urge persistence," Putnam
says, The therapist should probe energetically, and at length. A
typical diagnostic (that is, smoking-out-the-alters) session last
about three hours, he writes, "though it may be necessary to spend a
large part of the day with some highly secretive MPD patients." If
that doesn't work, he uses the old standby, hypnosis. He especially
recommends hypnotic age regression, in which the patient is
supposedly taken back to childhood. He also recommends ideomotor
signaling, whereby, instead of speaking, the patient gives her
answers by means of prearranged hand signals, such as raising the
index finger to mean yes and raising the thumb to mean no. Thus he
combines the suggestive force of hypnosis with the seductions of
babying, and in case the patient is reluctant to make up stories out
loud, he smoothes the way by allowing her just to raise a finger.
Not surprisingly, this procedure may produce an alter, but one is
not enough. Putnam tells the patient to "expect the new alters will
be found as therapy progresses." And he provides the opportunities
for them to appear. If the patient experiences a sudden change of
emotion, he asks, "Does this feeling have a name?" He also gets her
to do automatic writing and asks her to keep a journal, so that
hidden alters will have a chance to sneak out. As each emerges, he
asks him or her who else is in there.
Putnam, like many other MPD authorities, says that alters must
not be treated as separate entities. Then, like other MPD
authorities, he goes right ahead and treats them as separate
entities -- indeed, never lets them forget they are separate. The
critical act is naming. As Janet pointed out over a century ago (and
Putnam quotes him), naming solidifies an alter personality. Putnam
insists that every alter be named, if not by the patient, then by
the therapist. (p. 63-64)
How can Putnam not see what is happening? That he is involved in
what social psychologists call a role-enactment, whereby, if you
give a person cues for a certain behavior, instructions as to how to
perform the behavior, and rewards for the behavior, you will then
get that behavior? He never sees. He acknowledges that once the MPD
diagnosis is made, "all of a sudden 'new' personalities begin
popping out all over the place." (p. 65)
Not only does Putnam have no doubts; like recovered-memory
therapists, he quells any doubts on the part of the patient. "Not
uncommonly," he reports, "patients will retreat into a phase during
which they announce that they 'made it all up.'" This, he says, is
called the "flight into health," and he interprets it to the patient
as resistance to treatment. (p. 66)
If Putnam generally limits himself to three-hour diagnostic
interviews, that is brief. Richard Kluft cites a case in which
spontaneous "switching did not occur until the eighth continuous
hour of questioning. Kluft adds that "interviewees must be prevented
from taking breaks to regain composure, averting their eyes to avoid
self-revelation, etc." (p. 67)
Again and again in the literature the patient's sense of guilt is
pressed into service to create new alters. Bennett Braun tells of
saying to a patient who had had a rough night, "Will whoever picked
up the man and let Mary find herself in bed with him, please be here
and talk with me?" Kluft describes an episode in which a
hospitalized patient, threatened with termination of treatment, told
him that she had been getting telephone calls from the "the cult"
instructing her to kill him. He knew that she had been barred from
use of the phone during the period in question, and he confronted
her with the lie. As a result, he says, "I was able to access an
alter who claimed to have given most of the personalities the
hallucinated experience of such calls by means of autohypnosis." He
offers this story as an example of how, while others are gullible,
he is not. (p. 68)
If the MPD case histories are shocking, the field's experimental
literature is more so. Case histories are assumed to be biased,
because the person reporting the case, the therapist, has a stake in
it. Experimental research, on the other hand, is supposed to be set
up in such a way as to eliminate bias, through such mechanisms as
choosing subjects at random, comparing them to control groups,
having results assessed "blind,".. and above all by focusing on
empirical findings, that can be observed, verified. Again and again,
the MPD research dispenses with these safeguards. (p. 71)
Yet ISSD (ISSMP&D) president Marlene Hunter, in a 1998 message to
the membership of the organization, summarized the [Linda Meyer]
Williams study by saying that "a huge majority of the women
remembered neither the [hospital] admission nor the abuse." Apart
from the fact that 38 percent is not a majority, let alone a huge
one, there is no evidence that the women did not remember.
(p. 73-74)
But if there are are no studies showing that MPD can be cured, there
are very few studies of MPD in general. "All we get on this disorder
are war stories, anecdotes, composite cases" says memory researcher
John Kihlstrom. "It is appalling how little research there's been."
The MPD experts seem unbothered by this -- and unaware that they are
the ones who should be doing the research. (p. 79)
[Colin Ross] challenges others to refute the MPD community's
unsupported claims: 'The burden of proof that MPD is artifactual...
lies on the shoulders of the skeptics," he declares. This is as if
Darwin had stayed home from the Galapagos and told others to try to
refute the theory of natural selection...Reading the MPD literature,
one gets the impression that these writers don't actually care about
science.... (p. 79)
But if the MPD experts wanted to do scientific research on this
disorder, they would have a problem. A scientific theory has to be
falsifiable: to be proven true, it must be capable of being proven
false. MPD theory is not of this kind. The disorder is described in
DSM in terms of overt symptoms, but as we saw, the patients very
rarely present with such symptoms. That, says Richard Kluft, is
because, MPD is not really a set of behaviors, but an "intrapsychic
structure" -- and one that hides itself from diagnosticians, in
various ways, There is "secret" MPD, Kluft tells us, and "latent,"
"private," and "covert" MPD. (These are all different.) There is
also "isomorphic MPD," in which the alter or alters appear
"indistinguishable" from the host personality. In such a case, says
Kluft, "it is very difficult to suspect the presence of MPD" -- and
no wonder. (p. 80)
To doubt a patient's abuse story Judith Herman says, is
"identification with the perpetrator." The therapist must "affirm a
position of moral solidarity with the survivor." Particularly in the
eighties, the RM/MPD workers, like the Pentecostals with whom they
joined hands, viewed themselves as a grassroots campaign, an
uprising of decent, embattled people against a powerful
"establishment" enemy. They saw hidden machinations. They decried
cover-ups. Their enemy's enemy, no matter how questionable, was
their friend. And it was this paranoid edge that made the movement
vulnerable to the thing that would so damage it, the satanic ritual
abuse craze. (p. 82-83)
But what is most amazing is to see feminists support a movement [the
SRA panic] so conservative, so alarmed about sex, so concerned with
the supposed endangerment of females, who clearly, for their own
protection, should not go out in the world and, above all, should
not place their children in day care.
How could feminists have missed the point? Well, the eighties was
a period of vigorous backlash against feminism. In that tormented
context, many feminists clearly felt that any woman alleging abuse,
even by a devil with a tail, had to be believed. But the main reason
was probably the difficulty stated before: to doubt SRA was to doubt
recovered memory. Recovered memory was very important to feminism.
(p. 93)
The craze over satanic ritual abuse irreparably weakened the MPD
movement, made it look foolish. By the early nineties multiple
personality disorder and recovered memory were facing attacks from
all sides. The most important development was the founding of the
False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) in Philadelphia in 1992.
(p. 95)
Pamela Freyd assembled an advisory board including some of the most
respected psychologists and psychiatrists in the country...The FMSF
unified and galvanized what, up till then, had been the far-flung
voices opposing RM, MPD, and SRA. Also, under the rubric of "false
memory syndrome," it converted what for most accused families had
been a private disaster -- something that, however blameless, they
would conceal at all costs -- into a public matter, a social
contagion, something that they could admit had struck their house.
And so they began to fight back: talk to journalists, send private
investigators with body tapes to their daughters' therapists, even
write books. Mark Pendergrast, author of Victims of Memory, is among
the accused, and he has made no secret of this. (p. 96)
"The False Memory Syndrome is a sham invented by pedophiles and sex
abusers for the media," wrote psychiatrist Robert B. Rockwell in the
Journal of Psychohistory in 1994. (Four years later, after an
investigation of his treatment of patients for cult abuse, the state
of New York suspended Rockwell's license to practice medicine.)...
As for the retractors, Colin Ross offered the theory that they were
making a symbolic substitution of memories for semen: the therapist,
accused of implanting memories, "has been identified with the incest
perpetrator, who implanted semen in his daughter." "Therefore," he
continued, "therapists should be able to launch false memory suits
against patients, lawyers, and background organizations suing them.
