Discalimer Re: ACSH Editorial: Down Pseudo-Memory Lane

[Guest guest]

Hi All

Just to say that I fwded this as FYI only. The high praise at the

beginning is from the original poster, not me. Some of the goings on

at the FMS are absolutely amazing. One advisory board member, Ralph

Underwager, published an article in the Dutch magazine " Paedika: The

Journal of Paedophilia " (vcoplete with drawing of a nude boy on the

cover) in which he stated that paedophilia could be a " responsible

choice " . There are equally remarkable facts abt the FMS founders

which I wont go into here.

>

> Subject:

>

> THE AMERICAN COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND hEALTH - Editorial

>

> [This important and excellent article should be given the widest

publicity.

> Note the praise and recognition given to the work of Dr Pamela Freyd

and

> the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.

> I have marked the sextion with an ----->]

> The article below can also be found of the website of the former

U.S.

> Surgeon-General: DrKoop.com

>

> http://www.drkoop.com/news/focus/october/repressed_memories.html

>

> http://www.drkoop.com/news/focus/october/repressed_memories2.html

>

> Adriaan J.W. Mak

> Canadian contact for victims of Recovered Memory malpractice

> visit: http://www.fmsfonline.org/

>

> THE AMERICAN COUNCIL ON SCIENCE AND HEALTH

> Oct. 28, 2000

>

> EDITORIAL

> Down Pseudo-Memory Lane: 'Repressed Memories' of Sexual Abuse

> by

> Rael Isaac, Ph.D.

> American Council on Science and Health

>

> At a conference the False Memory Syndrome Foundation held in White

Plains,

> N.Y., in April 2000, ACSH adviser Martha A. Churchill, Esq., spoke

of a

> seminar she had attended at the University of Michigan School of

Social

> Work a few weeks earlier. She said the seminar had described how the

" inner

> reptilian core " of the human brain stores memories of undergoing

sexual

> abuse in childhood and how therapists can unlock such memories. Last

summer

> an uncritical conference on sexual Satanic Ritual Abuse was held in

> Connecticut. On the basis of alleged recovered memories, an Alaskan

jury

> recently decided that a plaintiff who had accused both of her

grandfathers

> of abusing her sexually was entitled to $800,000.

>

> But if it is thus clear that belief in repressed memories of abuse

is not

> dead, it is also clear that the proponents of repressed memory

therapy

> (RMT), an alleged means of uncovering such memories, are losing

ground. The

> number of continuing education courses on RMT offered to nurses,

social

> workers, and assorted counselors has decreased considerably. Even

the

> University of Michigan School of Social Work-once a bastion of

RMT-canceled

> a prospective seminar it had said would teach participants " the

tools to

> assess and treat ritual abuse. " Braun, M.D.-whose unit at

Rush

> Presbyterian Hospital, in Chicago, treated alleged victims who had

> supposedly recovered memories of ritual abuse-had his medical

license

> suspended and was recently expelled both from the Illinois

Psychiatric

> Society and from the American Psychiatric Association. In 1997,

Braun's

> insurers agreed to pay Pat Burgus, a former patient of his, $10.6

> million-the largest RMT-related malpractice award to date.

>

> Born of Feminism

> The repressed memory movement emerged as a significant factor in the

mental

> health field in the early 1980s, bloomed during 1989-1992, peaked

during

> 1992-1994, and has since been on the wane. Perhaps no manifestation

of

> mental-health-related junk science has left in its wake as much

devastation

> in American lives as has this movement.

>

> Although proponents of repressed memory therapy use the language of

> science, the theory and practice of RMT rest not on scientific

evidence,

> but rather on a combination of (a) erroneous opinions about American

> families and ( popular misconceptions about the nature of memory.

>

> In the 1980s the women's movement began to focus on the sexual abuse

of

> children as a neglected problem-and it was something of a neglected

> problem. But feminists spoke idly of 25 percent, even 50 percent, of

female

> Americans younger than 18 years old as having been sexually abused,

with

> the assumption that in many such cases incest was involved. Feminist

writer

> Dworkin argued that men often raped their daughters as a

means of

> socializing them to the status of femaleness. She stated: " Perhaps

> incestuous rape is becoming a central paradigm for intercourse in

our

> time. " Feminists came to consider incest, long regarded as uncommon,

as

> American as apple pie.

