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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)
July/August 2000 Vol. 9 No. 4
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ISSN #1069-0484. Copyright (c) 2000 by the FMS Foundation
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The FMSF Newsletter is published 6 times a year by the False
Memory Syndrome Foundation. A hard-copy subscription is in-
cluded in membership fees (to join, see last page). Others may
subscribe by sending a check or money order, payable to
FMS Foundation, to the address below. 2000 subscription rates:
USA: $30, Student $15; Canada: $35, Student $20 (in U.S.
dollars); Foreign: $40, Student $20; Single issue price: $3.
1955 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-5766
Phone 215-387-1865, Fax 215-387-1917
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IN THIS ISSUE:
Feld
Pankratz The next issue
Legal Corner will be combined
Bartha September/October
Simpson
From Our Readers
Bulletin Board
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| PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS: |
| |
| FMS Foundation |
| 1955 Locust Street |
| Philadelphia, PA 19103-5766 |
| |
| The Foundation is moving in July. |
| Please start using the new address immediately. |
| |
| Our current lease with the Science Center near the University of |
| Pennsylvania expired at the same time that a library/office owned |
| by the Institute for Experimental Psychiatry Research Foundation |
| became available. The Institute was looking for a tenant who would |
| not mind the presence of its extensive library on hypnosis and |
| memory. It is a perfect fit. We have more space, lower rent, an |
| amazing library, and a great location (just half a block from |
| Philadelphia's renown Rittenhouse Square). Come and visit us. |
| |
| Revised Office Schedule |
| In July, the office will be open three days a week: |
| Monday, Wednesday and Thursday. |
| The telephones will be monitored daily, however. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Dear Friends,
"What is the situation now? Are therapists still doing memory
recovery work?" Those are the two most frequent questions we are now
asked by the media. They are questions that reveal how far we have
moved since 1992.
Where are we now? So much has happened in the past few years to
discredit the recovered memory movement that it is tempting to say,
"It's finally over," and close our doors. Important appellate
decisions, a new statement by the American Psychiatric Association,
and the disciplining of some of the most egregious practitioners are
among the many changes we have seen since 1992. Closing our doors,
after all, is what we would like to do; but it's not time yet.
Several important new papers reported in this newsletter provide
some perspective on the current state of the recovered memory
phenomenon. The American Psychiatric Association has revised its 1993
guidelines on recovered memories. A new study comparing abused and
non-abused same-sex twins discredits supposed check-lists for symptoms
of sexual abuse. The study failed to find a difference in later
psychiatric problems that could be accounted for by the abuse.[1]
Twins studies allow researchers to separate factors of family life and
genetics since twins share genetic background and family upbringing.
Another study [2] demonstrated how inconsistent is the recall of
48-year-olds of their adolescence on the same "subjective perceptions"
compared to their perceptions about their lives when they were 14
years old. Other studies [3] highlight when and what kind of therapy is
helpful for trauma and when it is not. A controlled study of treatment
for chronic depression[4] has found benefits about equal for either
psychotherapy and drugs but a dramatic improvement over either alone
when treatments were combined. The effect of reinforcement on
children's fantastic claims has been isolated and documented.[5] It is
obvious that the level of research in areas that relate to recovered
memory issues continues to improve.
The Journal of the American Medical Association, one of the two
most read by physicians, published a review of Creating Hysteria by
Joan Acocella that included a history of the influence of popular
culture on the diagnosis of multiple personality disorder.The New York
Times published a front page story about a veteran who falsely
admitted to participating in atrocities. The significant aspect of the
story from the FMS perspective was the section examining why someone
might think he had been a part of such a horrible event when he was
not. Arnold Wesker's play "Denial" portrays the suffering of the
parents in a family dealing with false memory syndrome and has
received positive reviews in England. The public and professionals are
being exposed to ever more nuanced and more understanding treatment of
false memory problems.
A major change in perspective about false memory issues has been
expressed by Diana Russell, an important and highly quoted researcher
in the area of child abuse. In the preface to a new edition of her
1986 book Secret Trauma: Incest in the Lives of Girls and Women, she
cites the factors that led her to change from the belief that FMSF
families were perpetrators to the belief that a genuine problem exists
in some areas of therapy. But change is not to be found everywhere.
The national distribution of Jane Brody's New York Times article about
FMS resulted in calls from newly affected families or families who had
just learned about the Foundation. A few families still tell us they
are being sued on no other evidence than a claim of recovered memory.
The column by Paul Simpson in this issue speaks to the ongoing use of
regression therapies within the religious community. A dissociative
disorders course to be taught by Allison Miller, Ph.D. and Marlene
Hunter, M.D. has as an objective to "Know how to deal with internal
parts of different ages and identities, and parts subjectively
experienced as non-human." A Ritual Abuse conference is planned for
Connecticut this summer. Although diminished, the FMS problem is still
too much with us.
Some therapists are still practicing risky therapy techniques and
a few people are still bringing frivolous lawsuits. This is a large
country and information filters slowly, if at all, to people who do
not read professional journals. Joseph de Rivera,[6] in a review of
Christine A. Courtois' new book, concludes that although therapists
have come a long way, they still have a lot to learn "about the powers
of therapist influence and the important role of suggestibility."
Courtois' book has chapters on trauma and memory and child sexual
abuse and memory, but no chapter on suggestion.
For families, trends are different. For some, the situation is
reflected in the comment that follows: "My daughter returned in
1998. This year she has been properly diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder,
put on the appropriate medications and is doing well."
Some families are struggling to reunite and repair the terrible
damage done to their offspring. They are often doing this with help of
mental health professionals. Some families who thought they would
never hear from their offspring are struggling with how to handle
nibbles of communication. This month, for example, two offspring
returned who had seemed completely intractable.
Still, most families have no contact with their children and they
are struggling to continue balancing the move forward without shutting
doors for the possible return. It is the tightrope most families still
walk.
PAMELA
[1] Dinwiddie et al. "Early Sexual Abuse and Lifetime Psychopathology:
A Co-Twin-Control Study" Psychological Medicine, 2000, 30, 41-52
[2] Offer et al "Altering of Reported Experiences"J Am Academy Child
and Adoles Psych, 39(6), June, 2000, pp 735-742.
[3] Littrell "Should the Expression of Emotional Memories Be a Goal of
Therapy?" Harvard Mental Health Letter 6/00
[4] Keller et al. "Comparison of Nefazodone, Cognitive Behavioral-
Analysis System of Psychotherapy, and Their Combination for
Treatment of Chronic Depression" New England J of Med, 342 (20)
1462-70, May 18, 2000
[5] Garven et al. "Allegations of Wrongdoing: The Effects of
Reinforcement on Children's Mundane and Fantastic Claims" J of App
Psych, Vol 85 (1), 38-49
[6] de Rivera "Sound Advice in Muddied Water," Contemp Psych, APA
Review of Books, 2000 45(2) Review of Christine A. Courtois
Recollections of Sexual abuse: Treatment Principles and
Guidelines, Norton (1999).
