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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)
May/June 2005 Vol.14 No. 3
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ISSN #1069-0484. Copyright (c) 2005 by the FMS Foundation
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The FMSF Newsletter is published 6 times a year by the
False Memory Syndrome Foundation. The newsletter is
mailed to anyone who contributes at least $30.00. Also
available at no cost on www.FMSFonline.org
1955 Locust Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-5766
Phone 215-940-1040, Fax 215-940-1042
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In this issue...
Pendergrast
Legal Corner
From Our Readers
Bulletin Board
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Dear Friends,
In New Hampshire, the Hungerford criteria [1] for the admission of
repressed-memory evidence remain the standard. In the November/
December 2004 Newsletter we wrote about a challenge to those criteria
that had been raised in the case of NH v. Bourgelais. The Legal Corner
of this issue reviews the April 4 ruling of Judge Tina Nadeau:
"[T]he court determines, based on the law and the evidence, that the
reliability of memory retrieval has not been sufficiently
established to allow the introduction of Rhianna's memories here."
In the decision, Judge Nadeau reviews the testimony of several of the
experts, explaining how they shaped her decision. She was particularly
impressed by Peggy Ward, Ph.D., a clinician who believes in recovered
memories but who concluded that there is "no consensus regarding the
mechanisms causing repression, the process of retrieval or whether
repressed memories are as reliable as ordinary memories." She
considered Dr. Ward impartial.
Judge Nadeau was critical of prosecution expert Daniel Brown, Ph.D.,
who urged that the criteria be changed. Brown had also testified in
the 1997 Hungerford hearing, presenting the results of sixteen studies
that obviously did not persuade the court. This time, Brown presented
eighty-five studies claiming to show repression. Judge Nadeau wrote:
"the court concludes that the same or similar methodological critiques
still apply." She noted that the studies continued to rely on self-
reporting and that the prospective studies did not address the
reliability of the resulting recovered memory. She also wrote that Dr.
Brown "improperly applied" one psychological test and that he used
tests that "were designed for use clinically and not forensically."
It is heartening that the precedent-setting Hungerford criteria have
withstood several challenges. It's an indication that the trend toward
caution with recovered memory evidence continues. The Shanley decision
reported in the last newsletter issue appears to be the exception.
Since the Quattrocchi case in Rhode Island, courts have generally
maintained skepticism about the reliability of recovered-memories in
criminal cases.
This issue of the newsletter has summaries of several articles that
push the frontiers of knowledge about false memories. New articles
from Richard McNally's lab at Harvard provide insight into the
cognitive processes of people who are more likely to develop false
memories: many of them show poor source monitoring and many have had
experiences with sleep paralysis. Mark Pendergrast described "sleep
paralysis," in the Victims of Memory chapter "How to Believe the
Unbelievable." The newsletter has been reprinting that chapter, and
the section on sleep paralysis appeared in the last issue. (In this
issue, Pendergrast writes about "flashbacks," body memories," and
"symptom lists.")
An article by Stephan Lewandowsky and colleagues shows that people
often "believe a 'fact' that fits their views even if it's clearly
false."[2] An understanding of this phenomenon helps explain why so
many accusers cling to their false memories in the face of information
that shows that the events could not have happened. It also makes
concrete something most families know all too well: once a person is
accused of child abuse that person's reputation is terribly harmed.
Lewandowsky et al. write: "The news media would do well to keep in
mind that once we report something, some people will always believe it
even if we try to stuff the genie back in the bottle."
Martha Beck's new memoir attacks the reputation of her famous father,
Hugh Nibley. Her book, Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and
Found My Faith, has garnered much publicity not only because of her
dad's fame but also because her 7 siblings have all stated that much
of what she writes is not true. Almost all reviews of the book have
been positive. Not the review in this newsletter issue.
FMSF Newsletter readers approach a book of this sort with a huge
background of information, both professional and personal. For
example, one reviewer wrote that Beck "organizes a meeting with her
alert nonagenarian father."[3] FMSF readers will likely see the event
as described in the book as an incredible and cruel confrontation. The
reviewer does not explain that this "meeting" was planned with
deception. Beck asked a cousin who visited her father frequently to
suggest going for a drive. When her father was in the car, he was
taken to a hotel room to meet with his daughter. He did not go to a
confrontation knowingly and had no way to leave that room to return
home. Beck tells us that he was dependent on the person who drove him
there.
There were three women who were a part of the confrontation: Beck, the
driver-cousin who hid in the closet but who later emerged and also
confronted Nibley, and another woman in the next room. The reviewer
mentioned above wrote that Beck's book exposed "The theocratic
patriarchy of Mormonism." That may or may not be true. What does seem
to be true is that it took three able-bodied women to confront one
small frail 90-year-old man.
The presentation of recovered-memories in the media continues to be a
problem, especially in local papers. We laughed at the title of one
article: "Writers never forget amnesia"[4] because it seemed so apt.
Unfortunately, disturbing samples of uncritical acceptance cross our
desk daily. Two recent examples:
"What Bonnie was suffering from back in 2003 were repressed memories
of being sexually molested as a child nearly 40 years ago -- a fact
she said she didn't realize until she met Peters at a support group
in her church."
"Peters, also a sexual abuse survivor, had just started up Angels 2
Stop Sex Abuse, a Huber Heights based group aimed at increasing
awareness about sexual abuse of children within families."
"But she kept working with me. Over the course of the last year
through conversations and emails, I have begun to realize what had
happened to me when I was a child."
Srivastava, M. (2005, March 24)
Sex victims give help
Dayton Daily News, Z5-1
"A 52-year-old woman filed a lawsuit against Tucson convent alleging
she was held captive and physically and sexually abused more than a
half-century ago... [S]he became an indentured servant... She was a
cleaning servant and a sex slave... She was chained and held in a
hidden room... raped, sodomized, repeatedly beat, psychologically
abused and deprived of food and water...[S]he recovered her memories
of abuse through therapy... [M]ost of the nuns named in the lawsuit
are deceased."
Woman sues Tucson convent for half-century-old abuse
(2005, April 7) Retrieved from Arizona Daily Star
http://www.azstarnet.com April 8
The good news is that the national media continue to present accurate
information about memory. An outstanding example was a recent CNN
series in March featuring many outstanding memory researchers. (See
box below.)
The last decade's gains in public and professional understanding about
memory have not been lost. Indeed, the frontiers of false memory
research are expanding. What is clear, however, is that there is still
a great need for educational efforts, especially the education of a
new generation of reporters. Please keep up your wonderful efforts.
PAMELA
[1] www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme/opinions/1997/hungrfrd.htm
[2] Begley, S. (2005, February 4). People believe a 'fact' that fits
their views even if it's clearly false. Wall Street Journal, B1;
Lewandowsky, S. et al. (2005). Memory for fact, fiction, and
misinformation: The Iraq War 2003. Psychological Science 16 (3)
190-195.
[3] Gambotto, A. (2005, April 16). Fleeing the grip of a spiritual
black hole. The Australian, B13.
[4] Oldenburg, A. (2005, February 9). Writers never forget amnesia.
USA Today, 3D.
+------------------------------------------------------+
| SPECIAL THANKS |
| |
| We extend a very special `Thank you' to all of |
| the people who help prepare the FMSF Newsletter. |
| |
| EDITORIAL SUPPORT: Janet Fetkewicz, Howard |
| Fishman, Peter Freyd |
| COLUMNISTS: Members of the FMSF Scientific advisory |
| Board and Members who wish to remain anonymous |
| LETTERS and INFORMATION: Our Readers |
+------------------------------------------------------+
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "The dominant view is that the neurocircuitry underlying my memory |
| ... is widely distributed throughout the brain... So the visual |
| memory of what things look like might be stored much closer to the |
| visual association area of the cortex. The memory of the |
| sounds,... would be located in the parts of the brain more closely |
| associated with the auditory cortex. And so on... |
| |
| "If memory were like a book in a library, then we could always go |
| to that spot and pull it out. And it would always be like the |
| book -- maybe just a little worn from being used, but the words |
| would still be there in the same order. But that's not the way our |
| memories ordinarily are, with the possible exceptions of things we |
| memorize extremely well (like a social security number, phone |
| number or spouse's name).
| |
| "Remembering is a constructive process, in which the brain is very |
| active in pulling out information in an attempt to integrate that |
| information to create what we then record and recall as the |
| memory... |
| |
| "Our memories of events that are slightly or somewhat exciting are |
| just like all our other memories, they just last longer. They are |
| just a little stronger." |
| James McGaugh (2005, March 22). |
| McGaugh: Memory a long, remarkable process. |
| American Morning. CNN (Transcript 032201CN.V74). |
\____________________________________________________________________/
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THE ULTIMATE CONFRONTATION
FMSF Staff
"[I]n a sense all memoirs are fiction because they are the result of
selected memories."