>

>

> This mindset paved the way for many therapists to try to ferret out

> childhood sexual abuse, especially incestuous abuse, as the

explanation for

> a host of complaints, ranging from eating disorders to marital

problems. In

> many cases, the patients themselves raised the possibility of having

been

> thus abused, on the basis of recommendations in popular books that

include

> checklists of alleged symptoms of past abuse. Nearly a million

copies of

> the most famous of these books, The Courage to Heal: A Guide for

Women

> Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse, have sold since its original

publication,

> in 1988. Many of the symptoms cited in this book are so indefinite

that

> almost anyone could find some of them personally relevant, for

example:

> difficulty in expressing one's feelings; difficulty in trusting

one's

> intuition; feeling different from other people; and feeling

powerless, like

> a victim.

>

> The Theory and Practice of Repressed Memory Therapy

> The trouble was, the vast majority of the patients of those

therapists who

> single-mindedly probed for sexual-abuse experiences said they had no

memory

> of being victims of incest. It was here that highly dubious theories

of how

> the mind responds to traumatic experiences and false tenets about

the

> nature of memory came into play. Psychiatrist Judith Herman, M.D.,

> summarizes the central premise of these theories and tenets in the

first

> sentence of her book Trauma and Recovery (1997), which The New York

Times

> Book Review described as among " the most important psychiatric works

to be

> published since Freud " : " The ordinary response to atrocities is to

banish

> them from consciousness. "

>

> RMT's main postulate is that children " repress " memories that

concern

> events whose contemplation is too horrible for them. According to

RMT

> theory:

>

>

> the mind operates like a camcorder and keeps repressed memories

pristine

> and intact in a special part of the brain analogous to a hard disk;

and

>

> even if a victim of childhood sexual abuse has no recollection of

any such

> abuse, a repressed memory of it festers subconsciously within her,

> producing, in the words of psychiatrist Lenore Terr, M.D., " signs

and

> symptoms " that disrupt the victim's life. (Well over 90 percent of

those

> who have recovered, or de-repressed, memories through RMT are

female.)

>

> It is here, according to proponents of RMT, that the psychotherapist

is

> crucial. Although simply reading books like The Courage to Heal

(often

> referred to as the bible of the repressed memory movement) can

induce

> " flashbacks " of being abused, RMT advocates hold that roughly 80

percent of

> individuals with repressed memories of being abused need to undergo

" memory

> enhancement " techniques through a therapist to " unblock " such

" memories. "

> The most common RMT methods are hypnosis (e.g., regression therapy),

guided

> imagery, dreamwork, participation in " survivor groups, " massage

therapy to

> uncover " body memories " of abuse, and injections of sodium amytal as

a

> truth serum. According to RMT theory, healing entails the repressed

memory

> victim's reliving childhood terrors. Many practitioners of RMT have

spurred

> their clients to " confront " the perpetrator-or " perp, " as members of

the

> movement call the alleged former abuser. Typically, the father is

the

> " perp, " and the mother is his " accomplice. " Then such counselors

would

> exhort the client to " detach " from her parents (i.e., sever all ties

with

> them) and even to sue them in civil or criminal court. Between 1989

and

> 1995, 24 states promoted such litigation by changing the statute of

> limitations so that the time limit for filing a lawsuit in such

cases is

> based not on date of the alleged infraction, but rather on when the

> purported victim (a) recovers recollection of the alleged abuse or

(

> realizes the resulting damage to her. Consequently, sextagenarians

have

> sued parents confined to nursing homes.

>

>

> Cool Millions

> In a 1998 study of 1,800 lawsuits stemming from repressed memory

> accusations, researchers found that:

>

>

> approximately 30 percent of the plaintiffs claimed memories of being

abused

> in infancy;

>

> roughly 15 percent of the patients with " recovered memories " of

being

> abused eventually had had " memories " of being forced to participate

in a

> satanic cult in which, for example, they had been raped, had engaged

in

> ritual murders and cannibalism, and had even sacrificed their own

babies;

> and

>

> most of the Satanic Ritual Abuse " victims " were labeled as suffering

from

> multiple personality disorder (MPD).