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| American Psychiatric Association Issues New Fact Sheet |
| |
| "Therapies Focused on Memories |
| of Childhood Physical and Sexual Abuse." 6/2000 |
| |
| The American Psychiatric Association has updated its guidelines |
| pertaining to recovered memories. New brief guidelines replace |
| those from 1993. Reference to "bodily sensations," "lack of |
| conscious awareness," emerging at later date has been removed. |
| Psychiatrists are told that when asked to provide expert opinion, |
| they should "refrain from making public statements about the |
| historical accuracy of individual patients' uncorroborated reports |
| of new memories based on observations made in psychotherapy." And |
| the statement notes that: "No specific unique symptom profile has |
| been identified that necessarily correlates with abuse |
| experiences." |
| |
| To obtain copies: |
| www.psych.org (Public Information, Fact sheets) |
| APA Telephone: 202-682-6000 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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| CONFERENCE TAPES WHILE SUPPLY LASTS |
| |
| A set of 5 audio tapes of many conference sessions will soon be |
| available. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, the |
| Retractor Panel and Ralph Slovenko's talk were not taped. |
| |
| The cost of tapes including shipping and handling is: |
| Members: $15.00 |
| Non-members: $25.00 |
| |
| To order, send request and check to FMSF office. NB Credit cards |
| accepted only for orders of $25. |
| (Due to technical difficulties, a few sessions were not recorded.) |
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+----------------------------------------------------+
| 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 |
| COLUMNISTS: August Piper, Jr. and members |
| of the FMSF Scientific Advisory Board |
| LETTERS and INFORMATION: Our Readers |
+----------------------------------------------------+
____________________________________
The Altering of Reported Experiences
Daniel Offer, M.D., et al.
Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry,
39(6), June, 2000, pp 735-742.
Researchers, headed by Daniel Offer, M.D., at the Northwestern
University Medical School questioned 67 male participants twice, first
at age 14 and again at age 48. The participants were asked questions
about family relationships, home environment, dating and sexuality,
religion, parental discipline and general activities.[1]
The results showed significant differences between adult memories
of adolescence and what was reported during adolescence. With one
exception, the importance of having a girlfriend, items that would be
expected to have emotional significance such as type of discipline and
relationships, were not remembered any more accurately than items
without emotional overtones.
Dr. Offer suggests that one of the reason memory is so poor is
because it tends to meld into what society thinks is appropriate now.
"If accurate memory of past events and relationships is no better
than chance for normal, mentally healthy individuals, we might expect
that the reports of past experiences by people who are currently
medically ill, psychologically disturbed or otherwise compromised
would be even less accurate," according to Offer.
Offer also noted that in order to establish the truth of a
person's autobiographical memory, there must be external corroboration
from family members, medical records or other records.
[1] The study was a follow-up to Offer's 1969 book, The Psychological
World of the Teenager.
__________________________________
The Story Behind a Soldier's Story
Michael Moss, New York Times, 5/31/00
According to a story in the New York Times on May 31, 2000, when the
Associated Press investigated whether the Seventh Cavalry Regiment had
kill hundreds of South Koreans nearly 50 years ago, they turned for
information to Edward Daily, who had written three books on the
subject. Mr. Daily admitted his own role in the atrocity, showed
medals he had received for rescuing a colleague and provided names and
phone numbers of ex-soldiers.
According to army records, however, Edward Daily never received a
medal and he was not in the Seventh Regiment at No Gun Ri at the time
of the incident. Rather he served as a clerk and mechanic at the time
of the event.
Why would someone confess to a massacre he did not commit? Some
consider Daily a con man. Richard Burns, who was a consultant for the
book Stolen Valor: How the Vietnam Generation Was Robbed of Its Heroes
and Its History (Verity Press, 1998) suggested that someone might do
this "because there is a movement in this country, the victim-hero
thing. People will feel sorry for me that I killed children and women,
and they will understand me."
Another explanation came from one of Daily's friends who said, "Ed
likes the limelight, he always did."
Others think that Daily truly believed he was at the massacre
because after spending so much time listening to other veterans
stories at reunions and in bar room reminiscences, he painted himself
into them. Mr. Daily had also spent two hours a week in group therapy
at a veteran's hospital for over a decade.[1]
Of particular interest in the Daily saga is that several Seventh
Cavalry Regiment veterans who were interviewed had come to believe
Daily actually was there.[2]
[1] Those who have read Allan Young's anthropological study of
veteran's hospitals, Harmony of Illusion, Princeton University
Press 1995, may recall Young's observations about how veterans
incorporated details from each others stories.
[2] It appears that people who spend lots of time together reminiscing
can come to incorporate others stories into their own historical
narrative.
Editor's comment: This is the fourth national story related to false
memories to be discredited in the past two years. In June 1998, CNN
fired two reporters who released a false story apparently based on a
"recovered memory." In 1999, evidence was released that Sybil's
multiple personality disorder was a creation of her doctor. During
1999, the memoir Fragments by Binjamin Wilkomirski was shown to be a
fabrication.
________________________________________________
Early Sexual Abuse and Lifetime Psychopathology:
A Co-Twin-Control Study
S. Dinwiddie et al.
Psychological Medicine, 2000, 30, 41-52
In many states, civil suits can be pursued against alleged
perpetrators for up to three years from the time a victim discovers
significant injury in his life resulting from molestation. How does
someone know that molestation many years ago is the cause of a
person's current problems? Although the assumption is often made that
child sexual abuse causes long term psychopathology, studies
documenting that effect have to date suffered from serious
methodological limitations. One of the most serious problems is that
studies have failed to take into account the likely interrelationships
among family dysfunction, child sexual abuse and subsequent
psychopathology. In addition, many psychiatric illnesses have a
significant genetic component that could be a confounding factor.
This study has the limitation of using retrospective self-reports,
but it overcomes some past limitations by using twins. Dinwiddie and
colleagues sought to determine the lifetime prevalence of psychiatric
disorders among twins who reported childhood sexual abuse and to
compare those rates with non-abused co-twins.
Information was obtained by structured telephone interviews with
5995 Australian twins. Twins who reported a history of childhood
sexual abuse were contrasted on lifetime psychopathology with subjects
who were not abused. Comparisons were made between same-sex twin
pairs.
Childhood sexual abuse was reported by 5.9 percent of women
contacted and 2.5 percent of the men. When comparisons were restricted
to twins of the same sex in which one was abused and one was not, no
differences in psychopathology were found.
The authors noted, "With the exception of conduct disorder in men,
in every category for which data were available, the odds rations for
psychiatric illness were lowest among twin pairs in which neither was
abused and next lowest among pairs in which the co-twin only was
abused. The risk for psychiatric illness was greatest when both twins
were abused. The authors conclude that the relationship between child
sexual abuse and later psychopathology reflects "a complex interplay
of factors." They note that "study of such life events, in order to
most accurately judge their potential impact on mental health, must
include appropriate evaluation of relevant familial protective and
vulnerability factors. Failure to take these into account may lead to
an overly simplistic view of the etiology of psychiatric illness, as
well as minimizing the role of less dramatic but highly significant
environmental factors."
Editor's comment: The rate of reported sexual abuse in this study is
lower than generally seen in popular literature. The authors defined
sexually abused subjects as those who answered affirmatively to the
question "Before age 18, were you even forced into sexual activity,
including intercourse?"
____________________________________________________________________
A Comparison of Nefazodone, the Cognitive Behavioral-Analysis System
of Psychotherapy, and Their Combination for the Treatment of Chronic
Depression
Martin B. Keller et al.