I am considering doing so." (p. 101-102)
At some point, the [ISSD] guidelines committee must have begun to
worry that there was nothing they had excluded, for eventually they
do definitively recommend against certain practices, for example,
simulated breast-feeding (also bottle feeding) of the patient and
moving the patient into the therapist's home. Even here, though,
there is a loophole, for the authors state at the outset that "these
guidelines were not intended to replace the therapist's clinical
judgment." In a letter printed in the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation Newsletter in December 1998, Peter Barach, president of
the ISSD, wrote that the guidelines "take strong positions against
the excesses that some therapists committed" in treating MPD. One
wonders what strong positions he is referring to. (p. 107 end-note
on page 171)
This is exactly the same logic used by the MPD authorities: if you
question MPD or ask for proof of its theory, this just shows that
you are in denial over child abuse and therefore part of the
problem. (p. 130)
Some feminist writers have complained about the politics of the
RM/MPD movement. I will name the ones I have read -- Louise
Armstrong, Janice Haaken, Wendy Kaminer, Ruth Leys, Debbie Nathan,
Elaine Showalter, Carol Tavris -- in order to show how few they are.
In general, this trend, so damaging to the interest of women, has
been enthusiastically supported by feminists. In the case of the
recovered-memory movement, it was started by feminists, and belongs
to them.
That is not true of MPD. While the diagnosis has been endorsed by
feminists and though many of the therapists treating MPD are women,
the top of the field belongs to men. With one exception, Cornelia
Wilbur, who died in 1992, all the most important MPD theorists have
been male. Why is that? Perhaps because, though garlanded with
feminist ideas -- above all, the sex abuse claim -- MPD is so
profoundly antifeminist that the female theorists instinctively
backed off from it. (p. 141-142)
That is what MPD is, point for point: an image of woman as she once
was, or was said to be. In the alternating personalities we have
woman's notorious volatility -- "La donna e mobile." In the contest
between the child alters and the hussy alters we have the madonna-
and-whore split. With the amnesia and the uncontrolled switching, we
have woman's long-recognized moral incapacity, the fact that she
cannot be held responsible for her behavior...In the hidden cause,
the childhood sexual trauma, we get further essential components of
femininity. Women are childlike, passive, wounded. Above all, they
are sex; they are what's between their legs. In the abreactions,
meanwhile, we see woman's well-known tendency to have hysterics,
fits, weeping spells, while men stand by patiently, waiting for the
storm to pass. And in the rest of the therapy, with its relentless
focus on woman's feeling -- with the journal-writing, the history-
exploring, the alter-debriefing -- we have woman's famous
subjectivity, her preference for emotion over action, her status as
a creature of phone calls and girl talks. More than a disorder, MPD
is a memory: a memory of women, invoked by men. (p. 142-143)
I have listed a number of characteristics here, but they can be
boiled down to two, sex and childlikeness. In MPD therapy, the woman
is visualized as a nymphet. If one were brutal one might suggest
that this is an erotic fantasy on the part of the MPD theorists.
(p. 143)
If one were conspiratorially minded. one might suggest that MPD was
an antifeminist campaign. (p. 148)
_______________________________________________
Selling Serenity: Life Among the Recovery Stars
Andrew Meacham
Upton Books, PO Box 2348, Boca Raton, FL 33427, $15 + $2 shipping
Andrew Meacham was an executive at Heath Communications Inc. (HCI),
the commercial enterprise that most profited from the "recovery
movement." HCI published the movement's chief magazine, Changes
(Meacham was its Associate Editor), and it published the books of the
movement's chief stars such as John Bradshaw and Charles Whitfield.
Meacham's book is at least two things: it is a meticulous (and very
well documented) history of the recovery movement; and it is a
fascinating (and very well told) story of the recovery of Andrew
Meacham from that movement. A person who played an important part in
that story was Eleanor Goldstein. With her help -- and a series of
FMSF conferences he attended -- Andrew Meacham came to see the true
nature of the recovery movement. His book is compelling and highly
recommended.
________
EXCERPTS
from
Selling Serenity: Life Among the Recovery Stars
Selling Serenity is the story of a movement characterized by zeal
and compassion, a wealth of genuine insights but also
oversimplification and overdiagnosis. It is the story of financial
chaos and temperance, of quasi-religious certainties and bone-
chilling doubts about the most fundamental concepts of trauma and
repression, addiction and recovery and even the meaning of family.
I will lead the reader on a step-by-step journey from a national
concern over drinking and drug abuse, through related problems and
eventually to buried trauma and an epidemic of questionable
recovered memories of sexual abuse.
Though these topics may seem unrelated, the same people were
present throughout. The same hospital chains that treated addiction
patients in the late 1980s treated patients for repressed trauma in
the 1990s. And the onslaught of new illnesses to be treated, from
codependency to satanic ritual abuse, conveniently came at a time
when funding for addiction services had begun to dry up. (p. xvii)
I began to hear more and more questions regarding the accuracy of
recovered memories. I talked to self-described survivors who had
only recently remembered their past abuses, as well as those who had
retracted their memories and numbers of bewildered family members.
It bothered me that HCI's authors -- the recovery stars -- seemed to
be coming down almost unilaterally on the side of "believing the
survivors" in an increasingly polarized climate. Eventually, doubts
about the enterprise in which we were engaged forced me to leave
HCI. (p. xviii)
Alleged witches have been burned at the stake and suspected
communists have had their careers and reputations ruined over
hysteria. Many people have died estranged from their loved ones over
false accusations. For accusers who later come to change their minds
about the abuse, there can be no sense of closure when the person
they accused has since died. For them and especially for the young
who have been led into questionable accusations against day care
workers and others, we owe it to ourselves to sort through the
madness of what has happened. In an age of emotional narcissism and
drive-thru diagnoses what we need is a return to reason.
(p. xviii-xix)
In the years since the FMS Foundation organized in Philadelphia, a
definite shift has occurred in public perception. It used to be that
the only people who knew about repressed memories were accusers,
their parents and therapists. Now a number of high-profile court
cases, books and national television programs have alerted the
public to what is being alleged, and the evidence to support it. At
a February 1998 conference sponsored jointly by the Eleanor and
Elliot Goldstein Foundation and Florida Atlantic University,
changing times were never more apparent. Whereas researchers of the
early 1990s had only a few experiments to go on in answering the
common rejoinder "Why would anyone make this up," a number of
studies are showing that it is in fact quite easy to convince
psychologically normal, untroubled adults of events that never
happened to them. (p. 289-290)
Charles Whitfield continues to defend buried trauma, another
metaphor that has become a reality. Similar to his inner-child
workbook, his recovered-memory therapy involves writing things down
and "telling secrets to some people." But unlike the inner child,
who is instantly real if her outer host says she's real,
victimization secrets require a victimizer, who may be sent to
prison if certain things are written down and certain not-so-safe
people are told. Instead of pausing before this rather solemn
circumstance, Whitfield forged ahead unhesitatingly. He even
required members of a workshop audience in Seattle, Washington to
sign a "Statement of Safety" -- the equivalent of a loyalty oath --
which reads in part: "This is to certify that I am not a False
Memory Syndrome Foundation member. I also do not side with them or
seriously advocate their point of view that most delayed memories of
trauma are false." (p. 323)
While most experts acknowledge the possibility that some traumatic
incidents can be repressed, the assertion that years of continued
sexual abuse can be forgotten has yet to be scientifically proved.
Meanwhile, evidence that humans can produce false memories has
increased over recent years. The result has been a shifting
definition of what it means to "err on the safe side." This phrase
was once used by recovery-oriented therapists to explain why they
encouraged their patients to recall long-hidden memories. That
others (and the patient herself) might suffer unnecessarily if these
"recalled" incidents never happened seemed irrelevant, unlikely, and
not the therapist's concern.