Bartlett, K. (2005, April 1)
A glance at the April/May issue of bookforum:
blurring fact and fiction.
Chronicle of Higher Education.
Beck, Martha (2005).
Leaving the Saints: How I Lost the Mormons and Found My Faith.
Crown Publishers: New York.
Leaving the Saints is a memoir by Martha Beck, who recovered memories
of childhood ritual sexual abuse by her father, Hugh Nibley, a revered
and celebrated Mormon scholar. The well-written book has received
national attention, although Beck's seven siblings have condemned her
accusations and retained attorney Christopher Barden.
Some reviews of the book have noted Beck's bravery in speaking out
about her abuse. The Random House (Crown) blurb describes the book as
"one woman's spiritual quest and journey toward faith." FMSF
Newsletter readers, however, will likely see it from a different
perspective: the book includes a deliberate description of deception
and a cruel confrontation.
Beck, a life coach, is the author of Expecting Adam about her Downs
syndrome child. She writes a monthly column for O, The Oprah Magazine.
In fact, the Oprah web site is reported to have received more than
3,500 messages about Leaving the Saints as a consequence of its
mention on the site.
Leaving the Saints begins in a hotel room with Beck confronting her
90-year-old frail, but alert, father about the alleged abuse, hoping
that he will admit his guilt. This is not the first time Beck
confronted her dad. She recovered her memories over a decade ago, at
the height of the recovered-memory movement, and at that time Nibley
denied the accusations. Most of the book involves Beck's reveries of
her life and faith with the confrontation interspersed. The details of
the confrontation emerge slowly. It is not until p. 192, for example,
that we learn how Beck got Hugh Nibley to the hotel room.
"My father takes off his hat, allowing me to see that his eyes are
angry and afraid. He doesn't know how long I'm going to keep him
here, or how he's going to get home. My cousin Diane brought him to
the hotel, after dropping into my parents' home and asking if he'd
like to go for a drive... I wonder how he regards Diane right now.
I'm sure he feels kidnapped, betrayed, shanghaied in the worst way."
(p.192)
Beck writes that she had arranged the confrontation "as a
psychological laboratory." (p.5) Although she did not tape the
conversation, she had her cousin hide in the closet and another
accomplice hid in the next room.
Beck describes her approach:
"Clearly, I'm not going to be able to help my father relax. The
situation in the hotel room is too weirdly stressful, his position
too much like that of a hostage. Seeing that I don't have a prayer
of making him comfortable, I decide to make him even more
uncomfortable. But in a good way. A way, I tell myself, that will
later make him glad." (p.84)
As the confrontation continues she notices that her father is tiring:
"Even in the non-Mormon world, common courtesy would dictate that I
wrap up my end of the conversation. The man is old, he's tired, he's
uncomfortable, and he's already shared more with me during this
brief meeting than he did in my entire career as a devoted daughter,
prior to the most recent decade. I'm sure any patient, high-minded,
enlightened person would let him go right now. Me, I'm just getting
started." (p.111)
"I know you'd like to get going," I stammer, sounding ambivalent
even to myself, "but I want ... I mean, there are a couple of things
I need to ask you first... His face tenses into an expression that
looks like annoyance, but I recognize it as fear." (p.121)
Beck tells us that she believes that her father had abused her because
she concluded that his mother had abused him. (p.127) She writes that
her father had PTSD from the war and gave it to her. Beck perceives
that she and her father are sparring opponents. She reports that her
father says of the accusations:
"It's revolting, these ridiculous allegations all over the
country-and there's no truth to any of them. No evidence
whatsoever. Prove one case to me, if you can. All fiction." (p.125)
Beck is aware of her father's discomfort and at one point writes:
"I grin, but my father is not amused. He looks longingly toward the
hotel room door, apparently realizing I'm not about to let him
leave. I'm stabbed by the pity I feel for zoo animals locked in
cages that are too small for them." (p.145)
Close to the end of the book, we learn that Diane (the driver) also
confronts Hugh Nibley. (p.225) "I have to get back to work," my father
tells her, and once again I hear the struggle in his voice, half of
him still in the role of the adult commanding children, the other half
helplessly dependent on Diane for transportation. (p.245) "You've kept
me from my work long enough," he says to Diane. "Let's end this
foolishness now." (p.253)
"You poor thing!" says Diane, patting my father's shoulder. "All
these questions, all these memories."
"It's like a military tribunal," my father mutters, still angry..."
(p.287)
"All we're trying to do here," Diane tells my father, "is heal our
family..." (p. 288)
Much of Martha Beck's reverie is devoted to discrediting the work of
her father. Beck's brother-in-law, B. J. Petersen, however, has
provided convincing contradictory evidence to her claims. (Petersen,
2005) Other articles have noted that Beck neglected to include many
facts about her life that could be considered relevant to the story.
For example, she does not mention that she consulted with Utah
psychotherapist Lynne Finney, a leading practitioner of
recovered-memory therapy, including self-hypnosis, around the time she
recovered her memories. (Wyatt, 2005) Beck doesn't mention that she
read The Courage to Heal by Bass and Davis. (Stack, 2005)
Attorney Christopher Barden has asked why the published reviews of
Leaving the Saints have omitted the details of the cruel
confrontation.[1] Is it a commentary on society's acceptance of
cruelty to aged parents or an indication that anything goes if the
subject is child abuse? Sadly, Hugh Nibley died in February at the
age of 94, three years after the confrontation. Commenting on his
death, Martha Beck was quoted in the Deseret News:
"He was so beautiful, full of love and joy. I hope I can live the
rest of my life to honor his memory, as paradoxical as that seems."
[1] Barden, C. (2005, April 8). Personal communication.
Moore, C.A. (2005, February 25). Revered LDS scholar Hugh Nibley dies
at 94. Deseret News. (Retrieved 2/27/05.)
Petersen, B.J. (2005). Response to "Leaving the Saints". The
Foundation for Apologetic Information and Research.
(www.fairlds.org/Reviews/Rvw200504.html). Retrieved 3/18/05.
Stack, P.F. (2005, February 5). Rebel Mormon's memoir ignites a furor.
Salt Lake Tribune, A1.
Wyatt, E. (2005, February 24). A Mormon daughter's book stirs a storm.
New York Times. E 1.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "True memories seemed like phantoms, while false memories were so |
| convincing that they replaced reality." |
| Gabriel Garcia Marquez |
| Strange Pilgrims (1992) |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
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Recent Research Articles of Interest
SOURCE MONITORING
McNally, R.J., Clancy, S.A., Barrett, H.M., Parker, H.A. (2005).
Reality monitoring in adults reporting repressed, recovered, or
continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse.
Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114 (1). 147-152.
Poor source monitoring has been proposed as a mechanism that might
lead people to develop false memories. Source monitoring is the
ability that enables people to identify the origins of the contents of
their minds. (Did I learn something from television or the newspaper?
Did this happen or did I imagine it?) The research reported in this
paper is the first to examine whether people who believe that they
harbor repressed memories of sexual abuse or who have recovered
memories of childhood sexual abuse differ from other people in their
ability to distinguish between products of perception and products of
imagination.
The researchers showed participants a series of words on cards and
also presented words on audiotape. They asked participants to compare
the relative heights of the first and fourth letter of each word. In
the audiotape condition, participants had to visualize the words.
Later participants were asked to tell whether they had seen or
imagined a particular word.
The authors found that adults reporting either repressed or recovered
memories of child sexual abuse were less able to discriminate between
words they had seen from words they had imagined seeing than were
adults reporting either never having forgotten their CSA or adults
reporting no history of CSA. Source monitoring distinguished people
who believe they have repressed or recovered memories from others. The
authors cautioned that the results did not reveal whether the ability
to distinguish reality from fantasy might vary as a function of the
emotional significance of the material.
BETRAYAL TRAUMA
McNally, R.J., Ristuccia, C.S., Perlman, C.A. (2005).
Forgetting of trauma cues in adults reporting continuous or
recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse.
Psychological Science 16 (4), 336-340.