New England Journal of Medicine, 342 (20) 1462-70, May 18, 2000
For some time, the field of psychiatry has been split between those
who favor a biological medicine approach and those who favor
psychotherapy. A new study seeks to resolve this issue for the
treatment of chronic major depression.
Researchers studied 662 chronically depressed patients (depressed
more than two years) in twelve locations in the United States while
they underwent up to twelve weeks of treatment. The patients were
divided into three groups. One group received only the medication
nefazodone (sold under the name Serzone); the second group received
only psychotherapy; and the third group received both medication and
psychotherapy.
The results are striking: the overall rate of response (both
remission and satisfactory response) was 48 percent in both the
nefazodone group and the psychotherapy group as compared with 73
percent in the combined-treatment group. The combination of cognitive
behavioral-analysis system of psychotherapy with nefazodone is
significantly more efficacious than either treatment alone for this
problem.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Things that are puzzling |
| |
| "Can those 'recovered memory' psychiatrists get you to remember |
| high school French, or is it just sexual abuse?" |
| Jim Mullen, New York Times Magazine, p 55, 2/21/999 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
_______________
The Empty Couch
Joan Acocella
The New Yorker, May 8, 2000 pp, 112-118
In a review of several books focused on the fate of psychotherapy,
Joan Acocella, author of Creating Hysteria, notes that the pendulum
swing between the organic and psychological views of the causation of
mental disorder has not been limited to recent decades. In the late
nineteenth century, organic causation was the dominant view; it was
then replaced by the influence of Freudian psychotherapy. During much
of the past century, schizophrenia, autism and other ailments were
blamed on the mother, even though there was never any evidence for
this. As it began to be shown that schizophrenia was organic and that
autism was connected with neurological deficits, the swing again went
to biological approaches.
According to the review, managed care has pushed the swing to new
extremes. In many hospitals, psychotherapy has virtually disappeared
with the exception of its use with trauma patients. To save money,
inpatient treatment has been replaced by outpatient treatment. Thus,
despite the fact that the hospitalization rate dropped sharply, the
re-admission rate climbed considerably. However, CHAMPUS, which
insures federal employees, discovered that providing outpatient
psychotherapy reduced hospital admission rates significantly and thus
was cost effective.
The books reviewed are: T. M. Luhrmann, Of Two Minds: The Growing
Disorder in American Psychiatry (Knopf); Joseph Glenmullen, Prozac
Backlash: Overcoming the Dangers of Prozac, Zoloft, Paxil, and Other
Antidepressants with Safe, Effective Alternatives (Simon & Schuster);
and Emily Fox Gordon, Mockingbird Years: A Life In and Out of Therapy
(Basic Books).
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| We are pleased to announce that FMSF Advisory Board member Lila |
| Gleitman, Ph.D. has been elected to the National Academy of |
| Sciences. Gleitman, a psychologist at the University of |
| Pennsylvania, has been an important force in the field of child |
| language acquisition and as co-director of the only NSF-funded |
| center in cognitive science, she has helped to set the agenda for |
| research in that area. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
_________________________________________________________________
Should the Expression of Emotional Memories Be a Goal of Therapy?
Harvard Mental Health Letter 6/00
Jill Littrell, Ph.D. notes that there are psychological experiments
that indicate that "expressing an emotion generally enhances the
likelihood of a similar or more intense reaction to that person in the
future. For example, if a patient were encouraged to express anger at
someone (like a parent), having a stronger anger response in the
future would not be surprising.
Littrell mentions that some research has shown that at times
exposure to revisiting the trauma may lead to some benefits. She
includes brief descriptions of the kinds of exposure and conditions
where there may be some positive gains.
Editor's Comment: This report appears to underscore why informed
consent may be necessary. There "may be" some potential benefits from
exposure and, again, there "may be" some negative outcomes. Shouldn't
clients be made aware of the "possible side effects" from the therapy
that they are receiving?
Littrell, J. "Should the Expression of Emotional Memories Be a Goal of
Therapy?" Harvard Mental Health Letter, June 2000, p. 8.
______________________________________________________
Three-year Follow-up of a Randomized Controlled Trial:
Psychological Debriefing for Road Traffic Accident Victims
Mayou, R.A. & Ehlers, A., British Journal of Psychiatry 176: 589-593
In a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, patients
who were given a one-hour debriefing which included a detailed review
of a car crash within 24 hours after the accident had increased stress
over time when compared with those who had no therapy.[1] Those who
had been debriefed showed greater emotional stress, physical symptoms
and worse quality of life than those who had not. The research was
conducted by Professor Richard Mayou and colleagues from Warneford
Hospital in Oxford, who evaluated the subjects three years after the
debriefing. Professor Mayou noted: "Psychological debriefing is
ineffective and has adverse long-term effects. It is not an
appropriate treatment for trauma victims. It is possible that the
instructions led patients to ruminate excessively rather than putting
it behind them."
[1] Norton, C. "Early counseling after road crashes makes stress
worse," The Independent, June 2000
_________________________________________________________
A Sad Example Shows Need for Safe and Effective Therapies
On April 19, 2000 in Evergreen, Colorado, 10-year-old Candice Newmaker
smothered to death in a blanket that therapists were using to make her
relive the birth experience. This procedure, called rebirthing, is
aimed at helping children with attachment disorder who cannot form
bonds with their parents. The girl was wrapped in the blanket to
simulate the womb, pillows were placed around her and counselors
pressed them to simulate contractions to motivate her to push her way
through the blanket.
During the tape-recorded therapy session, the girl said seven
times that she could not breath, but she was told to push harder.
Four people have been charged with recklessly causing death. The
lead therapist, Connell Watkins, is considered an expert in
rebirthing, which she learned about in a two-week seminar taught by a
California therapist who learned about it during his own treatment for
depression, according to the arrest affidavit. Watkins, who is
unlicensed and unregistered, could not recall any books she'd read on
rebirthing. She had never undergone the treatment herself because she
felt it would be too traumatic for her. Also arrested is another
unlicensed, unregistered psychotherapist, and an office manager and a
former drywall hanger who were employed at the clinic where this
occurred.
There is no scientific support or rationale for rebirthing
therapy. "Rebirthing" is one of several alternative therapies
involving holding or restraint to treat attachment disorder. Aversion
therapies (rebirthing, rage reduction and holding) date to the 1960s
when a California therapist named Robert Zaslow started Z therapy,
which involved knuckling a child's sternum and ribs while being held
down -- according to Don Bechtold, Associate Professor of psychiatry
at U of Colorado Health Sciences Center.
Rebirthing emerged from the explosion of alternative therapies in
California in the 1970s. It was started by a therapist named Leonard
Orr who was a strong believer in the theory that the trauma of birth
or being in the womb caused psychological problems.
Colorado state authorities are threatening to pursue child-abuse
charges against mental-health professionals who physically restrain
children as part of psychotherapy. Past FMSF Newsletters have reported
other deaths from holding therapy and in April of this year the Dallas
Morning News reported on two.
Information for this article came from:
Crosson, J., "Rebirthing halted after a death," Philadelphia
Inquirer, May 22, 2000.
Crowder, C, "Therapist has long ties to 'holding' treatment,"
Denver Rocky Mountain News, May 19, 2000.