A flood of investigative media coverage, as well as several
sizeable judgments against therapists in lawsuits brought by former
patients, has helped remove this attitude of indifference. Today,
erring on the "the safe side" means examining the substance and
background of each previously buried allegation of abuse. This
entails taking into account the fertile soil that still exists for
false recall in the form of popular books and films; inflated
statistics of the prevalence of abuse; therapists using suggestive
techniques and a network of survivors and hardcore feminists who
regard the memory issue as one more example of society's unfairness
to women. (p. 367-368)
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
| COMING SOON |
| |
| Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse: |
| Psychological, Social and Legal Perspectives |
| on a Contemporary Mental Health Controversy |
| |
| Editor: Sheila Taub, J.D. |
| Publisher: Charles C. Thomas |
| |
| This book contains articles based on talks presented at a |
| conference in the fall of 1997. Authors are: Arthur Taub, |
| M.D., Ph.D., Mark Pendergrast, M.L.S., David K. Sakheim, |
| Ph.D., Jerome L. Singer, Ph.D., Jonathan Schooler, Ph.D., |
| D. Stephen Lindsay, Ph.D., Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., |
| Anita Lipton, B.S. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------+
**********************************************************************
Why Can't I Find That FMS Book in the Bookstore?
Editor's Comment: Victims of Memory author, Mark Pendergrast asked
his publisher why The Courage to Heal is on bookstore shelves across
the country but not his own or other books skeptical of recovered
memories. Writers, understandably, can become discouraged (and
poor) if their books do not sell. Publisher Steve Carlson's (edited)
reply has a message for us all.
Dear Mark,
The reason that Courage to Heal is still in every bookstore is
that people still come into every bookstore asking for it. Even the
smallest bookstores know that over a few months time, three or four
people will come into their stores looking for that book, so they keep
three or four copies in stock.
We went through a period with Victims of Memory when our
distributors were pushing to get copies into every store. That was a
judgment call -- this is not something one automatically tries to
do. The problem is that when stores agree to stock a few copies, and
they don't sell over a few months, they send them back, mostly
damaged. Bookstores have increasingly sophisticated computers now, so
anything stocked that doesn't sell copies over a few months comes
back. Many publishers and distributors take the attitude that one
should avoid overstocking books in stores, because it's ultimately a
financial disaster. We took the opposite approach, trying to get this
book into every store, but that didn't work well.
Marketing, of course, does work in a circular manner. If a book is
in stores, people are somewhat more likely to buy it. But it doesn't
get into the stores unless people are asking for it. With some books,
the market depends on having the books in stores. An example, among
the books we publish is Herbs of the Earth. People go into a store and
want a general herbal book. If that book is there, that's the one they
buy. If it isn't, then they buy the other one that is there. But
people don't go into a store looking for whatever book is there about
the tragedy of repressed-memory therapy. If they have heard about
Victims of Memory and that's the book they want, then they'll ask for
it. If that's not what what they're looking for, they won't just
stumble over it in the bookstore and decide to buy it. Not that that
will never happen, of course, but pushing this book into stores in
hopes that people will stumble over it and decide to buy it because
they saw it for the first time in a store is not a good marketing
strategy with this particular title, because for every copy sold that
way ten more will be returned in damaged condition.
Right now, Victims of Memory (like many other books on this
subject) is in very few stores. Repeating for emphasis, very few. The
best way to get it back in stores is to create demand. Courage to Heal
is in the stores because the Survivor groups are still pushing it, and
their members are coming into the stores to buy it. If we could get
FMSF to actively push Victims of Memory and all the other fine books,
bookstores might get enough requests that they'd be willing to stock
it again. If you can get Mike Wallace to hold up a copy on TV and
recommend that people buy it, the market may go wild. If you can get
Oprah to add it to her book club, we'll all be able to retire in
comfort.
Best,
Steve Carlson, Publisher
Upper Access, Inc.
PS: Also, for perspective: your book has been read by the opinion
leaders on the subject. The average Joe listens to the opinion leaders
and makes a judgment, but doesn't buy a book. You made a major
contribution in turning around the intellectual argument. There are
probably a lot of other people who made important contributions to
this who also haven't sold a lot of books. Hey, the sugarbusters book
has been on the best-seller list for several years, even though it's
been totally refuted by everybody who knows anything about diet and
health. But nobody has produced a best-selling book exposing the
fraud. There's nobody with any credibility at all defending
sugarbusters, yet the book keeps selling. The intellectual argument
about this is over, but the book sales still go to the liars, not the
truth-tellers. In the long run, I think Victims of Memory (like some
of the other books that have appeared) is an important contribution to
humanity, regardless of whether we sell another copy.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "In Ontario, the College of Veterinarians requires that before an |
| unproven procedure is tried, owners of animals sign a consent for |
| non-conventional treatment. In it they indicate that the technique |
| lacks scientific validation and that the veterinarian has |
| described 'any existing conventional care'." |
| |
| "Does such a requirement exist for psychologists and |
| psychotherapists? Of course not! While it might be suggested that |
| psychologists and their patients will be smart enough to question |
| flaky theories such as TFT [Thought Field Therapy], many |
| therapists are buying them and banking that their clients will |
| too. Psychologists, it seems, can readily be fooled by exaggerated |
| claims -- as can their patients." |
| |
| "Mahatma Gandhi said that 'the greatness of a nation can be judged |
| by the way its animals are treated.' Maybe he was right. We seem |
| to expect more from our 'vets' than from our 'shrinks'." |
| |
| Tana Dineen, The Ottawa Citizen, 8/3/99. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
L E G A L C O R N E R
FMSF Staff
_____________________________________________________________
Minnesota Appeals Court Returns Repressed Memory Case to Jury
Bertram v. Pool, 1999 Minn. App. LEXIS 851
A 2-1 decision by the Minnesota Court of Appeals on July 20, 1999
reversed a District Court ruling that the statute of limitations had
expired in a recovered memory case. In Minnesota, the statute of
limitations for abuse of a child usually ends when the victim reaches
the age of 25. The Minnesota Supreme Court stated that: "a
determination that the girls suffered from repressed memory syndrome
may extend the statute of limitations." The court ruled: "We remand
for a jury determination of whether Katie and Jeanette suffered from
repressed memory syndrome."
The appellants, Jeanette and Katie Bertram, had sued their uncle,
Dr. James Poole, claiming he had sexually abused them when they were
children and that they had repressed some of their memories until
recently. Among the memories recovered by Jeannette was that she had
become pregnant twice because of the abuse and that Dr. Poole
performed abortions on both occasions with the assistance of his wife,
Linda Poole. The appellants also sued Linda Poole alleging that she
had knowledge of the abuse. (See "Revival of Memory" by Ralph Slovenko
for comments on this case.)
__________
Commentary
Revival of Memory: A Fact Question for the Jury
Bertram v. Poole, 1999 Minn. App. LEXIS 851
Ralph Slovenko, J.D., Ph.D.
Two psychologists testifying as expert witnesses disagreed whether
sisters Jeannette and Katie Bertram suffered from repressed memory
syndrome. To suspend the statute of limitations, it was necessary in
the case to establish that they had repressed any memory of sexual
abuse by the defendant, their uncle, Dr. James Poole. The Minnesota
Court of Appeals, citing precedent, stated, "Where expert witnesses
offer conflicting opinions, it is for the jury, as the ultimate trier
of fact, to consider their qualifications and determine the weight to
be given their opinions."
In a personal communication, Pamela Freyd puts a good question:
"How can a lay jury decide an issue where even the experts are of
divided opinion?" Indeed, the same question may be raised as well when
the case is tried by a judge without a jury.
In an earlier time disputes were simple. Did X hit Y with a stick?
And the issue was decided by people who were familiar with the event.
When the Norman judges organized the jury to assist them in their
investigations, the jurors were left to their own discretion in the
use of evidence. They might use their own impressions, obtained in the
neighborhood, and they might even go about among the neighbors asking
for information out of court. In the early period, witnesses in court
were not commonly heard, due chiefly to a scruple about "maintenance"
(or officious intermeddling to influence the jury).
But by the late 1500s witnesses in court became a usual means of
information, and the jury's own "knowledge" played a minor part.
Finally, by the end of the 1600s, the jury was allowed to have no
information except what was offered in court -- a complete reversal of
function.