>

> MPD supposedly had enabled the " victims " to compartmentalize

knowledge of

> horrible experiences and thus to shut them off. Units to treat MPD

were

> established in hospitals around the United States. Under RMT

treatment in

> such a unit, the aforementioned Pat Burgus " remembered " (a)

Satanists

> pushing torches inside her, ( being entombed for days on end, and

©

> having to eat body parts from 2,000 human corpses per year.

> Psychiatrist Olson, M.D., convinced alleged repressed memory

victim

> Nadean Cool that she had 120 personalities, including the

" personalities "

> of nonpersons-specifically, angels and a duck. Olson even charged

Cool's

> health insurer for group therapy on this basis. In preparation for

an

> exorcism, Olson had Cool tethered spread-eagle on a bed. He brought

a fire

> extinguisher to the site because, he said, " she could burst into

flames as

> a result of the exorcism. " After 15 days of testimony, Olson's

insurers

> agreed to pay $2.4 million to Cool in an out-of-court settlement.

>

> The application of RMT theory in psychotherapy has no scientific

basis-even

> if one puts aside all the satanic cult claims (the FBI's Behavioral

Science

> Unit investigated hundreds of such allegations and found no evidence

of

> truth in them). For example, there is no scientific evidence that

the

> ordinary mental response to suffering atrocities is to banish

memories of

> them from consciousness. On the contrary, there is much scientific

evidence

> that the more emotional an experience is, the likelier it is that

the

> individual will remember it.

>

> Furthermore, there is no scientific evidence that memories of

traumas are

> processed and/or stored differently from other memories. As for

claims of

> remembering events one experienced as an infant, memory experts

unanimously

> hold: (a) that children younger than 2-3 years old do not have

permanent

> memories, and ( that few of the detailed memories of children

younger

> than 5-6 years old outlast childhood. RMT theorists have dealt with

this

> consensus by positing-without any scientific evidence- " body

memories. "

>

>

> RMT practitioners view eating disorders as a sign of childhood

sexual

> abuse. But in a 1992 survey of six studies of bulimic patients,

Harvard

> Medical School professors on Pope and Hudson found no

evidence

> that childhood sexual abuse is a risk factor for the disorder.

Indeed,

> according to current American Psychiatric Association guidelines,

" No

> specific unique symptom profile has been identified that necessarily

> correlated with abuse experiences " -so much for the various symptom

> checklists on which RMT practitioners rely.

>

> What is more important is that memory works not at all as a

camcorder does.

> Memory researchers have demonstrated that forgetting is extensive

and that

> memories are continually reconstructed into what memory expert Dr.

> Loftus has called " creative blendings of fact and

fiction. "

>

> The findings of a recently published long-term study headed by

> Offer, a professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University Medical

School,

> confirm experimental findings on memory. Sixty-seven male subjects

were

> questioned twice-first at age 14, then at 48-on such issues as

family

> relations, dating and sexuality, and disciplining children. The

researchers

> found significant discrepancies between what the subjects had said

in

> adolescence about events they'd experienced then and what they'd

said about

> the same events as adults.

>

> Moreover, many experiments have shown that " implanting

memories " -i.e.,

> prefabricating memories-is easy. In response to claims that memories

of

> abuse are special because they are traumatic and cannot be

prefabricated

> through the suggestions of psychotherapists, Loftus fashioned an

experiment

> to implant a " memory " of an entirely fictional succession of events

that

> included being lost at age 5 in a shopping complex for an extended

period,

> crying, being helped by an elderly woman, and finally reuniting with

one's

> family. This " memory " was easily implanted in 29 percent of the

study's

> subjects. Then these pseudo-memory subjects proceeded to add

" remembered "

> details to the fiction.

>

> Many RMT practitioners use a hypnotic method called " age regression "

to

> induce " recovery " of memories of undergoing abuse. But in a report

issued

> in 1984, the American Medical Association's Council on Scientific

Affairs

> stated: " ... [C]ontrary to what is generally believed by the

public,

> recollections obtained during hypnosis not only fail to be more

accurate

> but actually appear to be generally less reliable than nonhypnotic

recall. "

> According to the Council, hypnosis conduced both to memory errors

and to

> the subjects' confidence in their mis-remembrances. The Council also

noted

> that hypnosis increased subjects' suggestibility so that " a

suspicion may

> be transformed into a vivid pseudomemory. ... " As for age

regression, the

> Council described the notion that it induces accurate reliving of

events as

> not grounded in findings from controlled studies.