Kreck, C., "'Rebirth' death spurs warning," Denver Post, June 4,
2000.
Reuters, "Girl dies in Colorado after controversial therapy." May
18, 2000.
Shannon, K., "29 kids in 2 1;2 years died in state's care: 2
stopped breathing while restrained recently," Dallas Morning News,
April 18, 2000.
______
Denial
Arnold Wesker's "Denial," a play that deals with false memory
syndrome, has opened in England and received positive reviews.
The play is about a woman whose marriage and career have broken
down and who accuses her father of raping her as a child and her
mother and grandfather of being complicit in the sexual abuse. The
accusations develop under the ministrations of a therapist who is
looking for the reason Jenny is depressed. The play is not overly
simplistic. The therapist is revealed to be haunted by her experiences
as a social worker and who develops a "catch-all" solution to complex
problems.
The play powerfully portrays the agony of the accused and asserts
the validity of the nuclear family, a theme of several of Wesker's
previous works. Wesker is one of England's most prominent playwrights.
Readers of the newsletter may be interested in the fact that the
program for "Denial" contains several pages about the history and the
FMS problem.
Billington, M. "Never trust a therapist" The Guardian (London),
(5/20/00)
_________________________________________________
Multiple Personality Disorder and Psychic Mediums
Loren Pankratz
August Piper, Jr., M. D,, among others, has noted that the prevalence
of Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) in the United States has
dramatically increased while remaining relatively absent in Great
Britain. Such an annoying inconsistency can be explained.
Historically, all patients in England with MPD were not considered
mentally disturbed. Instead, they were believed to be gifted psychic
mediums. Harry Price, Britain's famous ghost hunter, studied many
examples. In 1928, Price invited Madame Picquart to his National
Laboratory of Psychical Research in London. This 60-year-old French
widow could assume a dazzling array of "alters" in rapid succession.
In a "self-induced cataleptic trance," her features expressed the
characteristics of those by whom she was controlled. Her multiples
included an actor, a French general, an Egyptian mummy, etc. Price
was impressed when she assumed the part of a little boy and skipped
about over the chairs. Then she became an old judge, an effect due
entirely to the fact that she blackened her upper lip with burnt cork
and pinned odds and ends of paper about her person. All this was
ingenious and very amusing. But not psychic. Price ended his
experiments because nothing abnormal played any part in her
performances. She then left for Paris in her primary personality, that
of a disappointed French widow.
Harry Price figured out that there was nothing to distinguish MPD
from good actors. Thus, even to this day the British reject the idea
of assigning them to special diagnostic categories. American
therapists never learned this lesson.
Price H. Confessions of a ghost hunter. London: Putnam, 1936.
Loren Pankratz, Ph.D. is a Consultation Psychologist and Clinical
Professor Department of Psychiatry Oregon Health Sciences
University. He is a member of the FMSF Scientific Advisory Board.
__________________________________________
More Thoughts on Informed Consent (Part 2)
Allen Feld
Last month, I wrote about the disagreement between some therapists and
others -- mostly non-therapists -- over proposals to require
therapists to offer informed consent. Among my comments, I stated that
I believed informed consent should be an interactive process.
The importance of a collaborative process and a joint agreement to
achieve meaningful informed consent cannot be understated. However, a
written statement is also an essential element of informed consent and
it should accurately mirror the joint verbal agreement reached about
the service being offered. Some elements that are vital in both the
interaction and written statement include: detailing what caused the
patient to seek therapy, what the therapist hopes to accomplish and
how he or she plans to proceed, and what is expected of the patient in
therapy. The therapist should explain in lay language his or her
theoretical orientation and approach to helping, as well as prior
experiences with this therapeutic approach and a summary of published
outcome studies. It is reasonable for society to expect a therapist to
be familiar with the research that supports his or her chosen
theoretical orientation and that describes its effectiveness when used
with the patient's problems.
This process also allows an opportunity to discuss what the
therapist perceives to be the risks, side-effects or anxieties that
may be common in therapy in general and known to be associated with
the chosen therapeutic approach. This is also a suitable time for a
therapist to make the patient aware of the emergency procedures
available should they become necessary. Essential logistics regarding
fees, appointments, confidentiality standards and how changes in
informed consent will be incorporated into the relationship are other
important ingredients to make the written statement complete. It is
reasonable to expect that the therapist and client may want to amend
the informed consent agreement as therapy proceeds.
The emphasis therapists place on a patient's past is related to a
therapist's theoretical preference. Patients generally seek therapy to
deal with some contemporary life situation they find troubling. When
therapists believe a patient's past is a necessary element in the
theoretical approach being used, they should initiate a discussion
about the role that the past may play in the patient's current
concerns and how understanding that past history will be used to help
him or her. I believe it is essential to include a brief and specific
statement in the informed consent document noting that without
independent verification, memories of the past are not necessarily
accurate or reliable.
Assuming there is no crisis that needs to be addressed, informed
consent can be introduced in the first therapy session. I believe this
is a suitable and sound beginning for therapy. This exchange allows
for exploration of the reasons that led the patient to seek therapy,
introduces the reciprocal expectations of the patient and the
therapist and describes how therapy will proceed. A rough draft of the
informed consent statement could be given to the patient with the
suggestion that it be taken home and reviewed. I recommend that the
patient and therapist delay signing the document until there has been
adequate time for review and thought by both parties. The patient
should be asked to return to the following session with questions
about and reactions to the informed consent agreement.
I believe that informed consent is an essential element in
therapy, particularly when coupled with the fundamental aspects of
initiating a therapeutic relationship. It fails to be vital to therapy
if it is handled in a casual or bureaucratic manner. When a therapist
uses something similar to the process described here, the cooperative
nature of the therapeutic interaction has been experienced and respect
is shown for the patient. A genuine offer to help has been extended
and an agreement to try to work together has been jointly reached. The
therapist and the patient have specified and agreed to collaborate on
the issues being brought to therapy. If professional organizations and
licensing boards developed appropriate standards for informed consent,
legislation for informed consent would not be necessary -- an obvious
win/win situation.
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.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| |
| Allegations of Wrongdoing: |
| The Effects of Reinforcement on |
| Children's Mundane and Fantastic Claims |
| Garven, S., Wood, J. & Malpass, R |
| Journal of Applied Psychology, 2000, Vol 85 (1), 38-49 |
| |
| Findings indicate that reinforcement can swiftly induce children |
| to make persistent false allegations of wrongdoing. |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| WHEN IS HYPNOSIS EFFECTIVE? |
| Special Issue of the International Journal |
| of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis 48 (2) April, 2000 |
| |
| Review of controlled studies of clinical hypnosis in stopping |
| smoking, trauma, pain reduction and other clinical areas. Single |
| issue $23.00 |
| |
| Sage publications fax/order line 805-375-1700 |
| E-mail order@sagepub.com; www.sagepub.com |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
L E G A L C O R N E R
FMSF Staff
______________________________
Carlson et al. v Zirkel et al.
Case No. 96-CV-321 Wisconsin Circuit Court, La Crosse County
Filed Dec 28, 1998
In April, 2000, plaintiff Steven D. Carlson reached a confidential
settlement in a lawsuit he had brought against Family & Children's
Center, Inc., the Human Development Associates, and several therapists
there. Carlson had received psychological care at the centers from
December 5, 1984 to May 31, 1994 from Patricia Richgels, David
Hendricks, G. Martin Kreuzer and Clifford Zirkel, III.