Betrayal trauma theory predicts that adults who were sexually molested
by their caretakers are especially likely to dissociate (repress)
those memories. In 2004, DePrince and Freyd reported that college
students who scored high on a dissociation questionnaire showed memory
deficits for trauma words in an experiment in which they viewed the
words under divided attention conditions.[1]
McNally et al. replicated the DePrince and Freyd (2004) procedure to
test for memory deficits for trauma words relative to neutral words in
adults reporting either continuous or recovered memories of child
sexual abuse (CSA) compared with adults who said they had no history
of CSA. Although they expected that the recovered-memory group would
show a memory deficit for trauma words, the results indicated that all
three groups showed better recall for trauma words than for neutral
words. The researchers concluded that their findings "suggest that
DePrince and Freyd's (2004) results may not generalize to adults who
report forgetting and then recovering memories of CSA"
[1] DePrince, A.P. & Freyd, J.J. (2004). Forgetting trauma stimuli.
Psychological Science, 15, 488-492.
SLEEP PARALYSIS
McNally, R.J., Clancy, S.A. (2005)
Sleep paralysis in adults reporting repressed, recovered, or
continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse.
Journal of Anxiety Disorders 19, 595-602.
Richard McNally and Susan Clancy investigated the possibility that
people who have reported repressed or recovered memories of childhood
sexual abuse (CSA) may have misinterpreted episodes of sleep paralysis
as repressed or dissociated memories of CSA, an idea suggested by Mark
Pendergrast (1996). About 30% of the general population of college
students report experience with sleep paralysis, a non-pathological
phenomenon that occurs when a person wakes from rapid eye movement
sleep before motor paralysis has passed. About 5% of people report
tactile and visual hallucinations with the sleep paralysis, frequently
of visions of threatening intruders in the bedroom. (See FMSF
Newsletter March/April 2005 for a reprint of Pendergrast's discussion
of sleep paralysis.[1])
The researchers administered a sleep paralysis questionnaire to people
recruited from the community who had reported either repressed or
recovered memories of CSA, and also to people who had continuous
memories of CSA and to a control group with no history of CSA. They
analyzed the responses for prevalence of sleep paralysis and for the
explanations of the experiences given by the participants. The
researchers found that "people who say they were sexually abused in
childhood are more likely to experience sleep paralysis than do those
who deny a history of CSA." The authors note that their results seem
to be consistent with those of other scholars citing Watson (2001) who
wrote "People who are prone to interesting, vivid, and unusual
experiences during the day also tend to have them at night."[2]
[1] Pendergrast, M. (1996). Victims of Memory: Incest accusations and
shattered lives (rev. ed.). Hinesburg, VT: Upper Access.
[2] Watson, D. (2001). Dissociations of the night: individual
differences in sleep-related experiences and their relation to
dissociation and schizotypy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110,
526-535.
MEMORY FOR MISINFORMATION
Lewandowsky, S., Stritzke, W.G.K., Oberauer, K., Morales, M. (2005).
Memory for fact, fiction, and misinformation: The Iraq War 2003.
Psychological Science 16 (3) 190-195.
Past research has shown that people may continue to rely on
misinformation even if they remember and understand that the
misinformation was retracted. For example, mock jurors may continue to
rely on inadmissible evidence even when the judge has instructed them
to disregard it. However, if a judge tells the jury that the
inadmissible evidence might represent a deliberate attempt to
manipulate the jury, verdicts seem not to be affected by the
discredited information.
Lewandowsky et al. have added to our understanding of the conditions
that may influence whether or not people continue to believe
misinformation. They examined the extent to which people resisted
false memories and discounted misinformation by checking memory for
and beliefs about war-related events in two countries that supported
the 2003 Iraq War (United States and Australia) and one country that
did not (Germany). The researchers questioned participants about true
events, events that were first presented as facts but then retracted,
and fictional events. They found people in the United States were
least sensitive to correction of misinformation than were those from
Australia and Germany. These results are consistent with the notion
that people's readiness to discount misinformation increases if they
are suspicious of the motives behind the dissemination of the
information.
The authors concluded: "First, the repetition of tentative news
stories, even if they are subsequently disconfirmed, can assist in the
creation of false memories in a substantial proportion of people.
Second, once information is published, its subsequent correction does
not alter people's beliefs unless they are suspicious about the
motives underlying the events the news stories are about. Third, when
people ignore corrections, they do so irrespective of how certain they
are that the corrections occurred."
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| "What is memory but the repository of things doomed to be |
| forgotten, so you must have History. You must labor to invent |
| History. Being faithful to all that happens to you of |
| significance, recording days, dates, events, names, sights not |
| relying merely upon memory which fades like a Polaroid print where |
| you see the memory fading before your eyes like time itself |
| retreating." |
| Joyce Carol Oates. (1993) |
| Foxfire, p. 42 |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
The following is excerpted, with permission, from:
VICTIMS OF MEMORY:
SEX ABUSE ACCUSATIONS AND SHATTERED LIVES
Mark Pendergrast
(640 pages, $24.95, Upper Access Books, Hinesburg, VT).
Copyright 1996, all rights reserved.
The book can be ordered: www.upperaccess.com/books.htm#226v2, or
by calling 1-800-310-8320.
_______________________________
HOW TO BELIEVE THE UNBELIEVABLE
Continued
Chapter 3 pp. 119-149
Facilitated Communication and the Human Ouija Board
Flashbacks or Visions?
It is likely, then, that many of the so-called "flashbacks" reported
as repressed memories are the result of sleep deprivation, combined
with expectancy. Flashbacks themselves have been widely misunderstood.
Even in the case of war veterans, these very real terrors, often
triggered by the sound of an explosion, are not the reliving of actual
events. Rather, they are worst-fear scenarios, as John MacCurdy
pointed out in his classic 1918 book, War Neuroses.[59] MacCurdy
called such moments "visions," arguably a more accurate term than
flashback. Similarly, psychiatrists treating World War II veterans
found that leading patients to dramatically "relive" fictional events
seemed to help them as much as recalling a real trauma. One man who
had been in a tank regiment vividly visualized being trapped in a
burning tank. "This had never actually happened, though it must have
been a persistent fear of his throughout the campaign," his doctor
noted. [60] Similarly, under the influence of sodium Amytal, a
35-year-old Vietnam combat veteran "lived out" a feared fantasy of
having been captured and tortured by the Viet Cong, though nothing
like that had actually happened to him. [61]
An even more interesting war-related case occurred recently. In a
Vietnam veteran's support group, Ed recounted how he had watched a
buddy's head explode during a firefight. He had relived this and other
harrowing memories in therapy. But when one of his group members
called Ed's parents for help in staging a surprise birthday party, his
mother said, "What? He's in a veterans' recovery group? But he was
rated 4-F. He never was allowed to go to Vietnam!" Even when
confronted in the group, however, Ed maintained that his story was
true. He had fantasized his "flashbacks" so successfully that they had
become real. [62-63]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote: Psychologist Michael Yapko reports a similar case in which
a man convinced his wife, therapist, and apparently himself that he
was experiencing excruciating flashbacks to his imprisonment in a
Vietcong bamboo case. After he committed suicide, his widow tried to
locate his official military record and discovered that he had never
been in Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Body Memories and Panic Attacks
People who are trying to recover repressed memories are often told
that "the body remembers what the mind forgets," particularly in cases
of abuse suffered as a pre-verbal infant. These "body memories" can
take the form of virtually any form of physical ailment, from stomach
aches to stiff joints. As I document in Chapter 10, psychosomatic
complaints such as these have always been common in Western culture
and almost invariably accompany general unhappiness and anxiety. Add
to this the "expectancy effect," and it isn't surprising that during
the "abreaction" or reliving of an event, a woman might feel terrible
pelvic pain, or a man might experience a burning anus.
Those in search of memories often submit to massages by experienced
"body workers," who can trigger feelings either by light touch or
deeper muscle manipulation. "An area of your body may get hot or feel
numb," Renee Fredrickson assures readers in Repressed Memories.
"Powerful emotions may sweep over you, causing you to weep or even cry
out." It is certainly true that people can experience profound,
inexplicable emotions while they are being massaged, particularly if
they are tense and unhappy in general. When they let down their guards
and relax, allowing intimate touch by a stranger, they often do weep.