The jurors were to have minds that were tabula rasa about the
issue. They would render a decision on the basis of evidence presented
by witnesses. Rules of evidence developed to screen what they could
hear. Paradoxically, while there was (and is) great faith in juries,
they were not trusted to decide what evidence was probative. There is
no complex cases exception to the right to trial by jury, though it
was suggested in In re Japanese Elec. Products Antitrust Litigation,
631 F.2d 1069, 1084 (3d Cir. 1980).
With the passage of time, as cases became more complex, experts
were summoned with regularity to assist judge or jury. Indeed, in some
cases (like medical malpractice), a case without the proffer of expert
testimony would be dismissed. The majority of personal injury cases
involve a "battle of the experts," with experts testifying for both
the plaintiff and the defendant. According to a study, between 1974
and 1989, the number of testifying experts in Cook County, Chicago,
increased 1,540 percent.
The comprehensibility of the testimony has changed. There is a
substantial difference between understanding and assessing the
testimony of an expert that a fall caused an injury and the testimony
of an expert testifying about the effects of exposure to a toxic
substance. Trials such as that of O.J. Simpson cast doubt on the
jury's capacity to understand complex scientific evidence (such as
DNA) presented in an adversarial context. In a study by the American
Bar Association, it was concluded that jurors have significant
difficulty with large volumes of data, especially when the evidence is
not about a topic with which the jurors are already familiar.
With the explosion of expert testimony, and complaints about "junk
science," the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990s sought to put a handle
on the competency of expert testimony. By and large, jurors are not
overly impressed with the experts, and dismiss many of them as "hired
guns." In Daubert v Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993),
the Court set out guidelines on the admission of "scientific evidence"
and in Kumho Tire Co. v. Carmichael, 119 S. Ct. 1167 (1999), it
applied the same guidelines to "technical evidence." The Kumho case
involved the safety of a tire.
It remains an open question whether the guidelines also apply to
"soft testimony" (like psychological testimony). In Kumho, the Supreme
Court referred to "flexibility" in the application of the guidelines.
"Soft expert testimony," however, is usually not verifiable
empirically, and in most cases, impossible to cross-examine
effectively because there is a dearth of empirical data -- the
"expert" can say just about whatever he or she wishes.
So that's where we are left. Questions of fact go to the jury,
with the understanding that the plaintiff has the burden of
persuasion.
Ralph Slovenko, J.D., Ph.D., is a member of the FMSF Advisory
Board. He is a professor of law and psychiatry at Wayne State
University School of Law, and the author of Psychiatry and Criminal
Culpability, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1995.
_______________________________
Hess et al. v. Fernandez et al.
95-CV-138 WI Cir Court Branch 3 Marathon
On July 28, 1999 opening arguments began in the trial of Joan Hess,
her ex-husband (former mayor of Wausau), and their two children. Hess
alleges that her therapy included improper diagnosis, misdiagnosis as
a multiple personality, the negligent use of hypnosis and the
misdirection of therapy to focus on the recovery of memories of
childhood sexual abuse and satanic ritual abuse. According to the
Wausau Daily Herald, lawyers for Dr. Fernandez have denied that he did
anything inappropriate. After 3 weeks of testimony involving
plaintiffs' issues, the defense will attempt to answer Hess' claims
beginning August 16, 1999. The trial is expected to last five weeks.
Attorneys for Hess are William Smoler and Pamela Schmelzer.
Defense attorneys are Paul Grimstad and Thomas Rusboldt.[1]
[1] Grimstad and Smoler were opposing attorneys in the Nadean Cool
trial in 1997 that resulted in a $2.4 million settlement.
________
UPDATES:
"Woman in Wenatchee Case Released"
Mike Barber, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 16, 1999
On July 16, Doris Green was released from the prison where she had
been incarcerated since 1994. She was one of the 43 people in
Wenatchee who were charged with almost 30,000 counts of sexual abuse
in 1994 and 1995. Green's release is conditional pending a special
"reference hearing" ordered by the Court of Appeals. At this time she
is not allowed to contact either the children who accused her or her
own children, even though she was never accused of harming them. Her
children now live with other members of her family.
Green's case was highlighted in the Seattle Intelligencer series
about the Wenatchee prosecutions entitled "The Power to Harm."
According to the Intelligencer, Green's case "was the first legal
action filed in November by the Innocence Project Northwest, a group
of lawyers and law students based at the University of Washington who
have taken up the cases of imprisoned Wenatchee defendants."
Green had refused all offers to plea bargain., "I'm innocent. I
told them I'd die in prison before I'd plead guilty."
Green's lawyers Suzanne Elliott and Jim Roe have compiled about 30
volumes of information and have listed 123 potential witnesses for the
special hearing. They say that they have new evidence that was not
made available to the public defender who handled her original appeal.
The special hearing is scheduled for November 15, 1999.
______________________________________
"SJC Rejects a Retrial on Fells Acres:
LeFave Likely to Return to Jail in Abuse Case"
S. Pfeiffer and R. Davis, Boston Globe, August 18, 1999
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court voted unanimously to overturn
Judge Isaac Borenstein's 1998 ruling that Cheryl Amirault LeFave
should have a new trial. Cheryl, her now-deceased mother Violet, and
her brother Gerald were convicted and sent to prison in 1987 for
abusing children at the Fells Acre Day Care. Cheryl and her mother
were released in 1995 but Gerald remains in prison.
In their appeal, the attorneys for Cheryl and Violet argued that
the women had inadequate legal counsel in their original trial and
that newly discovered evidence supporting the contention that
preschool children can make up and believe stories suggested to them
in aggressive questioning sessions entitled the defendants to a new
trial. In his decision, Judge Borenstein labeled as "incredible" the
testimony of children describing talking with robots, public torture
of animals and being tied naked to a tree in front of the school. The
SJC decision ruled that the so-called new evidence was "not remarkably
different from that presented by or available to the defendant at
trial."
District Attorney Martha Coakley commented, "Today's decision
vindicates all of the children who testified to devastating abuses
suffered at the Fells Acres Day School."
Amirault attorney James L. Sultan who is considering further
appeal at the federal level said about the decision:
"Like its last decision in 1997, today's [SJC] decision elevates
procedure over substance, finality over fairness...Similar cases
alleging mass sexual abuse of children in daycare centers have been
repudiated throughout the country."
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Why People Believe Nonsense |
| |
| "Such reports persist and proliferate because they sell. And they |
| sell, I think, because there are so many of us who want so badly |
| to be jolted out of our humdrum lives, to rekindle that sense of |
| wonder we remember from childhood, and also, for a few of the |
| stories, to be able, really and truly, to believe-in someone |
| older, smarter, and wiser who is looking out for us. Faith is |
| clearly not enough for many people. They crave hard evidence, |
| scientific proof. They long for the scientific seal of approval, |
| but are unwilling to put up with the rigorous standards of |
| evidence that impart credibility to that seal." (p. 58) |
| Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
DO STANDARDS OF CARE APPLY IN RECOVERED MEMORY THERAPY?
In 1996, we filed a third-party complaint against our daughter's
therapist, a psychiatrist licensed by the Ontario College of
Physicians and Surgeons. Since our daughter did not give consent to
release her medical records, we had to rely on circumstantial
evidence. We based our complaint on the alienation of our daughter
from the entire family, on her steadily deteriorating health which
required hospitalization, and on the lack of any efforts on the part
of the therapist to seek corroboration for her implausible and even
impossible "recovered memories."
As could have been expected, the College's Complaints Committee
rejected our complaint as "speculative." We appealed this decision to
the Regulated Health Professions Appeal Board. On a hot July afternoon
in 1998, we finally had a chance to present our case in person to the
Appeal Board's panel, composed of three lay people, two men and one
woman.
From the very beginning of the hearing, we felt that we were
understood. We felt an outpouring of sympathy towards our absent
daughter and us, and barely concealed contempt for the "recovered
memory" movement and its practitioners. Only a month later, in what we
believe was an unprecedented move, the Appeal Board returned the
complaint back to the College for reinvestigation.
At the time of our complaint, we were not aware of a section 75 in
the Regulated Health Professions Act (RHPA) which permits the College
to seize and examine medical files without the patient's consent, if
justified. The Appeal Board recommended that the College invoke this
relatively rarely used provision. (The Appeal Board cannot order the
College to do anything, it can only recommend.) In its decision, the
Appeal Board wrote: "...Means to ensure that confidentiality is not
used as a mechanism to shield inappropriate conduct from legitimate
investigations are necessary. It is for this reason that the
Complaints Committee is provided access to Section 75."