According to the second amended complaint, the therapists failed
to obtain Carlson's informed consent to the course treatment they
proposed to provide; failed to provide appropriate care and instead
provided care that was "inappropriate, experimental, drastic and
harmful." The Wisconsin Mental Health Act (Bill of Rights) provides
that a patient has a right to prompt and adequate treatment." (The
courts have defined 'adequate' to mean 'non-negligent' treatment.) The
Act also provides that "a patient has a right not to be subjected
to...drastic treatment procedures without the express and informed
consent of the patient..."
The complaint stated that the therapists told Carlson "that he was
a victim of childhood sexual abuse; that such experience was a cause
of the psychological problems that led him to seek their care,
treatment, counseling and therapy; that the care that they proposed to
provide would be safe and effective in resolving the problems that led
him to seek counseling; and that the destruction of his relationships
with his mother and other family members was a necessary part of such
care." The complaint noted that these statements "were made with
intent to sell or increase the consumption of the services offered..."
and that this led to "pecuniary damage or loss" to Carlson. The
complaint also stated that the therapists falsified treatment records
with the intent to obstruct an investigation of the counseling of
Carlson.
The complaint also alleged that because of negligent acts, the
defendants implanted false memories that he was a victim of childhood
sexual abuse and other false memories in the mind of Steven D.
Carlson, aggravated his preexisting psychological conditions, and
created additional adverse psychological conditions and problems.
Plaintiff was represented by attorneys G. Jeffrey George and James
L. Kroner of La Crosse, WI. Defendants were represented by David Ray
of Stevens Point, WI, Elizabeth O'Neil of Milwaukee, WI and Ross
Seymour of La Crosse, WI.
_____________________________________
Sheppard Pratt Sued for $5 Million in
'Repressed Memory' Challenge
Earl Kelly, The Daily Record: Maryland Law, May 5, 2000
In a suit filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, Regina C. Moran
claims that she signed up for a weight-loss program, but was
misdiagnosed and treated for repressed memories .Moran stated that she
came to believe she had been sexually abused by many individuals
including her father and that she suffered from multiple personality
disorder. A Sheppard Pratt representative stated that the hospital is
not affiliated with the psychologist, Steven L. Shearer who treated
Ms. Moran, but only rented space to the Anxiety and Stress Disorders
Institute.
__________________________________
California Therapist Loses License
On April 30, 2000, the California Board of Behavioral Sciences revoked
the license of Linda Meads, a Los Altos psychotherapist after a
psychiatric examination found she was suffering from a delusional
disorder. Ms. Meads allegedly believed that a cult was trying to kill
her, that the cult could brainwash people so they would not know they
were in the cult, and that a number of prominent people in the area
were engaged in a cult Mafia-prostitution and drug ring.
A family notified the Foundation that Ms. Meads brought her
patients into the cult belief system. They wondered what would happen
to a loved family member now that her therapist had no license.
Sean Webby "Ex-therapist loses license," San Jose Mercury News,
May 6, 2000
_________________________________
Missouri Psychologist Disciplined
Case No 99-0236 PS
On March 10, 2000, the State of Missouri Committee of Psychologists
put T. L., Ph.D. on three-year probation for his
participation in the Geraldine Lamb affair. (See FMSF newsletter
September 1998.) Dr. L. was found to have violated the Missouri
code when he 1) saw some of Lamb's patients in order for them to
obtain insurance for their treatment by Lamb; 2) sanctioned his
signature stamp on insurance claims for treatment provided by Lamb; 3)
did not fully supervise the treatment of patients for which his
signature stamp was used.
Under terms of the agreement, T. L. must be supervised by a
psychologist approved by the State Committee.
______________________________________
Grandparents' Visitation Rights Curbed
Troxel v Granville, 99-138, U.S. Supreme Court
In a case that many FMSF families have been following, the U.S.
Supreme Court voted 6-3 on June 5 to strike down a Washington state
law that gave grandparents broad visitation rights against parents'
wishes. The case pitted parents' rights to raise their children free
from government interference against state laws aimed at giving
grandparents. Justices Stevens, Scalia and Kennedy each wrote
dissenting opinions.
_________________
Wenatchee update:
Carol and Mark Doggett, who were released from jail in 1998 after
their convictions were overturned by the state Court of Appeals, will
not face a new trial on charges they raped their children. Since their
release from prison, the Doggetts have been reunited with four of
their five children and are working at being reunited with the fifth
who remains in foster care.
Meridith "Gene" Town and Leo Catcheway were both released from
prison on June 8, 2000. Documents obtained from Pinecrest, the now
defunct Idaho psychiatric facility that treated Town's two sons in
1994, discredit Wenatchee Police Detective Bob Perez's version of
events of the boys being abused by numerous adults. The hospital
records are exculpatory for all the adults who were accused by the two
boys. It appears that Child Protective Services in Wenatchee and
detective Perez had some of this information but they never told the
prosecutor, giving grounds for a new trial
Catcheway, arrested on the Navajo Indian reservation in Arizona
after being featured in "America's Most Wanted" television show, had
been accused of raping a child and being a cameraman for an alleged
sex ring. No videotapes were ever found and his attorneys contend that
police withheld evidence, including a medical exam showing that his
primary accuser had never been raped.
Since 1997, nine defendants have had their convictions overturned
by state appellate courts. Seven others, including Town and Catcheway,
have been released from prison after accepting plea offers while their
appeals were pending. Another seven either served out their sentences
or received suspended sentences. Three remain in prison.
Stephen Maher, "Sex-case evidence could free one more" and "Two
men embrace 'real justice'" Wenatchee World, June 9, 2000
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| There now appear to have been spectacular miscarriages of justice |
| in litigation concerning breast implants . . . and in some |
| criminal cases involving the alleged sexual abuse of very young |
| children. The legal system performed very badly in those |
| instances, precisely because the diagnoses employed criteria so |
| imprecise that they didn't permit falsification. |
| |
| p 233 |
| Judging Science: Scientific knowledge and the federal courts. |
| 1997, MIT Press |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
ONCE A PATIENT, FOREVER A PATIENT
By Jaye D. Bartha
Retractor, Class of '92
Like an insidious disease, the residue from repressed memory therapy
follows me. After leaving treatment eight years ago, I was trapped in
its wreckage, ailing and penniless. During litigation, it ambushed me
with flashbacks of horrors I had endured while remembering perverted
sexual abuse that never happened. After successful litigation,
repressed memory therapy's nefarious nature followed me 1700 miles
across country to my new home. This is its most recent sting.
Sandy, a colleague, became overly concerned about my emotional
well-being after I shared feelings of depression. Sandy's mother
committed suicide and I had unwittingly stirred up old fears.
Early one morning, my computer keyboard broke and the phone line
was receiving a fax. Across town, Sandy was home transmitting her
daily onslaught of cheery email. I did not respond. She called me by
phone. It was busy. Sandy panicked, called another colleague Joanne,
and the two of them decided, since I was not answering email or the
phone, I needed urgent help.
Joanne left the local library where she was studying and quickly
drove to my neighborhood. Along the way, she flagged down a police
officer and convinced him to assist her in checking on me. Joanne told
the officer I wasn't answering the phone or email and that I had a
history of psychiatric problems.