Given the admonition to be on the lookout for any stray sensation,
many subjects have no difficulty locating and interpreting various
body memories. Fredrickson gives two examples: "She [Sarah] was
undergoing a passive form of body work involving laying on of hands
when she had a slowly burgeoning sense of rage at her father for
abusing her." Later on, Sarah discovered that the "exquisite
sensitivity" of her toes was caused by her grandfather having shoved a
wood chip under her toenail. [64]
Some "body memories" take the form of rashes or welts that fit
particular memory scenarios. The mind can apparently produce
remarkable and sometimes quite specific effects of the body. As I
already mentioned, hypnotic suggestion can actually remove warts,
while some people can consciously control their pulse rates,
respiration, or blood flow.[65] Some observers claim to have
documented cases of "stigmata" -- replicating the wounds of Christ --
that, if true, indicate how mental concentration can even cause
spontaneous bleeding. As Ian Wilson writes in All In the Mind, "the
nail-wounds in the hands have varied from simple red spots in some to
complete penetrations of the flesh in others, again taking every
conceivable shape -- oval, round, square, oblong." These shapes
usually correspond to the wounds portrayed on the crucifix before
which the stigmatic worships.[66]
One such case involved Elizabeth K., who entered therapy with
psychiatrist Alfred Lechler in 1928 when she was 26. Since her early
teens, she had suffered from headaches, nausea, paralyses, blackouts,
and bowel disorders. By the time she came to see Dr. Lechler,
Elizabeth suffered from insomnia and had attempted suicide. She proved
to be highly suggestible, with a tendency to take on any medical
symptoms she heard about. Lechler hypnotized her, getting her to
produce the classic stigmata of Christ. Later, after she had returned
to normal consciousness, the psychiatrist asked her to picture
bloodstained tears. Within a few hours, blood welled up inside
Elizabeth's eyelids and poured down her cheeks. [67]*[68] In Michelle
Remembers, Michelle Smith evidently possessed similar powers,
producing a red rash on her neck that her psychiatrist interpreted as
a welt left by the devil's tail. [69]
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote: It is possible, however, that Elizabeth somehow faked
these phenomena. As a psychologist pointed out in 1946, one hypnotic
subject, eager to show his abilities, "proved" that he could raise
blisters under suggestion. Secret observations through a peep-hole,
however, showed him "deliberately rub the bandage with all his
strength so as to irritate the skin beneath. Worse still, some
subjects were seen to take a needle [and] thrust it under the
bandage."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Nothing so dramatic need account for most "body memories," however.
One of the most common was recounted by A.G. Britton in her article,
"The Terrible Truth." She experienced a choking sensation and
interpreted that as evidence that her father had forced his penis into
her mouth when she was a baby. It turns out, though, that a
constricted throat is one nearly universal human reaction to fear and
anxiety. In fact, the word "anxious" derives from the Latin word
meaning "to strangle."[70] This classic symptom -- an inability to
swallow and the feeling of being choked -- is now one of the
diagnostic symptoms for panic disorders. For hundreds of years it was
called, among other things, globus hystericus, because it felt as
though a ball were rising from the abdomen and lodging in the throat.
Many people who fear that they may have been abused suffer repeated
panic attacks at unexpected moments and, with their therapists'
encouragement, interpret them as repressed memories surging forth from
the subconscious. Yet these little-understood episodes are extremely
common. As psychologist David Barlow points out in his comprehensive
text, Anxiety and Its Disorders, "Anxiety disorders represent the
single largest mental health problem in the country, far outstripping
depression." In Western cultures, reports of this affliction are much
more common among women than among men, although that is not so in
Eastern countries. Recent surveys indicate that 35 percent of
Americans report having experienced panic attacks.[71] Unfortunately,
those seeking help for severe anxiety disorders are frequently
misdiagnosed, seeing an average of ten doctors or therapists before
receiving appropriate help (See Chapter 13 for resources). [72]
As listed in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders, familiarly known as the DSM-IV, the
symptoms experienced during panic attacks (four or more being
sufficient by the official definition) sound like a checklist for what
trauma therapists interpret as body memories:[73]
(1) palpitations, pounding heart, or accelerated heart rate, (2)
sweating, (3) trembling or shaking, (4) sensations of shortness of
breath or smothering, (5) feeling of choking, (6) chest pain or
discomfort, (7) nausea or abdominal distress, (8) feeling dizzy,
unsteady, lightheaded, or faint, (9) derealization (feelings of
unreality) or depersonalization (being detached from oneself), (10)
fear of losing control or going crazy, (11) fear of dying, (12)
paresthesias (numbness or tingling sensations), (13) chills or hot
flushes.[75]
Surprisingly, Barlow reports that "the overwhelming evidence is that
many phobias and the majority of fears are not learned through a
traumatic experience." Instead, panic attacks appear to stem from
contemporarily stressful life situations and a fearful mindset --
though biological factors and early childhood trauma may contribute to
a predisposition to anxiety disorders. Psychologists Aaron Beck and
Gary Emery give an example of a typical episode involving a
40-year-old man who, while on the ski slopes, began to feel shortness
of breath, profuse perspiration, and faintness. He thought he was
having a heart attack. In the midst of this, he had a vivid image of
himself lying in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask. It transpired
that this man's brother had just died of a heart attack, and he feared
the same might happen to him.
Similarly, people who think they may have repressed memories fear that
they may be like others they know (or have read about or seen on
television). They, too, may be unknowing incest victims who will have
flashbacks. For such people, panic attacks are often triggered when
they become over-tired or over-stressed and spontaneously envision
images of their worst fears, which, in turn, provoke even more
anxiety. "Once the fear reaction has started, " Beck and Emery write,
"it tends to build on itself." These "autonomous" images then "persist
without the patient's being able to stop them," and they seem utterly
real, "as though the traumatic episode were actually occurring in the
present."[74]
After the first attack of this inexplicable fear, a vicious cycle can
commence in which the very fear of another episode provokes it. This
would be particularly likely for a woman who is extremely stressed by
the idea that she might have been sexually abused and is minutely
aware of every bodily and emotional twinge. As David Barlow notes,
"self-focused attention greatly increases sensitivity to bodily
sensations and other aspects of internal experience. Furthermore, this
sensitivity . . . quickly spreads to other aspects of the self, such
as self-evaluative concerns." Barlow calls this process a "negative
feedback cycle" which leads to a chronic feeling of helplessness,
dependence, and self-absorption. [75] As Ann Seagrave and Faison
Covington -- two women who have overcome their panic attacks -- write
in Free from Fears, "We can become frightened to such a degree that we
learn to monitor every twitch, every ache, and it is in that way that
we often scare ourselves needlessly."[76]
One final point related to panic attacks seems quite puzzling. Attacks
are often triggered by deep relaxation exercises such as those which
induce hypnosis or guided imagery sessions. In one study, 67 percent
of a group of panic-disorder patients experienced three or more
symptoms while listening to a relaxation tape. As David Barlow notes,
"relaxation is surely the strangest of panic provocation procedures."
He hypothesizes that it may be caused by fear of losing control. [77]
Whatever the reason, this finding certainly relates to therapy clients
who are led to a "safe place" during deep relaxation exercises. It
contributes to our understanding of why they might experience panic
attacks during the process.
The scope of what recovered memory therapists sometimes label "body
memories" is staggering, encompassing virtually every illness or
somatic complaint. If you have cancer, asthma, multiple sclerosis, or
even AIDS, you may have contracted it because of your undiagnosed
repressed memories of sexual abuse. The same applies to tight muscles,
stuttering, facial tics, chronic headaches, or diarrhea. Some women
have recovered memories (and sued for same) after being jarred in an
auto accident. Or "body memories" can be extraordinarily vague,
including the awkward way one moves. One woman's dance instructor
diagnosed her as having repressed memories from observing her in
practice. [78]
Symptoms: Pickle Aversion and Eating Disorders
For many potential "Survivors," neither hypnotism nor panic attacks
are necessary to believe the unbelievable. Belief that they must have
been molested as children is sometimes enough, without specific
"memories." In fact, as we have seen in Chapter 1, Ellen Bass and
Laura Davis inform their readers that symptoms are sufficient to
diagnose repressed memories, regardless of whether they are ever
visualized. And herein lies an important point: belief always precedes
memory, and is often sufficient unto itself. That is why the
therapeutic or self-help process is largely a matter of re-education.
That is why recovered-memory therapist Charles Whitfield often spends
over an hour carefully reviewing the criteria for post-traumatic
stress disorder with his clients, encouraging them to identify with
the symptoms. Not only does this give him a ready-made diagnosis that
an insurance company will pay for, but it labels the client a victim
of PTSD who must seek memories as an explanation. "Oh, my God, is this
what it is?" they exclaim. "Oh, does this explain a lot of things to
me now!" It is, as Whitfield tells his audiences, "like doing a jigsaw
puzzle, and you start to put the last piece of the puzzle in there,
and now you can see the big picture."[79] From there, it is a small,
almost inevitable step to some form of abuse memory retrieval.