>

>

> It is precisely because hypnosis tends to make subjects

overconfident in

> their memories, even false ones, that most states treat alleged

evidence

> obtained through hypnosis as hopelessly contaminated and therefore

disallow

> its admission in court cases. And the so-called truth serum sodium

amytal,

> according to memory researcher Orne, M.D., Ph.D., is " even

more

> problematic than hypnosis in its effects of producing false memories

and

> confabulations. "

>

> Yet there is considerable ignorance among psychotherapists-even

those who

> do not practice repressed memory therapy-of what has been

established

> scientifically about memory. In 1991 psychologist and hypnosis

expert

> D. Yapko, Ph.D., surveyed 1,000 professional

psychotherapists

> around the U.S. with advanced degrees. Of the respondents:

>

>

>

> one third indicated agreement with the misstatement " [The] mind is

like a

> computer, accurately recording events as they actually occurred " ;

>

> 41 percent indicated agreement with the misstatement " Early

memories, even

> from the first year of life, are accurately stored and retrievable " ;

>

> 75 percent said they viewed hypnosis as a means of facilitating

accurate

> recall of memories not otherwise available;

>

> nearly a third accepted that any trauma memory retrieved during

hypnosis is

> necessarily true to life; and

>

> 28 percent agreed with the statement " Hypnosis can be used to

recover

> accurate memories of past lives. "

>

> The mechanism that proponents of RMT have assigned to repressed

memories

> contradicts normal experience. Most alleged repressed memory victims

> maintain that they were sexually abused repeatedly, for years. Some

RMT

> practitioners hold that such persons had recollection of abusive

acts

> during the period in which they occurred but at an unknown point

blocked

> all such memories.

> Yet Miss America of 1958, Marilyn Van Derbur Atler, who " recovered "

> memories of her father abusing her from her fifth year of life until

her

> departure for college, claims she lost recollection of the abuse as

it was

> in progress. She has stated that when she was keeping company with

her

> spouse-to-be, she was unaware that often, after her beau kissed her

and

> said " good night, " her father would rape her. Atler has further said

that

> she split herself into a happy day child and a terrified night

child, and

> that when she was Miss America, she was entirely unaware of her

incestuous

> past. Such far-fetched statements went unchallenged publicly as Mrs.

Atler

> appeared on talk shows, followed a lecture circuit, had her picture

on

> magazine covers, and became a " poster child " for repressed memories

of

> abuse.

>

> Deep Impact

> The effects of such publicity on families have been terrible. The

False

> Memory Syndrome Foundation was founded in 1992, when the wave of

repressed

> memory charges was nearing its height, to shed scientific light on

the

> issue of repressed memories of abuse. It has been contacted by

members of

> 20,000 families embroiled in such accusations. Doubtless many other

> families have remained silent in pain and humiliation. The

accusations have

> resulted in divorces, feuding between siblings, loss of employment

(as the

> charges became public), and the long-term isolation of children from

their

> parents-often from their entire families.

>

> Many parents thus accused were dragged into court. Others submitted

to

> extortion to avoid litigation. Lawyers would send " demand letters "

to

> accused parents. These letters would include a brief statement of

the

> daughter's claim of having recovered memories of abuse, followed by

a

> demand for money. For example, one such letter states:

>

>

>

> Your daughter does not want to cause any problems for you, but she

will

> require long-term therapy, which is expensive. She will also require

> counseling. If you wish to handle this in a discreet manner, I will

obtain

> estimates of costs for the therapy she requires. We are most serious

about

> this matter and will proceed accordingly if we must. I expect to

hear from

> you within seven days of receipt of my letter.

>

>

> In many cases, the impact on the accusers-particularly those

persuaded that

> they were victims of Satanic Ritual Abuse-has been even worse. For

example,

> Shanley, a 39-year-old schoolteacher who came to believe that

her

> mother had been the high priestess of a satanic cult, wound up

heavily

> medicated in hospital units for years. She lost her spouse, her

child, and

> her home. And by the time she realized her recovered memories were a

hoax,

> her name was on a list of child molestation suspects (because of her

> supposed participation in a satanic cult) and she thus could not

resume her

> 20-year teaching career.