When I returned home from the store with my new keyboard and
groceries, my dog frantically ran in circles instead of smothering me
with kisses. Something was wrong. A rush of fear ran through
me. Peeking from under a pile of newspapers on the kitchen counter was
a police officer's business card and a scribbled note:
Jaye -- I was really concerned because we couldn't get hold of you
so the police came with me to do a welfare check. Please call me or
call Sandy. -- Joanne
I panicked. I shook as if the temperature had dropped fifty
degrees. I hugged the dog. Then I got mad. Real mad.
I dialed the number on the police officer's business card and
learned they called a locksmith to break in. Then my colleague and the
officer searched my home. "Your friends just wanted to make sure you
were okay," he said as if I should be grateful.
"Excuse me officer. Those people are not friends, they're
colleagues. They know little about me," I answered angrily.
I didn't take the intrusion lightly. I was reminded of being
locked on a mental ward with no control over my life. I had flashbacks
of amytal interviews, of grueling days in the hospital, of phony
memories of rape and mayhem. Obviously, I had no right to be in my
home without invasion. Rules of probable cause, a valid search
requiring the existence of facts, did not apply to me.
I have been working diligently to recover from recovered
memories. I'm healthy and enjoying my life. The term,
"serene-retractor" is no longer an oxymoron.
So what happened?
I shared my story, that's all. My colleagues were writers who had
critiqued many manuscripts about false memory syndrome. I failed to
hide my past. The "welfare check" was a clamoring wake-up call. Would
these two people, aided by the police, have broken into my home if
they didn't know my psychiatric history? If I had been home would they
have burst into my bedroom or the shower to make sure I was OK? If my
dog attacked, would the officer have shot my faithful companion? It
was clear, people will probably make decisions regarding my mental
health, without my input, for the rest of my life.
It leaves me wondering when my home will be broken into by another
concerned colleague, neighbor, or family member. If I had children,
would social services have taken them? If I were laying on the couch,
would I have been escorted to a mental hospital? Are retractors and
accused parents open targets for unsubstantiated welfare checks? Why
are the police permitted to break into someone's home just because
it's requested? I won't allow this incident to pull me backward. I
know the future holds another welfare check, unless I keep quiet about
my experiences with repressed memory therapy. But keeping quiet isn't
an option for me. Silence breeds misinformation. Talking fosters
understanding. I'd rather deal with the consequences.
For now, repressed memory therapy will just have to follow me. I
hope it enjoys my life as much as I do. I will not run or hide. Next
time I'll remain calm and try to smile when they come check on me.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Legal Websites of Interest |
| |
| www.findlaw.com |
| www.legalengine.com |
| www.accused.com |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
SPEAKING THE LANGUAGE OF FAITH: EDUCATING THE FAITH-BASED
RECOVERED MEMORY MOVEMENT
Paul Simpson, Ed.D.
Since its inception, the FMS Foundation has made tremendous strides in
alerting the public about the crisis that has affected so many
families. One of the primary ways this was accomplished is through
establishing a standard of scientific rigor by which professionals and
the courts could understand the false claims of Recovered Memory
Therapy (RMT).
But despite these accomplishments, one segment of RMT has managed
to resist reform: faith-based therapists and clients who reference a
religious worldview (Protestant, Jewish, Catholic, New Age, etc.) and
believe their practice of RMT is a spiritual reality. For this segment
of RMT believers, the scientific standard holds little value.
Since 1992, I've had the opportunity to talk with thousands of RMT
believers. Time and again, when I've encountered faith-based RMT
believers, I've had to learn to frame the false memory issues into a
language that they would respect -- the language of faith.
How can we best educate faith-based RMT believers? It was with
this question in mind that families met in a special roundtable at the
recent Foundation conference in White Plains, NY. Our discussions
included impacting local churches, educating pastors, and accessing
national denominations.
Local Church Seminars: Providing educational seminars at local
churches, temples and synagogues is an effective tool for informing
faith-based RMT. Advantages include:
* Sponsorship of a local church lends greater credibility.
* There is a pre-existing group of people (the congregation) who are
more likely to attend a seminar in familiar surroundings.
* There are little or no advertising costs, equipment rentals or
seminar room fees.
* Churches and synagogues have meeting rooms and sanctuaries that are
ideal for hosting talks.
* Local families and retractors who are part of the denomination can
tell their stories.
* Other congregations within the local community can be encouraged to
attend.
Educating Pastors: A key strategy is to educate ministers regarding
the FMS crisis that is taking place within their own congregations.
One way to accomplish this is to meet with them face to face and ask
them to discuss the problem with their congregation. This could be
followed by or in addition to educational mailings. Packets could be
customized according to particular denominations and include FMSF
materials/booklets, testimonials from denomination members, and an
invitation to sponsor a FMS seminar for their own congregation.
Advantages of educating ministers include:
* Ministers can act as mediators in promoting reconciliation between
estranged families.
* They can better educate their congregations
about the realities of FMS.
* They can exercise more care in referrals and be more cautious about
recovered memory claims within their congregation.
* They can work with and help educate therapists in their denomination
National Denominations: Another means of expanding awareness of the
false memory problem is through the leadership of various
denominations. By educating leaders at the district and national
levels, we can promote change on a large scale. Denomination leaders
can:
* Create positional statements regarding FMS and bring about changes
in policy for counseling referrals and how to help divided families.
* Access newsletters that are sent to thousands of ministers and
congregational members.
* Extend opportunities to present the FMS situation at annual
denomination conferences.
The roundtable also addressed practical ways to move towards these
goals. One key point is to request the FMS Foundation to help families
address the issues of faith-based RMT with clergy. We need the
grass-roots help of families in making contacts with local and
national church officials, help organizing seminars and getting the
word out on local events.
To find out more, or if you wish to help, contact Sherry at:
763-417-0659. Dr. Paul Simpson is the founder of Project Middle
Ground.
**********************************************************************
THE GREATER GOOD
Reinder Van Til
Excerpt from
President's Letter in Newsletter of Illinois False Memory Society
June 2000, 6(2)
Available www.IllinoisFMS.org
For those of you who have been reunited with your "lost children," we
join you in being grateful and cautiously joyful. And though we
realize that it is sometimes difficult to hang around with people
whose lives have not been turned around and who may still be somewhat
bitter and depressed, we say that we still need your support and
solidarity. This is especially true for returnees and retractors: they
need the support and understanding of people who personally know the
impact RMT has had on families' lives.
For those of you who have despaired of your own situations and of
the effectiveness of the FMS societies -- again, we understand. But we
may perhaps point out that your half-empty glass, viewed differently,
could be half full. Naturally neither we or the FMSF can bring your
children and grandchildren back. But both organizations have been
effective in publicly exposing bad therapy, in educating the public
about the perils of RMT, in inspiring corrective programs on public
and network broadcasts, and in pressing legal battles against bad
therapy.
For those of you who believe the battle has been won, I need only
relate that your newsletter editors, my wife, and I sat down to lunch
at New York's professional meeting -- purely by happenstance -- with
two people who had been accused within the last six months, both of
them from our region!
Though we are small in number and have an unpopular message, we
must realize that we are not working merely for ourselves but toward a
greater good.