As a species, human beings seem to have a natural desire for
explanations. As soon as they can speak, children begin pestering
their parents with "Why? Why? Why?" Often, there is no simple answer,
but patients seeking therapy are highly motivated to find specific
reasons for their unhappiness so that they can "fix" it. When
therapists tell them that they have all the "symptoms" of an incest
survivor, they can easily believe it. So that's why my marriage is so
difficult, why I yell at my children, why I can't hold a job, why I
have low self-esteem, why I feel uncomfortable at family reunions! Now
everything falls into place.
It's an answer that can be adapted to fit almost any question. Holly
Ramona, a young California woman whose father successfully sued her
therapists, doesn't like pickles, whole bananas, mayonnaise, cream
soups, melted cheese, or white sauce. According to Lenore Terr and
Holly's therapists, her eating habits are compelling evidence that her
father forced oral sex on her as a child, because pickles and bananas
are penis-shaped, and mayonnaise, creamy soups, and white sauce
resemble semen. [80] Of course, this logic could be used to label most
of the children in the United States as incest survivors. I don't like
bananas, either, and I don't like cooked okra because it's so slimy,
but I do not regard these personal aversions as evidence of childhood
molestation.
In addition to her distaste for pickles and bananas, Holly Ramona
entered therapy with a full-blown eating disorder. She was bulimic,
eating large amounts of food and then vomiting in a terrible
binge/purge cycle. Both bulimia and anorexia -- self-starvation --
have become epidemic ailments, particularly among young women, in
late-20th-century America. The reasons for such eating disorders are
complicated, but they clearly have a great deal to do with societal
pressure on women to remain abnormally thin. For quite a while, the
conventional wisdom held that women with eating disorders had
over-protective, over-involved mothers. In the last few years,
however, the blame has been shifted from mothers to fathers. Many
therapists consider eating disorders a nearly fool-proof symptom of
childhood incest. Holly Ramona's therapist told her that 80 percent of
all eating-disorder patients had been sexually abused.
Dr. William C. Rader, a self-styled expert, has written that
"approximately 85% of eating disordered patients have been sexually or
physically abused."[81] He derived this statistic by surveying
patients attending his own "Rader Institute," thirteen eating disorder
units located in Alabama, California, Texas, Illinois, Michigan,
Missouri, Oklahoma, Washington, and Massachusetts. [82] When I spoke
to a psychiatric nurse at a Florida unit, she told me that 90 to 95
percent of their clients found repressed memories of sexual abuse
during their stay. [83] Rader is clearly relying on a
self-perpetuating set of statistics, created by his own belief system.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Footnote: Dr. Rader's explanations for why incest survivors develop
eating disorders are illuminating. "For compulsive overeaters, fatty
tissue becomes a protective layer." On the other hand, "anorexics
may appear more like adolescent males than mature, sexually
desirable women," thus avoiding their sexuality. "For bulimics,
vomiting can become the mechanism of release for anger and pain. At
times, they will actually shout out the name of their perpetrator as
they vomit."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Indeed, many of the inpatient eating disorder units throughout the
United States -- well over 200 -- are virtual memory mills, with
incest survivor groups meeting daily. [84] The ads for such
institutions make their assumptions clear. "Shades of Hope is an all
addiction treatment center, specializing in the treatment of Eating
Disorders, Co-Dependency, and Survivors of Childhood Abuse," reads
one. Another promised: "At The Meadows our 'family of origin' therapy
uncovers original childhood traumas which often are at the root of
eating disorders."[85]
Yet there is no scientific evidence that eating disorders stem from
childhood molestation, as Harvard psychiatrists Harrison Pope and
James Hudson, specialists in the field, have repeatedly stressed.
"Current evidence does not support the hypothesis that childhood
sexual abuse is a risk factor for bulimia nervosa," they wrote in a
1992 article in the American Journal of Psychiatry. There are "no
differences in the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse between
bulimic patients and the general population."[86] Despite such
findings, thousands of vulnerable women desperate for help with their
eating disorders continue to search for repressed memories.
This search is particularly unfortunate, since many patients with
eating disorders respond to conventional medical treatment with
anti-serotonin uptake drugs such as Prozac. In a 1995 article, Susan
McElroy and Paul Keck describe three case studies of women with eating
or obsessive-compulsive disorders, all of whom initially believed that
they harbored repressed memories. All three responded quickly to
medical treatment. [87]
I will end with a cautionary tale recounted by psychologist Kay
Thompson. A female client sought therapy for help with a dental gag
reflex which prevented dentists from working on her. Under hypnosis,
she revealed that the gagging started soon after she received a
tonsillectomy when she was seven years old. Having located the psychic
root of the problem, the hypnotist suggested that it would no longer
bother her and, indeed, the symptoms disappeared. When she told her
family doctor about this miraculous cure, however, he told her she had
never had her tonsils removed. [88] Similarly, several young women
with intact hymens have "remembered" multiple childhood rapes. [89]
The moral: it is all too easy to identify the root cause for a current
symptom, even though it may be incorrect. There is no way to determine
simple causality for human behavior.
[59] MacCurdy, War Neuroses, p. 4-7.
[60] Sargant, Battle, p. 51.
[61] Kolb in Hypnosis and Memory, p. 268-269.
[62] Yapko, "Seductions of Memory," p. 31-32.
[63] "Grade Five Syndrome," Cornerstone, p. 16.
[64] Fredrickson, Repressed Memories, p. 146-147.
[65] Baker, Hidden, p. 150-151.
[66] Wilson, All in the Mind, P. 142-145; "Stigmatics" interview with
Ted Harrison; Harrison, Stigmata.
[67] Wilson, All in the Mind, p. 143-149.
[68] Estabrooks, Hypnotism, p. 44.
[69] Smith, Michelle Remembers, illustrations.
[70] Beck, Anxiety, p. 8.
[71] Barlow, Anxiety, p. 22, 28, 102-103.
[72] Foxman, Dancing with Fear, p. 3.
[73] Diagnostic, p. 395.
[74] Beck, Anxiety, p. 4-6; 90.
[75] Barlow, Anxiety, p. 226-229, 252-259.
[76] Seagrave, Free from Fears, p. 26.
[77] Barlow, Anxiety, p. 78-80, 148-151.
[78] FMSF Newsletter, March 1995, p. 7; FMSF Newsletter, Jan. 1996,
p.11.
[79] Whitfield, Healing...Continued, Tape 1.
[80] Lenore Terr on Maury Povich Show, May 25, 1994; Pope, "Recovered
Memories," p. 5.
[81] Rader, "Incest and Eating Disorders."
[82] Toni Luppino interview, Rader Institute, June 14, 1994.
[83] March, 1993 conversation with anonymous psychiatric nurse at
Hollywood, FL, Rader Institute.
[84] June Treacy interview, June 15, 1994, National Association of
Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.
[85] Ads for Shades of Hope and The Meadows in the 1994 Gurze Eating
Disorders Bookshelf catalog, Carlsbad, CA.
[86] Pope, "Is Childhood Sexual Abuse a Risk Factor?"; Pope,
"Childhood Sexual Abuse."
[87] McElroy, "Misattribution."
[88] Otani, "Memory in Hypnosis."
[89] Pamela Freyd interview, May 1994.
TO BE CONTINUED
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| "It is a capital mistake to theorize before one has data. |
| Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit theories, instead of |
| theories to suit facts." |
| Sherlock Holmes |
| In Arthur Connan Doyle's A Scandal in Bohemia (1891) |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
**********************************************************************
L E G A L C O R N E R
FMSF Staff
________________________________
New Hampshire Upholds Hungerford
NH v. Bourgelais, No. 02-S-2834, Rockingham, NH Sup. Ct. April 4, 2005
On April 4, after a 6-day pre-trial evidentiary hearing that began in
August of 2004, New Hampshire Justice Tina L. Nadeau denied a
prosecution motion to allow repressed memories as evidence at the
criminal trial of Philip Bourgelais. Bourgelais had been accused after
his 15-year-old daughter Rhianna Light (now 18) recovered memories of
childhood sexual abuse.[1]
"[T]he court determines, based on the law and the evidence, that the
reliability of memory retrieval has not been sufficiently
established to allow the introduction of Rhianna's memories here."
The Bourgelais case has been of particular interest because the State
prosecutors challenged the 1996 Hungerford decision in which the New
Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that repressed and recovered memories
are admissible only if eight criteria are met.[2] Four of those
criteria relate to the reliability of the science of recovered
memories and four concern the individual circumstances of how the
memories were recovered.