It took almost a year before the College responded. At the end of
June 1999, the College's Complaints Committee informed us that it
decided not to use Section 75 of the Act and not to investigate the
offending doctor. This was certainly disappointing, but not too
surprising. After all, what could be expected from a "myopic guild,"
to use Dr. Terence Campbell's apt name for irresponsible professional
organizations. What was truly shocking, though, was the justification
for their inaction. I feel that the statement of the Complaints
Committee of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario is so
astonishing that it is worth sharing with the readers of the
Newsletter.
The Complaints Committee claimed: "There is no clear medical
consensus about so-called 'repressed memory' or the appropriate
treatment for patients said to be experiencing the effects of such
memories. Thus, in the Committee's view it would be very difficult to
articulate, with any degree of certainty, a standard of care in this
area." And further: "...even if records of care exist, and even if
they confirmed all of the allegations...without a clearly
ascertainable standard of care to which the physician could be held,
there is no reasonable prospect for the complaint to succeed at a
discipline hearing..." The Complaints Committee used this
conclusion as a justification for not ordering the Registrar to
conduct an investigation pursuant to Section 75 of the RHPA.
Plainly speaking, the licensing body for Ontario's medical
practitioners, the organization which is supposed to "protect the
public and guide the profession" admits, without any apparent concern,
that in recovered memory therapy, anything goes. Doctors can use the
most harmful techniques and harm patients and their families with
impunity, because, in the Complaints Committee's uninformed opinion,
no "ascertainable" standards of care seem to exist.
This laissez-faire opinion is even more outrageous in view of the
fact that it is incorrect. While there may not be consensus on some of
the issues related to so-called "repressed memory," that does not mean
that the recovered memory practitioners are "off the hook." There are
well-established standards of care that apply to any treatment, not
just to the treatment of patients with "recovered memories." Our
daughter's therapist is a doctor of medicine and as such, she is
obliged to comply with general standards of care. These are, for
example, evidence-based diagnosis and treatment, informed consent of
the patient if a controversial technique is going to be used, referral
or change of treatment when the patient does not improve, avoidance of
dependency, concern for injuries which the treatment may bring to
third parties, and keeping up with professional literature. Moreover,
there are widely accepted specific standards of care for patients with
"repressed memory," such as quest for proper corroboration, but the
Complaint Committee's members seem to be unaware of such standards.
One may only wonder what type of protection the unsuspecting
public receives from the College. In a complex situation where a human
life and a family's welfare may be at stake, complaints are permitted
to be judged by poorly informed doctors, and a College willing to
tolerate politically-driven recovered memory quackery.
Concerned and Frustrated Mother
August, 1999
P.S. If you wonder what we are going to do, be assured that we will
appeal...or something similar.
**********************************************************************
F R O M O U R R E A D E R S
_________________________
Unconditional Love Needed
I am responding to the family of "A Returner via E-mail" in the
July/August 1999 newsletter. It is very difficult to explain to people
who have been terribly hurt how to open their hearts and to love
unconditionally. I think that the ability to love in such a way
requires a strength beyond our own.
As a sibling I was caught in the middle of the division in our
family. For a brief time, I too accused my parents. Now, I can hardly
imagine what I believed then to be true.
After months of being separated from my parents, I went home
thinking in my heart that I would forgive them and go on with my
life. But by the end of the day we spent talking, and crying and
sharing all the events that had happened, I ended up realizing how
wrong I had been. But it was difficult for me to realize that I had
been wrong. In my therapy the entire world was turned upside
down. Loving acts were turned into filthy acts; family relationships
were made to seem fake; trust of my family became a joke. I felt that
all that was left was to try to make something of the future.
While I was in therapy, the horrible beliefs seemed completely
real to me. I could actually feel the events. If my parents had asked
me to apologize while I still held these beliefs, it would have seemed
absurd. It would have seemed the final victory of the people I had
accused of terrible crimes.
But during therapy while my real memories were twisted and things
added to them, I did hold on to the core of my memories. Those were
the things that I clung to in my lonely hellish hours of confusion.
Returners are desperately holding out their hands to their parents
and searching for the one thing deep inside that still burns -- but
without knowing exactly what it means. It is the one feeling that
conflicts with all the false memories. It is love. It is the one thing
that will bring them home. It is the only thing that the accused has
to offer. Everything else they say and everything else they do has
already been predicted. My sisters and I used take an action and ask
"How do you think our father will react?" Then we would discuss every
possible way he might react -- but we never even thought to discuss
the idea that he might respond with love.
I don't know how to explain to parents that for returners to
realize that everything they had come to believe was a lie, to come
home and then to come to grips with the realization of what they have
done is all too much to happen quickly. It is after they come home
that they begin to realize the lie, and the only way they can survive
this period is to know that their parents love them in spite of what
happened. It's not enough just to tell them. They must be shown.
My parents knew this somehow. I am profoundly grateful.
Shara Rutherford
____________
Marginalized
In reference to the marginalization of recovered memory therapy as a
major societal problem (July/August 1999 Newsletter), I agree that it
is in decline as the therapeutic methods that created it are
increasingly discredited. This is not to say that on a personal,
individual level false memories are any easier to deal with.
In our role as grandparents, my husband and I feel that we have
been "marginalized" by our recently returned but unrecanted daughter.
She skillfully allows just enough contact with our grandchildren to
keep us committed to providing for certain of their needs, such as
clothing for school. However, she carefully monitors the nature and
duration of visits. We are kept in the margins on her pages of life,
excluded from the meaningful content.
To parents who have had no contact with their estranged, accusing
children, we do not want to sound ungrateful for this limited
relationship which is certainly better by far than nothing. That the
relationship will never be the same is a given; but that we will
continue to work toward normalcy is also a given.
A Mom
________________________
Wouldn't It Be Wonderful
The following concern came to my mind after reading the July/August
newsletter. My son has "returned" and I know that many parents still
are hoping the return of their child is a possibility. Hence, I do not
want the following comments to sound as if I am not glad about this
major step forward.
I have visited my son four times. Each time he has totally avoided
talking about what must be most pressing on our minds; at least it is
on mine. He always was -- and remains a caring human being. I see that
in the manner he behaves towards his wife and children. Yet, to me as
his father, he behaves as if the last eight years of the deepest
conflict between us have not existed, as if neither of us went through
hell. He simply picked up exactly where we left off prior to therapy,
by hugging me and saying the exact same words he said in June 1991: "I
love you, Dad." I am sure that one day we will sit down and cry
together and allow the truth to prevail.
In the meantime, would it not be wonderful if the agony and worry,
the anger and frustration, the pain and disappointment of these lost
years could simply be wiped from our minds like some sort of
"dissociative amnesia."
A Dad
_______________________
Forward Your Newsletter
May I thank you for again producing an excellent newsletter. Many
articles this time are of direct relevance and extreme importance. My
only wish and probably yours is that mental health writers and
columnists around the country should be made aware of our newsletter's
existence.
Perhaps in one of your next newsletters you could ask readers to
forward their newsletter to the lifestyles editor of their local
newspaper with a request to pass on the letter to the paper's mental
health reporter.
A Dad
_____________
A Spoiled Day
In the July/August newsletter there was mention of the desire to
escape to "remote parts" to avoid hearing about FMS. When my husband
and I were in New Zealand in 1995, we browsed in a tiny cozy bookstore
in Queenstown, a small tourist community on the South Island. Voila!
What did we find without looking for it? The Courage to Heal. It
spoiled our day.
A Mom
______________________
Evidence? What's That?
I have had some very interesting experiences since I leaned about
FMS. One time I was at a church outing and happened to be seated next
to a therapist who informed me that she counseled victims of Satanic
Ritual Abuse. Experiences like this one convince me that the Almighty
has a sense of humor! When she told me what she did for a living, I
told her that I was very interested in the subject...could she tell me
something about it? Oh, she was more than happy to do that. She said
that I would be surprised at how many seemingly innocent, upstanding,
church-going people were secret Satanists killing people in church
basements, etc.
So, I asked her since these people seemed so innocent and
upstanding, why would she believe that they were engaging in such
actions? What evidence did she have? Evidence? What did I mean by
evidence? I answered, "Oh you know, the Perry Mason stuff -- like
bones, blood, fingerprints, and eyewitnesses that could provide
independent corroboration for the women's rather sketchy 'memories'."