Reinder Van Til, author of Lost Daughters, is the president of the
Illinois False Memory Society.
**********************************************************************
F R O M O U R R E A D E R S
________________________________
You Must Have Been Abused Virus!
After sending a birthday card to my granddaughter, my estranged
daughter sent the card back. I began to wonder, as I had so many times
before, how my wonderful kind daughter had become a person who could
do such a cruel thing. I found an answer: My daughter's "Hard Drive"
had been reprogrammed.
The Recovered Memory Virus has completely wiped out our daughter's
"hard drive." All of the good programs (True Memories) have been
reprogrammed with bad viruses (False Memories.)
"Recovered Memory" therapy is very much like a computer virus in
the way it wipes out good files and replaces them with scrambled
ones. The government knows the cost that a bad computer virus can
cause. Similarly, the cost of "The Recovered Memory Virus" is
enormous; but there is no way to total up the cost on heart aches and
pain it has caused. The Psychiatric Industry seem unable or unwilling
to put any funds or time into punishing the culprits or finding a way
to help restore "real memories" to the victims.
A Mom
_________
It Worked
About three years ago I was at wit's end trying to figure out how to
solve the problem surrounding my daughter's false claim that I had
molested her, this supposedly happening twenty years prior to the
allegation. A psychologist she was seeing had her cut off all
communication with me. Six years passed and I then found your
organization. By reading each newsletter carefully, especially letters
from those who were suffering similar fates, I came up with a patient
plan to figure out how I could be reunited with my daughter and her
family.
It finally worked. We are now in loving communication with one
another and although she is in a distant city, we will work out the
details of a reunion. At first she wanted to go back into the past
and "work through her trauma." I told her I would be there with her
and for her when she found strength enough. It has never been
mentioned since, and it begins to dawn on me that the past will never
be broached, nor is there a need that it should be.
A Dad
________________
It Can Get Worse
When false memories split our family, my wife and I believed that
nothing worse could happen to us. We were wrong.
Our eldest son, alienated from us for more than six years,
committed suicide two weeks ago by throwing himself in front of a
subway train.
The last time we saw him he had a good position and appeared to
have a bright future. Then an untreatable psychiatric condition
rendered him suicidal and unable to work.
Although I don't believe false memories had any significant effect
on his psychiatric illness, they certainly affected his conduct and
made his suicide even more devastating for us than it would otherwise
have been. Specifically, we were omitted from the death notice and
excluded from a memorial service in our son's home.
Preceding chapters in this tragedy will have a familiar ring for
many readers. Early in the 1990s our two daughters cut off
communication with us, although they didn't tell us why and have not
until this day.
Subsequently we learned from others that our daughters were
accusing a grandparent of sexually abusing them many years ago. By
this time that grandparent had been dead for more than ten years and
the spouse was virtually comatose with Alzheimer's disease. We did,
however, make inquiries of other family members without finding
anything to support our daughters' accusations. Our recollection is
that the children loved being at the farm with their grandparents.
Some time after our daughters' alienation, our late son tried to
bring about a family reconciliation; unfortunately he failed. He then
came to believe, presumably after talking with our daughters, that
although he had no memory of mistreatment, "something must have
happened" in our house.
He later tried to convince his two brothers of his
suspicions. Fortunately for our sanity, they did not accept his
conclusion and have remained supportive of us.
Shortly after our sons' disagreement, we were cut off from any
communication with our late son, his wife and their two sons. And that
is how it remained until our son's death.
A Dad
___________
Giving Hope
I write to give hope to all. Today, May 23, 2000, I was having lunch
with my daughter. We had reconciled two and a half years ago and at
that time I asked her to say that she knew that the original
statements about abuse were false. She did say that was so, but she
had not apologized or said very much about her therapy.
Today at lunch, with tears in her eyes, she said, "I'm very sorry
about all that crap you had to go through six years ago." And with
tears in my eyes, I told her that she had no idea how much those words
meant to me.
I write this to give hope to others. I didn't initiate the
discussion. I knew the truth and had been leaving the outcome to
God. Today, my prayers were answered.
A Dad
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| (1) The crime victims compensation program will not authorize |
| services and treatment: |
| (e) For any therapies which focus on the recovery of repressed |
| memory or recovery of memory which focuses on memories of |
| physically impossible acts, highly improbable acts for which |
| verification should be available, but is not, or unverified |
| memories of acts occurring prior to the age of two. |
| |
| Washington: Permanent Rules, |
| Dept of Labor and Industries, |
| Adopted April 20, 2000 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
______________
A TRAGIC STORY
Claudette Grieb
How I wish I could have afforded to be at the Memory and Reality
conference. I know I would have met many courageous and enlightened
individuals and some exceptional new friends. I have recently emerged
from emotional paralysis following the death of my daughter and
granddaughter and I am determined to turn that horrendous tragedy into
some good.
In Canada, as in other countries, an individual with little
training has the right to advertise as a therapist. My daughter's
"therapist," who specialized in working with single welfare moms, was
ill-equipped to deal with my daughter's serious physical and mental
problems.
Yet she charged a handsome fee even to single welfare moms; I
know because I have the receipts. My daughter found her therapist
through the gay community but this was not her first experience with
therapy. Jackie, who had a rough early childhood because of physical
ailments, started to blossom when she was five years old and continued
flourishing until her last year in high school when she was
seventeen. At that point, she very publicly announced that she was a
lesbian.
I would be less than honest if I said that the family was pleased,
but we adjusted and welcomed her and her friends to our home. Jackie,
unfortunately, quickly encountered a great deal of discrimination in
our Canadian city because of her sexual orientation, and she became
very wild. She started taking drugs, she had herself tattooed and, to
our great distress, she became friends with some very strange people.
Jackie had always been moody, but with the drugs, these mood
changes were intensified. She saw our family doctor who said that she
was depressed, borderline suicidal, and had feelings of inadequacy.
Jackie also had pelvic pain that he diagnosed as endometriosis. He
prescribed an antidepressant and she was referred to a surgeon for the
pain. Jackie, who had a distrust of male doctors, refused to take the
antidepressants or to follow the surgeon's advice. Instead she tried
alternative health remedies and visited clinics for the next few years
when she felt she needed help.
Jackie continued on this wild streak for several years but then
returned and seemed to start settling down. She even opened a shop in
town. When she lost the shop a year later because the building was
sold, she decided it was time to have a baby. By 1997, my daughter was
a 25-year-old single mom and a brilliant self-taught painter, but she
was still involved with drugs and unsavory people. More important,
however, she seemed to be suffering from the onset of paranoid
schizophrenia, a condition that had affected several of her relatives
when in their mid-twenties. Two, in fact, are institutionalized.
My daughter had sought therapy because she was depressed and
having panic attacks and nightmares. She was also distressed because
of her many tattoos that she no longer wanted. Her therapist, whose
credential is a masters level degree in sociology, did not attend to
Jackie's drug problems and apparently did not even bother to take a
family history. If she had, she would have learned of the family
history of schizophrenia. This therapist saw only "repressed memories
of sexual abuse" as the source for all Jackie's current problems. My
daughter didn't have a chance.