Judge Nadeau issued a 17-page order that provides insight into her
decision process as she reviewed the Hungerford criteria. For example,
Judge Nadeau wrote that "whether the court believes in the validity of
the phenomenon is not the legally required standard to apply in
determining whether the evidence is admissible. Instead, the court
must apply the standard articulated in Hungerford. In so doing, the
court cannot conclude that the phenomenon of repressed memory recovery
has yet been scientifically accepted."
Analyzing the experts' testimony, Judge Nadeau noted that even though
Dr. Daniel Brown presented eighty-five studies on repressed memories
as compared with the sixteen that he presented at the original
Hungerford hearing, the same or similar methodological critiques still
apply.
Judge Nadeau wrote that she found Dr. Margaret Ward, a licensed
clinical psychologist most persuasive because Dr. Ward has been
treating sexually abused people for 25 years, believes in repressed
memories, and has treated two people with delayed memories. The Judge
wrote that after examining over 90 studies, Dr Ward concluded that
"there is no consensus regarding the mechanisms causing repression,
the process of retrieval or whether repressed memories are as reliable
as ordinary memories." Dr. Ward also testified that there is no
agreement "for the mechanism by which those [repressed] memories
return to consciousness."
Judge Nadeau noted that Dr. Brown testified that the results of the
surveys showed that the phenomenon of recovered memory had gained
general acceptance in the psychological community. She wrote:
"the actual data suggest otherwise. For example, the surveys asked
whether the clinicians believed repressed memory was valid, was
possibly valid or was invalid. Dr. Brown concluded that the
clinicians who categorized repressed memory as possibly valid had
generally accepted the phenomenon as scientifically proven. The
court disagrees with this classification. On the contrary, a
clinician who indicates that the existence of repressed memory is
possible has merely stated an acceptance of an underlying hypothesis
rather than a conclusion that the phenomenon is generally accepted
in the field. Thus the surveys Dr. Brown relies on to prove that the
phenomenon is generally accepted actually demonstrate otherwise."
The defendants offered the testimony of Dr. David Medoff, an expert in
forensic psychological testing, to rebut Brown's testimony. Judge
Nadeau wrote:
"Dr. Medoff testified persuasively that the methodology and
interpretive techniques used by Dr. Brown to reach his conclusions
were flawed. For example, Dr. Medoff explained that Dr. Brown
improperly applied the Impact of Event Scale to this case. First,
the test uses no known cut score, thus making it an unacceptable
forensic tool. Second, the designers of the test intended it to
assess trauma that results from a single event, such as a car
accident, and not from a pattern of trauma over time, such as a
prolonged divorce or, in this court's opinion, years of abuse.
Finally, the test has never received peer review and has not been
generally accepted as a forensic assessment tool.
"Many of the other tests Dr. Brown employed were designed for use
clinically and not forensically. In addition, interpretation of the
particular tests was extremely subjective and some of the tests were
not accompanied by governing manuals, which generally ensure the
integrity of testing.
"Finally, Dr. Medoff testified that Dr. Brown's application of the
MMPI in this case did not comport with ethical guidelines and
violated the standards for appropriate MMPI interpretation.
Specifically, Dr. Brown failed to provide plausible alternative
explanations for the test results."
[1] Details of the accusations and descriptions of the testimony of
Daniel Brown, and Peggy Ward, Ph.D. for the State, and Harrison
Pope, M.D., for the defense were printed in the November/ December
2004 FMSF Newsletter.
[2] www.courts.state.nj.us/supreme/opinions/1997/hungrfrd.htm
The criteria: (1) the level of peer review and publication on the
phenomenon of repression and recovery of memories; (2) whether the
phenomenon has been generally accepted in the psychological
community; (3) whether the phenomenon may be and has been
empirically tested; (4) the potential or known rate of recovered
memories that are false; (5) the age of the witness at the time
the event or events occurred; (6) the length of time between the
event and the recovery of the memory; (7) the presence or absence
of objective, verifiable corroborative evidence of the event; and
(8) the circumstances attendant to the witness's recovery of the
memory, i.e. whether the witness was engaged in therapy or some
other process seeking to recover memories or likely to result in
recovered memories.
___________________________________
South Dakota Reforms License Boards
As a result of an investigation by the Sioux Falls Argus Leader
showing that the medical board was secretive and unlikely to
discipline doctors, Governor Mike Rounds signed legislation reforming
the South Dakota professional and occupational licensing boards. The
changes should give citizens "an opportunity to have a fair hearing,
... when they do have a grievance," said Sen. John Koskan. The new
law:
* Sets term limits for regulatory boards.
* Ensures there will be reasonable representation by lay people --
not just members of the professions being regulated -- on the
boards.
* Requires that regulatory boards and professional associations be
separate.
* Bans the requirement that people be members of professional
associations before they can be licensed.
* Lowers the burden of proof for disciplinary actions, saying they
should involve misconduct or negligence, instead of gross
misconduct or gross negligence -- which require proof of an intent
to do harm.
Editorial (2005, March 29).
Reforms warranted. Argus Leader, 5B.
UPDATES:
WENATCHEE (Washington): Last August, the Washington Court of Appeals
ruled that Wenatchee must pay the $718,000 in sanctions after the
finding that the city had intentionally misled plaintiffs and a
judge. A lawyer who represents plaintiffs in the case said: "We think
it's a great decision for a number of reasons. It restores the
plaintiffs' rights, it recognizes the city committed egregious abuses,
and it sends a clear message to other municipal defendants who might
want to withhold discovery." Barber, M (2004, August 4). Wenatchee
must pay up, court rules. Seattle PI, B1.
GENESIS GROUP (Pennsylvania): Cornelia Maggio, lawyer for the Genesis
Group, was disbarred on Consent from the Bar of Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania on November 16, 2004.[1] The Genesis Group was the
therapy cult made infamous in the Frontline Divided Memories
documentary
[1] Pa. v. Maggio No. 977 #3. Sup Ct. of Pa. LEXIS 2861. Nov. 16. 2004
Decided.
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Trauma and Memory |
| |
| "[I]f something is highly significant to you personally, you are |
| going to be emotionally excited about it and you are going to |
| remember it better. Not necessarily perfect: This is not making |
| perfect memories, this is making stronger and longer lasting |
| memories. |
| |
| "We have all these degrees of excitement and remembrance, and then |
| we can move onto severe trauma. If you're on the [battlefield] and |
| your friend's head gets shot off, that's a little more exciting |
| than your high school graduation. There will be a very strong |
| memory of that and that can lead to post-traumatic stress disorder |
| at the extreme." |
| James McGaugh (2005, March 22) |
| McGaugh: Memory a long, remarkable process |
| American Morning. CNN (Transcript 032201CN.V74) |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
F R O M O U R R E A D E R S
__________________
Recovered-Memories
Newspapers, accusers, and even FMS families talk about recovered
memories, but many people seem confused about what constitutes a
recovered-memory. I thought it might be helpful to give some examples.
I have one of the most documented recovered-memory cases: I have
copies of clinical notes, letters, and government and police files
from which to take examples.
The first example, my daughter's "memory," was in her own handwriting.
The second example was a direct quote from the therapist's notes.
My daughter wrote:
"This memory is my latest It involves my mom. I have discussed bits
of it with her, but she does not remember the incident. It had taken
me almost a month to get this small amount but hopefully I will have
a complete picture soon, seeing as I've dealt with the worst of it.
"I am in the family room. It seems very dark. I am on the bean bag
chair with my father. I'm unclear but I think we are having
intercourse and I am sitting on him. The family room door is also a
sliding door. It is not locked. All of a sudden the door is open.
Mom is standing there. She is wearing blue jeans and a blue and
white shirt. She has an Afro hair do and I think it is relatively
new. Her face is pale and she looks very sad. The door is only
partially open and she closes the door. I don't think dad even
cares. I don't think mom even cares."
It took my daughter a month to "remember" this small amount. Note the
clear description of what her mother was wearing. That is an example
of the use of family photos to help build "memories." The therapy
notes show that family photos were being used in the therapy.
This "memory" of my daughter would indicate a period sometime between
1976 and 1980. It was "recovered" in 1991. One thing about having been
in the military is that as a family we moved often, and, consequently,
I can place the year in which an event would have happened, based on
where we were living at the time and who our friends were.
The following "memory" appears to be about similar multiple events
that would have to have occurred when she was 5 or 6 years old.