You know, EVIDENCE,what our system of justice is based upon. Have you
ever heard of it? She didn't miss a beat. Oh, you don't understand,
she said, there is a huge conspiracy of Satanists in this country, so
there can be no evidence. All the policemen, judges and politicians
who are involved in the dark plot cover everything up.
I asked her if she had ever heard of the term "due process," or
understood the concept of "innocent until proven guilty." She finally
did agree to let me send her some information on the subject of FMS. I
think it was because she wanted to shut me up, since quite a crowd had
gathered to listen to our conversation. She is a Christian
"counselor," which of course saddens me. I try to bring the issue to
the attention of as many people as possible. And I pray for the
falsely accused parents.
I am very supportive of the work you are doing.
In Christian service,
Joy A. Veinot
Midwest Christian Outreach,Inc.,Dir.
___________
Open Letter
Editor's Note: The Courage to Heal has been called the bible of the
recovered memory movement. The authors, Ellen Bass and Laura Davis,
had no mental health credentials. Scorned by responsible clinicians,
this book has contributed to turning vulnerable young women into
victims. Following is an open letter to the authors:
Ellen and Laura,
My life and my daughter's life have been gravely altered because
of your belief that everyone who exhibits certain behaviors has been a
victim of incest and may suffer from MPD. My therapist believed in the
information in your book.
After ten years of therapy based upon these beliefs, I have
learned that the only problem my daughter and I really had involved
attention deficits and this has been relieved by a combination of
medication and cognitive therapy. This form of therapy neither
intrudes nor debilitates, but has allowed us to move on with our
lives.
The inept therapist who treated me for 10 years directed me to
attend incest survivor groups and buy your book. I became confused,
angry and self-destructive. I was given many different medications but
my condition only became worse. It reached a point when my daughter
found me on the verge of death and I spent days in intensive care.
While I was in the hospital, the family I had disowned called child
protective services from 3,000 miles away. Without my knowing it,
protective services removed all of my daughter's clothes at school and
checked for abuse. They pulled her out of class on numerous occasions
after that. I didn't even know about this until a case manager came to
my house and questioned me regarding my "questionable mothering
skills."
At one point, I was housed in a halfway house and my daughter in a
facility for abused children because the therapist had informed my
mother that I would kill her if she came to visit. Now my mother is
fearful of me -- probably a healthy reaction -- and I am no longer
trusted.
These are just the highlights of the 10 years. It does not include
jobs and relationships lost because of my altered and sick perception
of what I thought was the truth.
The obsession with memories based on incorrect information that is
fostered by your book is profoundly harmful. What would have happened
if my daughter had not found me? I would be dead. Death is the final
insult. Death was not allowed in my case because I had the luxury of a
wonderful daughter, who continued to love me no matter what. If she
had not found me she would have no mother to love her in
return. Others have not been so fortunate.
A Person Harmed by
The Courage to Heal
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Not So Fortunate |
| |
| Roxanne Kirkpatrick, also known as Roxanne Wille, died |
| on July 3, 1998 at her home in Mt. Morris, Michigan. |
| At the time of her death, Roxanne was being represented |
| by attorney Zachary M. Bravos of Wheaton, Illinois in a |
| recovered memory malpractice case against Minirth Meier |
| Clinic and various treaters. |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
Editor's Comment: After reading the letter above, we asked Dallas
attorney Skip Simpson, who specializes in suicide cases and who has
represented a number of former RMT patients, how many RMT suicide
cases he was aware of. "Several," he said, adding, "but every major
case of former patients I have handled involved women who were
driven to suicidal behavior, but fortunately did not succeed."
Last month, we reported on a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision,
Sawyer v. Middlefort, permitting parents of a recovered memory
patient who had committed suicide to bring legal action.
Recall the data from the Victims Compensation Board in Washington in
which only 3 people had suicidal ideas before their first memory but
20 did after. Only 2 people had been hospitalized before their first
memory, but 11 were hospitalized after. (See FMSF Newsletter, May
1996.)
In April/May 1999, we reported on Fetkewicz, Sharma and Merskey's
study showing suicidal deterioration of patients in recovered memory
treatment compared to patients matched for age and sex in an
in-patient mood disorders unit. (to appear: Journal of Affective
Disorders)
What other product or practices showing so much evidence of damage
are allowed to remain on the market?
______________
Another Return
We are very pleased to be able to tell you that in our particular case
things have worked our well. Although we haven't had a retraction from
our daughter, we have now a peaceful, loving relationship. And who
knows, one day we may have a retraction. We feel that our daughter's
return was brought about by major depression and acute loneliness.
A Mom
___________________________
A Meeting with Our Daughter
The recent newsletter gave me a bit of a fright. It indicated that the
Foundation is cutting back because it thinks Regression Therapy is on
the wane. You are wrong. It is still alive and going strong! Don't
desert us!
After receiving a devastating confrontation letter from our
much-loved daughter, followed by eight years of silence, we received a
summons to Albuquerque, New Mexico a few weeks ago. The summons was to
attend a "Healing Ceremony."
For the first time, we had the name and address of our daughter's
therapist, a person who practices "A Body Centered Approach to Freeing
Blocked Emotions." He is a licensed social worker but other
practitioners who use this approach often have no credentials at all,
not even a college education.
The meeting got nowhere. Our daughter was obviously under the
control of the therapist and she still clung to what she called her
"alternate reality" of abuse memories -- even as she told us how much
she loved us.
She indicated that about the only thing that would change her
request to have no more contact with us would be if I confessed to
being a witch. And that is beyond me to do!
Our hopes for our daughter's return are slim. We found a mere
shell of her former self, devoid of emotion and totally self absorbed,
the reverse of what she once was. Knowing miracles do happen, we have
not closed the door to her returning, although we try not to hold
false hopes.
Every day charlatans continue to hook and reel in young vulnerable
people. They still flourish. Please don't stop your wonderful work
until this horrific practice is stopped once and for all.
A Mom
______
So Sad
I do so feel the need to respond to the sad but realistic editorial in
the June 99 newsletter. It is seven and a half years now since our
granddaughter accused my husband. And we've not seen or heard from her
or her brother or mother (our daughter) since those upsetting days.
Our granddaughter never even confronted us in person. She accused my
husband through a horrible letter -- as did our daughter. My husband
denied these accusations in person to our daughter. To no avail.
Like so many, I too have sent notes and left phone messages over
the years. To no avail. And I'm about ready to give it up.
My husband is now 81 and after suffering a mild stroke almost two
years ago, has declining health. And we too wonder if there will ever
be any reconciliation before we die.
Our second daughter tried to convey all this to our accusing
daughter last spring but she too was rebuffed. We too wonder how they
can continue to be so cruel and so self-righteous in their erroneous
beliefs? After all these years! Don't they miss us? Won't they have
regrets after we're gone? Don't they have any regrets now? Don't they
remember any of the happy times of years ago?
It is so sad. And one feels so helpless. I don't know how we would
have managed these past years without all of the FMSF staff and the
Foundation.
A Mom
______________________
How Widespread is FMS?
There are many people still being damaged by repressed memory
counseling. Last month I ordered ten copies of Frequently Asked
Questions from the FMSF. The day after they arrived, I met my new
neighbor and helped him move into the house next door. Within a few
minutes we discussed his place of employment -- where I had talked
with a counselor two years before. The counselor and I had discussed
FMS and her use of the book The Courage to Heal to the point where she
began to have some doubts about it. It must be very hard for
well-meaning counselors who have embraced the cult-like methodology of
recovered memory therapy to begin to accept the possible damage they
may have caused. Yet, they are the ones who could be most effective in
bringing light to former clients.
"John" listened intently to my story. Then he said, "My own family
has been decimated, but I never checked into it. My wife accused her
father, someone we all loved very much. My daughter and her
grandfather were especially close. My daughter doesn't believe it
happened to her Mom and doesn't want to have anything to do with her
any more because her Mom has become such a neurotic person. She became
totally consumed by her memories. She and I were divorced a year or so
after the accusation."
I gave my new neighbor a copy of Frequently Asked Questions and
said I would be happy to talk to his daughter if he wanted.