>

> Fourteen percent of repressed memory cases have been tried in

criminal

> courts. The most famous of such cases is that of lin, a

> City, California, resident convicted of murder on the basis of his

daughter

> Eileen's " recovered memory " that he had killed one of her friends 20

years

> earlier. According to Unchained Memories: True Stories of Traumatic

> Memories, Lost and Found, by psychiatrist Lenore Terr, M.D., the

> prosecuting attorney in this case informally polled the jury after

the

> handing down of the verdict and found that Terr's expert testimony,

> endorsing repressed memory theories, was pivotal.

>

> The research that accounted for Terr's expert witness status,

however, had

> yielded evidence contrary to her testimony: Terr had studied the

case of 26

> children who had been kidnapped from a school bus in Chowchilla,

> California, and entombed in a truck trailer. Both shortly after

their

> release and 4-5 years later, each child had detailed memories of the

> events.

>

> lin had been in prison for nearly seven years when an appeals

court

> overturned the conviction. Prosecutors planned to retry him, but

they were

> deterred by the disclosure that, during the legal proceedings

leading to

> the conviction, Eileen had falsely said she had not been hypnotized

before

> the trial. Testifying on alleged events about which one has been

hypnotized

> was (and is) disallowed in California.

>

>

> How Did the Repressed Memory Movement Wreak So Much Damage?

> While the women's movement provided the cultural underpinnings and

> political support for repressed memory therapy, some fundamentalist

> Christians adduced the Satanic Ritual Abuse aspect of recovered

memories as

> evidence of Satan's intervening in human lives. Consequently,

Christian

> counselors have been among the active promoters of repressed memory

theory,

> and in many cases churches have referred churchgoers to such

counselors.

> Although legitimate memory research has at last influenced

mainstream

> psychotherapy, pro-RMT Christian counselors seem unimpressed by

secular

> research and intransigent in their views of RMT.

>

> If feminism and Christian fundamentalism have fueled the repressed

memory

> movement, the inaction of major watchdog groups allowed it to thrive

> virtually unchallenged for years. Instead of debunking repressed

memory

> therapy and threatening RMT practitioners with expulsion, the

mainstream

> professional associations of psychiatrists, psychologists, and

social

> workers have " circled the wagons. " As a result, the attorneys of

parents

> sued on repressed-memory-related charges and of recanting former

clients of

> RMT practitioners have become the champions of reason on this issue.

>

> As of September 1998 the False Memory Syndrome Foundation had

tracked more

> than 150 malpractice claims against RMT practitioners by third

parties (in

> general, falsely accused parents). Even more important-because of

the size

> of the damages-have been the lawsuits initiated by former RMT

clients.

> Consequently, hospitals have been closing their MPD units, and some

> insurance companies have refused to cover psychotherapists who

practice

> RMT. HMOs are unwilling to pay for it, and even states that fund

> psychotherapy for rape victims have begun to limit payments for the

> treatment of alleged parental assault victims who " discovered " such

long

> past victimization through repressed memory therapy.

> ------>

> Much of the credit for exposing the repressed memory movement

belongs to

> the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, which many psychotherapists

have

> tried to marginalize as a " perpetrator " interest group. This

organization

> separated the issue of abuse and issues of memory science, assembled

> erudite American and Canadian memory researchers, and became a

significant

> educational force. Its founder and Executive Director, Pamela Freyd,

Ph.D.,

> deserves to have the last word: " We have a whole culture that has

accepted

> the notion that the proof that something happened is that the person

forgot

> it. "

>

>

>

>

> American Council on Science and Health

>

> http://www.acsh.org/

> Date Published: Oct. 28, 2000

> Date Reviewed: Oct. 28, 2000

>

> Founded in 1978, and directed and advised by the world's leading

> scientists, physicians, and policy advisors -- ACSH is is a

nonprofit,

> consumer education organization dedicated to providing the public

with

> mainstream scientific information on issues related to food,

nutrition,

> chemicals, pharmaceuticals, lifestyle, the environment and health.

>

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