Therapist notes from Session 21: January 30, 1991
"Play with Adrienne -- 'I would do anything to keep a friend.' A
always wanted & did beat up on her. A and S played Barbies & A was
the only one S played this way with in that routinely the Barbies
got raped -- majority -- it didn't matter where they went -- no
control over their bodies. A & S would themselves pretend to be
drugged & then raped & sometimes they would try to pretend that they
had forgotten they had been raped."
There are several interesting things about this "memory." For example,
during this time period my daughter was not cognizant. She could not
tell which shoe to put on which foot. I know because I had to place
two small marks on the heels of all her shoes so that she could put
the marks together to help put the right shoe on the right foot.
At this time, she frequently would be so lost in her own dream world
that she would forget to get off the school bus on the way home from
school. The bus went past the front of our house.
This "memory" would indicate that both my daughter and her friend
played "rape" with their dolls. They would allegedly play at being
drugged and raped themselves. And then, they would pretend that they
had forgotten they had been raped. To accept this "memory," one must
accept that back in 1972 these five or six-year-old girls knew all
about the ideology of Recovered Memories.
The therapist involved in the excavation of the above "memory" wrote a
letter to the government to ask for more money. In the letter she
states that my daughter's case, "is clearly in the category of
severe."
I hope that some falsely accused parents will see how nonsensical a
recovered memory can be. I trust that proponents of excavating
memories who read these examples will begin to have some doubt, at
least in this case.
Lloyd Corney
__________________________
Beware Interpreting Dreams
Four years ago, having meaningful dreams and interpreting them became
crucial to me. I had been told that I was sexually and ritually abused
by my grandfather because my mother had begun to have memories of
this. I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' home. I insisted that
this had not happened because I had no memory of it. Then I realized
that my mother did not remember until recently either and decided that
my memories would come soon also. My mother's memories began with a
dream, so I thought I should begin looking at my dreams. I was told
that reliving my past would shed light on my life now. I hated my life
and longed for this to happen.
I told myself to dream of what had happened to me. For over a year, I
had dreams about being kidnapped and put into a child porn ring, of
being molested, and of trying to rescue babies from being killed. My
therapist and mother jumped on these dreams and said that they were my
repressed memories.
After much pain, my mother realized that her "memories" were false
because they had been induced. At this point, however, I was so
engrossed in my dreams that I wanted to believe that the abuse had
occurred. After reading a unit on dreams in school, I can now see why
I was having these dreams. My days were filled with hearing and
reading about sex abuse. I dreamed about the things I had been
thinking about.
People should be very cautious about putting meaning into their
dreams. The past four years of my life are proof of this.
Daughter of a retractor of SRA (1994)
___________________
Still Holding Anger
I think that the actions against recovered-memory therapists should be
held in criminal courts as well as civil courts. It is truly a crime
to destroy a close knit family. I must admit that I have the same
contempt for such practitioners that I had for the enemy in WW2 when I
saw what took place in the POW camps, especially in the Far East. I
was a doctor who observed the soldiers who lived through the Bataan
march. I became very angry then as I saw men who were just about
skeletons and heard their stories of the horror of the march. I still
have anger, even after so many years. How can man be so inhumane to
other human beings? I see it again with therapists who destroy
families. I doubt we will ever see our beautiful daughter again. Her
mind has been taken over as far as I can tell.
A dad
_______________________________
Loving Support From FMS Friends
We had a blessed holiday. Our dear daughter came to the family
gathering with her husband of one year and their children from
previous marriages. She seemed to truly enjoy herself. It was almost 3
years since she had any communication with her father and brothers.
She told her Dad that she loved him just as though nothing had
happened. We met with her again a week later, and she asked that she
be a part of our next Christmas holiday.
The loving support of local FMSF members has been what always kept us
hoping for the miracle we just experienced. May there be a
continuation of daughters and sons reconciling with those who love
them.
A mom
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Tongue in Cheek |
| |
| At first I forgot your address, but my therapist helped me recover |
| my memory just in time to send you this month's support check. |
| Thank goodness for recovered memory science! |
| A dad |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
______________________________
Oregon and Washington Families
Families in Oregon and Washington are organizing for action. If you
are interested joining them, contact
Donna Crace at 503-570-2957
___________________________________
Canadian Families and Professionals
Led by Adriaan Mak, Canadian families have been working hard on a
petition requesting that the Minister of Health coordinate with
federal and provincial colleagues in Justice, Health, and Social
Services to establish a committee of inquiry into false allegations of
childhood sexual abuse based on "memories" that were allegedly
repressed and subsequently recovered through questionable
psychotherapeutic techniques.
The success of the FMS groups in the Netherlands and Australian
organizing investigative commissions has spurred this action. It
follows Mr. Mak's presentation at the annual meeting in Toronto last
October.
For more information contact Adriaan Mak at: adriaanjwmak@rogers.com
______________________________SIDEBAR_______________________________
/ \
| Attachment Therapy |
| |
| Advocates for Children in Therapy is happy to announce a new |
| website dealing with pseudoscience known as Attachment Therapy |
| (AT) and the many abuses it inflicts on adopted and foster |
| children. |
| |
| http://www.ChildrenInTherapy.org/. |
| |
| The site contains much information about the nature and extent of |
| AT brutality. Look for our section, "What is AT?" for essays and |
| summaries on these topics: |
| |
| * Attachment Therapy: Child Abuse by Another Name |
| * Abusive Techniques |
| * AT versus Conventional Therapies |
| * Valid Evidence for AT? |
| * AT Parenting Techniques |
| * Reparenting |
| * Government Subsidies for AT |
| |
| Contact: Linda Rosa, RN |
| Executive Director |
| Loveland, CO (970) 667-7313 |
| rosa@ezlink.co |
\____________________________________________________________________/
**********************************************************************
* N O T I C E S *
**********************************************************************
* *
* WEB SITES OF INTEREST *
* *
* comp.uark.edu/~lampinen/read.html *
* The Lampinen Lab False Memory Reading Group *
* University of Arkansas *
* *
* www.exploratorium.edu/memory *
* The Exploratorium Memory Exhibit *
* *
* www.ctnow.com/memory *
* Hartford Courant memory series *
* *
* www.tmdArchives.org *
* The Memory Debate Archives *
* *
* www.francefms.com *
* French language website *
* *
* www.StopBadTherapy.com *
* Contains phone numbers of professional *
* regulatory boards in all 50 states *
* *
* www.IllinoisFMS.org *
* Illinois-Wisconsin FMS Society *
* *
* www.ltech.net/OHIOarmhp *
* Ohio Group *
* *
* www.afma.asn.au *
* Australian False Memory Association. *
* *
* www.bfms.org.uk *
* British False Memory Society *
* *
* www.geocities.com/retractor *
* This site is run by Laura Pasley (retractor) *
* *
* www.sirs.com/uptonbooks/index.htm *
* Upton Books *
* *
* www.angelfire.com/tx/recoveredmemories/ *
* Locate books about FMS *
* Recovered Memory Bookstore *
* *
* www.religioustolerance.org/sra.htm *
* Information about Satanic Ritual Abuse *
* *
* www.angryparents.net *
* Parents Against Cruel Therapy *
* *
* www.geocities.com/newcosanz *
* New Zealand FMS Group *
* *
* www.werkgroepwfh.nl *
* Netherlands FMS Group *
* *
* www.falseallegation.org *
* National Child Abuse Defense & Resource Center *
* *
* www.nasw.org/users/markp *
* Excerpts from Victims of Memory. *
* *
* www.rickross.com/groups/fsm.html *
* Ross Institute *
* *
* www.hopkinsmedicine.org/jhhpsychiatry/perspec1.htm *
* Perspectives for Psychiatry by Paul McHugh *
* *
* www.enigma.se/info/FFI.htm *
* FMS in Scandinavia - Janet Hagbom *
* *
* www.ncrj.org *
* National Center for Reason & Justice *
* *
* www.lyingspirits.com *
* Skeptical Information on Theophostic Counseling *
* *
* www.traumaversterking.nl *
* English language web site of Dutch retractor. *
* *
* www.quackwatch.org *
* This site is run by Stephen Barrett, M.D. *
* *
* www.FMSFonline.org *