Allegations of childhood sexual abuse were first raised against
her father, then against both of us. By August, 1997, Jackie divorced
herself from the family, made death threats against us, and refused to
let us continue our visits and to babysit with our beautiful
granddaughter. We were in shock, weeping and suffering in
silence. Later Jackie retracted the accusations against her dad but
intensified the ones against me.
By February 1998, my marriage had broken down and my son, a
brilliant scholar who could not stand all the pain caused by his
sister's accusations and cutting off, chose to move to another
country.
According to a homicide detective's statement, on June 4, 1998 my
daughter's lesbian lover announced to her that she was leaving. By
this time in her "therapy," my daughter had no one else to turn to,
although we would have taken her back unconditionally if she could
just have found her way home. Instead, in despair and obvious
insanity, an hour and a half later my daughter killed her own
two-year-eleven-month-old daughter, Dagmar, by hanging her. Then my
daughter hanged herself.
The horror of her death was compounded. I was not told about it
right away because the person who was supposed to tell me was instead
meeting with some of my daughter's "friends" to plan the theft of her
estate. By the time I was able to be involved, my daughter's
paintings, her personal possessions, her entire estate had all
disappeared. I had to go shopping to buy decent clothes for the burial
of two nude bodies.
When I arrived at the funeral home, my daughter's and Dagmar's
caskets had been desecrated with dirty bird feathers, a skull hanging
from a chain, a bag of marijuana, and weird beads. Perhaps these were
supposed to be gifts from the new-age, drug-taking people into whose
company she had fallen and who stole her paintings.
When I went to the authorities to attempt to redress the theft,
fabricated charges were brought against me and I was dragged into
court where not a shred of evidence was provided against me. For me,
however, the worst insult of all was the fact that for many months,
local papers printed negative and hurtful articles about my daughter
and her alleged abusive family.
A "therapist" threw a bomb in our family. She ignored the serious
consequences of years of drug abuse and a family history of
schizophrenia, instead becoming a judge and jury. The most rudimentary
assessment of Jackie would have pointed to the professional help she
so desperately needed. I continue to be haunted by nightmares of a
baby shaking and hanging from a boot string. Why? Why did it happen?
How can our society tolerate unqualified therapists preying on
vulnerable people? I am dedicating my life to changing that.
A Mom
+---------------------------------------------------------+
| It is a virtue to keep an open mind when evaluating new |
| ideas, "just not so open that your brains fall out." |
| James Obert |
| Repeated by Carl Sagan 1995, Demon Haunted World |
+---------------------------------------------------------+
______
Coping
What helped the most was my assuring both grandmothers, now gone, that
I would not let one child gone sour ruin my life or affect our
relationship with out wonderful two sons and a daughter-in-law who
excel in filling the gap left by one lost child. That thought has
helped me through, as has a career and courage from reading your
newsletter to tell our story. It's amazing how many others then open
up to confess they have experienced the same thing.
A Mom
_______________
New Perspective
The convention was wonderful. I must tell you that my daughter did not
want to come at first. After we got there and she finally realized
that we really didn't blame her for this whole mess but that she was a
victim of bad therapy, the whole situation changed. Now she is ready
to start a very aggressive campaign against the people who harmed her
so that it will never happen to anyone else.
A Mom
**********************************************************************
* DID YOU MOVE? *
* Do you have a new area code? Remember to inform the *
* FMSF Business Office *
**********************************************************************
* *
* IMPORTANT CONFERENCE ABOUT *
* CHILD AND ADULT FALSE ACCUSATIONS *
* *
* National Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center *
* Ninth International Conference *
* CHILD ABUSE ALLEGATIONS: *
* 2000 AND BEYOND *
* September 14-16, 2000 *
* Adam's Mark Hotel *
* Kansas City, Missouri *
* *
* Speakers include: Maggie Bruck, Ph.D., Philip Esplin, Ed.D., *
* Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., Richard Ofshe, Ph.D., Debra Poole, Ph.D., *
* Robert Rosenthal, J.D., Carol Tavris, Ph.D. *
* *
* For more information *
* Contact 419-865-0513 *
* *
**********************************************************************
* www.MEMORY AND REALITY.org *
* or *
* http://www.FMSFonline.org *
* *
* Have you seen the new look of our webpages? *
* Back Issues of the FMSF Newsletter to 1993 are available. *
* Check out the new unit on hypnosis? *
**********************************************************************
* *
* Back issues of the FMSF Newsletter to March 1992, the start of *
* FMSF, are soon to be available at www. FMSFonline.org *
* *
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* WEB SITES OF INTEREST *
* *
* www.StopBadTherapy.com *
* Contains phone numbers of professional regulatory boards *
* in all 50 states *
* *
* www.IllinoisFMS.org *
* Illinois-Wisconsin FMS Society *
* *
* www.afma.asn.au *
* Australian False Memory Association. *
* *
* www.bfms.org.uk *
* British False Memory Society *
* *
* www.geocities.com/retractors *
* This site is run by Laura Pasley (retractor) *
* *
* www.geocities.com/~therapyletters/index.htm *
* This site is run by Deb David (retractor) *
* *
* www.chordate.com/therapys_delusions/index.html *
* Website about book Therapy's Delusions. *
* *
* www.sirs.com/uptonbooks/index.htm *
* Upton Books *
* *
* www.chordate.com/therapys_delusions/index.html *
* Website about book Therapy's Delusions. *
**********************************************************************
* *
* If you are having trouble locating books about the recovered *
* memory phenomenon because bookstores tell you they are out of *
* print, try the *
* Recovered Memory Bookstore *
* www.angelfire.com/tx/recoveredmemories/ *
* *
**********************************************************************
* 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.) *
**********************************************************************
* *
* 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. *
* *
**********************************************************************
_____________________________________
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
ALABAMA
Montgomery
Madge 334-244-7891
ALASKA
Kathleen 907-337-7821
ARIZONA
Barbara 602-924-0975; 602-854-0404 (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 415-984-6626 (am); 415-435-9618 (pm)
East Bay Area - (bi-MO)
Judy 925-376-8221
Central Coast
Carole 805-967-8058
Central Orange County - 1st Fri. (MO) @ 7pm
Chris & Alan 714-733-2925
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
Wichita - Meeting as called
Pat 785-738-4840
KENTUCKY
Louisville- Last Sun. (MO) @ 2pm
Bob 502-367-1838
MAINE
Bangor
Irvine & Arlene 207-942-8473
Rumbold
Carolyn 207-942-8473
Protland - 4th Sun.(MO)
Wally & Boby 207-878-9812
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
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
St. Louis Area - call for meeting time
Karen 314-432-8789
Springfield - 4th Sat. Apr,Jul,Oct @12:30pm
Tom 417-753-4878
Roxie 417-781-2058
MONTANA
Lee & Avone 406-443-3189
NEW JERSEY
Southern
Sally 609-927-5343
Northern
Nancy 973-729-1433
NEW MEXICO
Albuquerque -2nd Sat. (bi-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 440-356-4544
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
Winnipeg
Roma 240-275-5723
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
Penetanguishene
Paula 705-549-1423
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 Sept/Oct Newsletter is August 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, July 1, 2000
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., (deceased) University
of Pennsylvania, 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
California, Santa Cruz, CA; THOMAS A. SEBEOK, Ph.D., Indiana Univers-
ity, 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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Telephone FAX
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This address and the phone numbers have changed as of July 15, 2000
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