A Dad
+--------------------------------------------+
| There once was a woman confused |
| Thought she'd been in her childhood abused |
| The truth is her Dad |
| Is the victim of a fad |
| For he has been falsely accused. |
| A New York Mom |
+--------------------------------------------+
**********************************************************************
M A K E A D I F F E R E N C E
ILLINOIS: Families in Illinois have sent "Recovered Memories: Are They
Reliable" pamphlets to all psychologists and psychiatrists in the
state. They did this by contacting the leaders in the Illinois
Psychological and Psychiatric Associations and requesting mailing
addresses to invite their members to the next Illinois meeting on
October 3, 1999. In the mailing with the invitations (about 1,400 to
each group), pamphlets were added. They then asked if they could have
a list of the members of those organizations.in order to mail the
pamphlets and also to invite the members of those organizations to the
next Illinois meeting on October 3, 1999.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Illinois Area |
| |
| Our daughter developed false memories as a result of counseling |
| done at a church in Illinois. We wish to contact other parents |
| whose child may have developed false memories as a result of being |
| a part of a church in Illinois. We believe that the national |
| leadership of some denominations may be willing to work with us to |
| help eliminate this problem in local churches. Your stories will |
| help the church hierarchy understand that our family's story is |
| not a one-time occurrence but indicative of a systemic problem. |
| |
| Please share your story openly or anonymously with FMSF. All |
| letters and names and phone numbers if included will be forwarded |
| to us from FMSF. We will then contact you to pursue our common |
| interests. These could include working with the church |
| denomination at the national level to stop future FMS problems |
| and/or pursuing how to restore our broken families. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
**********************************************************************
* N O T I C E S *
**********************************************************************
* *
* Families and Professionals *
* *
* H O L D T H E S E D A T E S *
* *
* April 6, 7, 8, 2000 *
* *
* WATCH FOR INFORMATION! *
* *
**********************************************************************
* To order: *
* MAKING OF AN ILLNESS *
* by Gail Macdonald *
* Contact: Laurentian University Press *
* 935 Ramsey Lake Road *
* Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada *
* Phone: (705) 675-1151 *
* ISBN # 0-88667-045-4 *
**********************************************************************
* *
* Annual Meeting of Illinois FMS Society *
* REUNITING FAMILIES: SUCCESS, FAILURE, THE FUTURE *
* Sunday October 3, 1999 *
* 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM *
* 6:00 PM "Dutch" dinner at hotel Atrium *
* *
* DoubleTree Hotel, Glenview *
* 1400 Milwaukee Ave *
* Glenview, IL 60025-1400 *
* Salon A,B.C *
* Tel: (847) 803-9800 Fax: (847) 803-8026 *
* *
* Highlights: *
* Keynote Presentation by AUGUST T. PIPER Jr. M.D. *
* "What it takes to reunite the family" *
* *
* REINDER van TIL *
* "Culture of Victimization" *
* *
* Forum Discussion: *
* "How can professionals assist the process of reuniting families?" *
* Carolyn Saari, Ph.D.; Larry Koziewski, *
* Representatives of the Illinois Psychological Association *
* and the Illinois Psychiatric Society *
* *
**********************************************************************
* FREE *
* "Recovered Memories: Are They Reliable?" *
* Call or write the FMS Foundation for pamphlets. Be sure to *
* include your address and the number of pamphlets you need. *
**********************************************************************
* *
* FREUD'S FRAUDULENT STORIES OF SEDUCTION *
* *
* According to psychoanalytic history many of Freud's women patients *
* in the 1890s reported having been "seduced" by their fathers, and *
* his recognition that most of these reports were fantasies led to *
* the momentous discovery of infantile fantasies -- Oedipal desires *
* and all the rest. Not so, says Jeffrey Masson: Freud's change of *
* mind about the reports of childhood sexual abuse was a *
* disreputable betrayal of his abused female patients. But the *
* evidence of the original documents reveals that both accounts are *
* wrong: it was Freud himself who insisted that the patients had *
* been sexually molested in infancy in the face of the disbelief of *
* his patients. *
* *
* If you want to separate fact from fiction, visit the *
* *
* SEDUCTION THEORY WEB SITE: *
* *
* http://www.shef.ac.uk/uni/projects/gpp/aesterson.html *
* *
**********************************************************************
* THERAPY'S DELUSIONS: *
* THE MYTH OF THE UNCONSCIOUS AND *
* THE EXPLOITATION OF TODAY'S WALKING WORRIED. *
* Ethan Watters and Richard Ofshe *
* Scribner 1999 ISBN 0-684-83584-3 *
* 287 pages $25.00 hardback *
* *
* This new book by the authors of "Making Monsters" reveals how talk *
* therapy has masquaraded as a scientific discipline. It is a *
* powerful call for reforming the mental health profession. *
* See: *
* www.chordate.com/therapys_delusions/index.html *
**********************************************************************
* *
* EXPLORING THE INTERNET *
* *
* A new web site of interest to FMSF Newsletter readers: *
* http://www.StopBadTherapy.com *
* Useful information on this site includes: *
* *
* * Phone numbers of professional regulatory boards in all 50 *
* states. *
* *
* * Links for e-mailing the American Psychiatric Association, the *
* American Psychological Association, the American Medical *
* Association, and the National Association of Social Workers. *
* *
* * Lists of online and printed resources: links, articles, books *
* *
**********************************************************************
* Are you on E-mail? *
* If we don't have your e-mail address, *
* please send it to *
* vfling@aol.com *
**********************************************************************
* *
* A new web site of interest to FMSF Newsletter readers: *
* http://www.StopBadTherapy.com *
* *
* Useful information on this site includes: *
* Phone numbers of professional *
* regulatory boards in all 50 states. *
* Links for e-mailing: *
* American Psychiatric Association *
* American Psychological Association *
* American Medical Association *
* National Association of Social Workers. *
* Lists of online and printed resources: *
* links, articles, books,videos. *
* Ideas for taking action. *
* Retractor stories from Victims of Memory. *
* *
**********************************************************************
* ESTATE PLANNING *
* If you have questions about how to *
* include the FMSF in your estate planning, *
* contact Charles Caviness 800-289-9060. *
* (Available 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM Pacific time.) *
**********************************************************************
* *
* http://www.FMSFonline.org *
* is the address of the website that FMSF is developing. *
* All past newsletters are now available here. *
* (The site now has transcripts of many of the therapy session *
* tapes presented in evidence at the trial of *
* U.S.A. v Peterson et al *
* *
**********************************************************************
_____________________________________
F M S B U L L E T I N B O A R D
Key: (MO)-monthly; (bi-MO)-bi-monthly; (*)-see Notices above
Contacts & Meetings:
_____________
UNITED STATES
ALASKA
Kathleen (907) 337-7821
ARIZONA
Barbara (602) 924-0975; 854-0404(fax)
ARKANSAS
Little Rock
Al & Lela (870) 363-4368
CALIFORNIA
Sacramento
Joanne & Gerald (916) 933-3655
San Francisco & North Bay - (bi-MO)
Gideon (415) 389-0254 or
Charles 984-6626(am); 435-9618(pm)
East Bay Area - (bi-MO)
Judy (925) 376-8221
South Bay Area
Jack & Pat (831) 425-1430
Central Coast
Carole (805) 967-8058
Central Orange County - 1st Fri. (MO) @ 7pm
Chris & Alan (714) 733-2925
Orange County
Jerry and Eileen (909) 659-9636
Covina Area - 1st Mon. (MO) @7:30pm
Floyd & Libby (626) 330-2321
San Diego Area
Dee (619) 941-4816
COLORADO
Colorado Springs
Doris (719) 488-9738
CONNECTICUT
S. New England
Earl (203) 329-8365 or
Paul (203) 458-9173
FLORIDA
Dade/Broward
Madeline (954) 966-4FMS
Boca/Delray - 2nd & 4th Thurs (MO) @1pm
Helen (561) 498-8684
Central Florida - Please call for mtg. time
John & Nancy (352) 750-5446
Tampa Bay Area
Bob & Janet (813) 856-7091
GEORGIA
Atlanta
Wallie & Jill (770) 971-8917
HAWAII
Carolyn (808) 261-5716
ILLINOIS *
Chicago & Suburbs - 1st Sun. (MO)
Eileen (847) 985-7693 or
Liz & Roger (847) 827-1056
Peoria
Bryant & Lynn (309) 674-2767
INDIANA
Indiana Assn. for Responsible Mental Health Practices
Nickie (317) 471-0922; fax (317) 334-9839
Pat (219) 489-9987
IOWA
Des Moines - 2nd Sat. (MO) @11:30 am Lunch
Betty & Gayle (515) 270-6976
KANSAS
Kansas City - 2nd Sun. (MO)
Pat (785) 738-4840
KENTUCKY
Louisville- Last Sun. (MO) @ 2pm
Bob (502) 367-1838
LOUISIANA
Francine (318) 457-2022
MAINE
Bangor
Irvine & Arlene (207) 942-8473
Freeport - 4th Sun. (MO)
Carolyn (207) 364-8891
MASSACHUSETTS/NEW ENGLAND
Andover - 2nd Sun. (MO) @ 1pm
Frank (978) 263-9795
MICHIGAN
Grand Rapids Area-Jenison - 1st Mon. (MO)
Bill & Marge (616) 383-0382
Greater Detroit Area - 3rd Sun. (MO)
Nancy (248) 642-8077
Ann Arbor
Martha (734) 439-8119
MINNESOTA
Terry & Collette (507) 642-3630
Dan & Joan (651) 631-2247
MISSOURI
Kansas City - Meeting as called
Pat (785) 738-4840
Jan (816) 931-1340
St. Louis Area - call for meeting time
Karen (314) 432-8789
Mae (314) 837-1976
Springfield - 4th Sat. (MO) @12:30pm
Tom (417) 883-8617
Roxie (417) 781-2058
MONTANA
Lee & Avone (406) 443-3189
NEW JERSEY (So.)