* False Memory Syndrome Foundation *
* *
* LEGAL WEBSITES OF INTEREST *
* www.caseassist.com *
* www.findlaw.com *
* www.legalengine.com *
* www.accused.com *
* www.abuse-excuse.com *
* *
**********************************************************************
* HUNGRY FOR MONSTERS *
* A documentary film by *
* George Paul Csicsery *
* *
* When 15-year-old Nicole Althaus told a teacher that her father was *
* molesting her, the quiet affluent Pittsburgh suburb of Mt. *
* Lebanon, Pennsylvania, was turned inside out. Nicole's father, *
* Rick, was arrested and charged with sexually abusing Nicole amidst *
* bizarre satanic rituals. With the support of her favorite *
* teacher, police, therapists, social workers, and officers of the *
* court, all of whom believed her stories, Nicole began to embellish *
* her initial accusations. As she recovered more memories of wild *
* orgies, sacrificed babies, and murder, more people were arrested, *
* including her mother and a pair of strangers. *
* *
* A year later, all charges were dropped, and Nicole admitted that *
* her accusations were false. After Nicole and her parents *
* reconciled, they sued the authorities. This time, Nicole claimed *
* she was the victim of abuse perpetrated by the very people who had *
* supported her allegations against her parents. *
* *
* Ordering Information *
* *
* The introductory VHS price is $195.00 to universities/libraries/ *
* institutions and $39.00 to individuals for home use. Add $5.00 for *
* shipping. *
* George Csicsery *
* P.O. Box 22833, *
* Oakland, CA 94609-9284. *
* Fax 510-429-9273. *
* http://zalafilms.com/ *
**********************************************************************
* *
* REMEMBERING TRAUMA *
* by Richard McNally *
* Harvard University Press *
* The most comprehensive review of research about trauma and memory *
* *
* Highly recommended *
* *
**********************************************************************
* ELIZABETH LOFTUS has moved her web site to: *
* UCI web: www.seweb.uci.edu/faculty/loftus/ *
**********************************************************************
* *
* PSYCHOLOGY ASTRAY: *
* Fallacies in Studies of "Repressed Memory" and Childhood Trauma *
* by Harrison G. Pope, Jr., M.D. *
* Upton Books *
* *
* This is an indispensable guide for any person who wants or needs *
* to understand the research claims about recovered memories. A *
* review by Stuart Sutherland in the prestigious Nature magazine *
* (July 17, 1997) says that the book is a "model of clear thinking *
* and clear exposition." The book is an outgrowth of the "Focus on *
* Science" columns that have appeared in this newsletter. *
* To Order: 800-232-7477 *
* *
**********************************************************************
* SCIENCE and PSEUDOSCIENCE in CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY *
* *
* S. O. Lilienfeld, S.J. Lynn and J.M. Lohr (eds.) *
* New York: Guilford Press (2003) *
* *
* Highly recommended *
**********************************************************************
* *
* The Rutherford Family Speaks to FMS Families *
* *
* The video made by the Rutherford family is the most popular video *
* of FMSF families. It covers the complete story from accusation, to *
* retraction and reconciliation. Family members describe the things *
* they did to cope and to help reunite. Of particular interest are *
* Beth Rutherford's comments about what her family did that helped *
* her to retract and return. *
* Available in DVD format only: *
* To order send request to *
* FMSF Video, 1955 Locust St. *
* Philadelphia, PA 19103 *
* $10.00 per DVD; Canada add $4.00; other countries add $10.00 *
* Make checks payable to FMS Foundation *
* *
**********************************************************************
_____________________________________
F M S B U L L E T I N B O A R D
Contacts & Meetings:
_____________
UNITED STATES
ALABAMA
See Georgia
ALASKA
Kathleen 907-333-5248
ARIZONA
Phoenix
Pat 480-396-9420
ARKANSAS
Little Rock
Al & Lela 870-363-4368
CALIFORNIA
Sacramento
Jocelyn 530-873-0919
San Francisco & North Bay
Charles 415-984-6626 (am); 415-435-9618 (pm)
San Francisco & South Bay
Eric 408-738-0469
East Bay Area
Judy 925-952-4853
Central Coast
Carole 805-967-8058
Palm Desert
Eileen and Jerry 909-659-9636
Central Orange County - 1st Fri. (MO) @ 7pm
Chris & Alan 949-733-2925
Covina Area
Floyd & Libby 626-357-2750
San Diego Area
Dee 760-439-4630
COLORADO
Colorado Springs
Doris 719-488-9738
CONNECTICUT
S. New England
Earl 203-329-8365 or
Paul 203-458-9173
FLORIDA
Date/Boward
Madeline 954-966-4FMS
Central Florida - Please call for mtg. time
John & Nancy 352-750-5446
Sarasota
Francis & Sally 941-342-8310
Tampa Bay Area
Bob & Janet 727-856-7091
GEORGIA
Atlanta
Wallie & Jill 770-971-8917
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
Pat 260-489-9987
Helen 574-753-2779
KANSAS
Wichita - Meeting as called
Pat 785-738-4840
KENTUCKY
Louisville- Last Sun. (MO) @ 2pm
Bob 502-367-1838
LOUISIANA
Sarah 337-235-7656
MAINE
Rumford
Carolyn 207-364-8891
Portland
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 734-439-4055
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 - Quarterly, 4th Sat. of
Jan., Apr., Jul., Oct. @12:30pm
Tom 417-753-4878
Roxie 417-781-2058
MONTANA
Lee & Avone 406-443-3189
NEW HAMPSHIRE
Mark 802-872-0847
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
Cleveland
Bob & Carole 440-356-4544
OKLAHOMA
Oklahoma City
Dee 405-942-0531
Tulsa
Jim 918-582-7363
OREGON
Portland area
Kathy 503-655-1587
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 915-595-3945
UTAH
Keith 801-467-0669
VERMONT
Mark 802-872-0847
VIRGINIA
Sue 703-273-2343
WASHINGTON
Kathy 503-557-7118
WISCONSIN
Katie & Leo 414-476-0285 or
Susanne & John 608-427-3686
WYOMING
Alan & Lorinda 307-322-4170
_____________
INTERNATIONAL
BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA
Vancouver & Mainland
Lloyd 250-741-8941
Victoria & Vancouver Island
John 250-721-3219
MANITOBA
Roma 204-275-5723
ONTARIO, CANADA
London
Adriaan 519-471-6338
Ottawa
Eileen 613-836-3294
Warkworth
Ethel 705-924-2546
Burlington
Ken & Marina 905-637-6030
Waubaushene
Paula 705-543-0318
QUEBEC, CANADA
Chertsey
Mavis 450-882-1480
AUSTRALIA
Evelyn
everei@adam.com.au
BELGIUM
werkgr.fict.herinneringen@altavista.net
ISRAEL
FMS ASSOCIATION fax 972-2-625-9282
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 July/August Newsletter is June 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, May 1, 2005
AARON T. BECK, M.D., D.M.S., U of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
TERENCE W. CAMPBELL, Ph.D., Clinical and Forensic Psychology,
Sterling Heights, MI;
ROSALIND CARTWRIGHT, Ph.D., Rush Presbyterian St. Luke's Medical
Center, Chicago, IL;
JEAN CHAPMAN, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI;
LOREN CHAPMAN, Ph.D., University of Wisconsin, 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 Medical School;
GEORGE K. GANAWAY, M.D., Emory University of Medicine, Atlanta, GA;
MARTIN GARDNER, Author, Hendersonville, NC;
ROCHEL GELMAN, Ph.D., Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ;
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., (deceased) Mount Sinai School of Medicine,
New York, NY;
ERNEST HILGARD, Ph.D., (deceased) 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., (deceased) Harvard University, Cambridge, MA;
ROBERT A. KARLIN, Ph.D. , Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ;
HAROLD LIEF, M.D., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
ELIZABETH LOFTUS, Ph.D., University of California, Irvine, CA;
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, NY;
RICHARD OFSHE, Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, CA;
EMILY CAROTA ORNE, B.A., University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA;
MARTIN ORNE, M.D., Ph.D., (deceased) U of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
LOREN PANKRATZ, Ph.D., Oregon Health Sciences Univ., Portland, OR;
CAMPBELL PERRY, Ph.D., (deceased) 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., (deceased) U of Indiana, 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., {deceased) 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 Ctr, 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 University, Waco, TX
**********************************************************************
YOUR CONTRIBUTION WILL HELP
Please Fill Out All Information
Please Print
__Visa: Card # & exp. date:_____________________________
__Discover: Card # & exp. date:________________________
__Mastercard: # & exp. date:____________________________
__Check or Money Order:_________________________________
PAYABLE TO FMS FOUNDATION IN U.S. DOLLARS
Signature: ______________________________________________
Name: ___________________________________________________
Address:_________________________________________________
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Country: ________________________________________________
Phone: (________)________________________________________
Fax: (________)_________________________________________
THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY.
**********************************************************************
_______________________________________________
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