See Wayne, PA
NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque -2nd Sat. (MO) @1 pm
Southwest Room - Presbyterian Hospital
Maggie (505) 662-7521 (after 6:30 pm)
Sy (505) 758-0726
NEW YORK
Westchester, Rockland, etc.
Barbara (914) 761-3627
Upstate/Albany Area
Elaine (518) 399-5749
NORTH CAROLINA
Susan (704) 538-7202
OHIO
Cincinnati
Bob (513) 541-0816 or (513) 541-5272
Cleveland
Bob & Carole (440) 888-7963
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma City
Dee (405) 942-0531
HJ (405) 755-3816
Tulsa
Jim (918) 297-7719
OREGON
Portland
John (503) 297-7719
PENNSYLVANIA
Harrisburg
Paul & Betty (717) 691-7660
Pittsburgh
Rick & Renee (412) 563-5509
Montrose
John (717) 278-2040
Wayne (includes S. NJ) - 2nd Sat. (MO)
Jim & Jo (610) 783-0396
TENNESSEE
Nashville - Wed. (MO) @1pm
Kate (615) 665-1160
TEXAS
Houston
Jo or Beverly (713) 464-8970
El Paso
Mary Lou (915) 591-0271
UTAH
Keith (801) 467-0669
VERMONT (bi-MO)
Judith (802) 229-5154
VIRGINIA
Sue (703) 273-2343
WASHINGTON
See Oregon
WISCONSIN
Katie & Leo (414) 476-0285 or
Susanne & John (608) 427-3686
_____________
INTERNATIONAL
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
Vancouver & Mainland
Ruth (604) 925-1539
Victoria & Vancouver Island - 3rd Tues. (MO) @7:30pm
John (250) 721-3219
MANITOBA, CANADA
Winnipeg
Joan (204) 284-0118
ONTARIO, CANADA
London -2nd Sun (bi-MO)
Adriaan (519) 471-6338
Ottawa
Eileen (613) 836-3294
Toronto /N. York
Pat (416) 444-9078
Warkworth
Ethel (705) 924-2546
Burlington
Ken & Marina (905) 637-6030
Sudbury
Paula (705) 692-0600
QUEBEC, CANADA
Montreal
Alain (514) 335-0863
St. Andre Est.
Mavis (450) 537-8187
AUSTRALIA
Mike 0754-842-348
fax 0754-841-051
ISRAEL
FMS ASSOCIATION fax-(972) 2-625-9282
NETHERLANDS
Task Force FMS of Werkgroep Fictieve
Herinneringen
Anna (31) 20-693-5692
NEW ZEALAND
Colleen (09) 416-7443
SWEDEN
Ake Moller FAX (48) 431-217-90
UNITED KINGDOM
The British False Memory Society
Madeline (44) 1225 868-682
_____________________________________________________
Deadline for the Octobeber Newsletter is September 15
Meeting notices MUST be in writing
and should be sent no later than TWO MONTHS PRIOR TO MEETING.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| 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-News". 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 corpora-
tion 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 Ex-
ecutive Director. All membership dues and contributions to the Founda-
tion must be forwarded to the Foundation for its disposition.
**********************************************************************
Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., Executive Director
FMSF Scientific and Professional Advisory Board, September 1, 1999
AARON T. BECK, M.D., D.M.S., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia,
PA; TERENCE W. CAMPBELL, Ph.D., Clinical and Forensic Psychology,
Sterling Heights, MI; ROSALIND CARTWRIGHT, Ph.D., Rush Presbyterian
St. Lukes Medical Center, Chicago, IL; JEAN CHAPMAN, Ph.D., University
of Wisconsin, Madison, WI; LOREN CHAPMAN, Ph.D., University of Wiscon-
sin, Madison, WI; FREDERICK C. CREWS, Ph.D., University of California,
Berkeley, CA; ROBYN M. DAWES, Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University,
Pittsburgh, PA; DAVID F. DINGES, Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania,
Philadelphia, PA; HENRY C. ELLIS, Ph.D., University of New Mexico,
Albuquerque, NM; FRED H. FRANKEL, MBChB, DPM, Harvard University Medi-
cal 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., Charing Cross Hospital, London; 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; ROBERT A. KARLIN, Ph.D., Rutgers University, New
Brunswick, NJ; HAROLD LIEF, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Phila-
delphia, PA; ELIZABETH LOFTUS, Ph.D., University of Washington, Sea-
tle, WA; SUSAN L. McELROY, M.D., University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati,
OH; PAUL McHUGH, M.D., Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD; HAROLD
MERSKEY, D.M., University of Western Ontario, London, Canada; SPENCER
HARRIS MORFIT, Author, Westford, MA; ULRIC NEISSER, Ph.D., Cornell
University, Ithaca, N.Y.; RICHARD OFSHE, Ph.D., University of Califor-
nia, Berkeley, CA; EMILY CAROTA ORNE, B.A., University of Pennsylvan-
ia, Philadelphia, PA; MARTIN ORNE, M.D., Ph.D., University of Pennsyl-
vania, 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, Boston, MA; JAMES RANDI,
Author and Magician, Plantation, FL; HENRY L. ROEDIGER, III, Ph.D.,
Washington University, St. Louis, MO; CAROLYN SAARI, Ph.D., Loyola
University, Chicago, IL; THEODORE SARBIN, Ph.D., University of Cali-
fornia, Santa Cruz, CA; THOMAS A. SEBEOK, Ph.D., Indiana University,
Bloomington, IN; MICHAEL A. SIMPSON, M.R.C.S., L.R.C.P., M.R.C,
D.O.M., Center for Psychosocial & Traumatic Stress, Pretoria, South
Africa; 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; CHARLES A. WEAVER, III, Ph.D. Baylor Uni-
versity, Waco, TX.
**********************************************************************
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Professional - Includes Newsletter $125_______
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______________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________
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______________________________________________________________________
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This address and the phone numbers have changed as of July 15, 2000
* FAX your order to (215) 287-1917. Fax orders cannot be processed
without credit card information.
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for
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T H E R U T H E R F O R D F A M I L Y
S P E A K S T O F A M I L I E S''
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DATE: / /
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+--------+-----+------------------------------------+-------+--------+
| QUANT- | # | DESCRIPTION | UNIT | AMOUNT |
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+--------+-----+------------------------------------+-------+--------+
SUBTOTAL | |
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FOREIGN SHIPPING AND PACKAGING
Canada $4.00 per tape
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Allow two to three weeks for delivery. Made all checks payable to FMS
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Benton, 409-565-4480.
The tax deductible portion of your contribution is the excess of goods
and services provided.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST
**********************************************************************