Posted on 04/08/2009 6:38:18 PM PDT by decimon
I have three wonderful daughters – two teenagers and one young adult. I can hardly imagine anything more horrible than the prospect that one of them might one day enter therapy for help with some common psychological problem such as anxiety, insomnia or depression and, at the end of that process, accuse me of childhood sexual abuse on the basis of "recovered" memories. Even though I would know with absolute certainty that such allegations were untrue, the chances are that nothing I could say or do would convince my accusers of this.
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The problem is that there is very little evidence to support the existence of repression as conceptualised by Freud. The evidence strongly suggests that far from being unable to remember sexual abuse, victims typically find it all too difficult to keep such memories out of their consciousness.
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(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
The above fact has been stated by Dr. Laura, repeatedly on her radio program, as far back as 12 years ago that I recall. I believed her then and believe it now.
Simply tragic and depressing how many families have been shattered by such false memories. How is this going to be corrected and rectified in the psychiatic community?
I am sure I have read where some psychiatrists say recovered memory syndrome is totally made up. I have also read of several cases where it was determined that the memories were purposely implanted by social workers and the woman then thinks they are true.
I wonder what the profession as a whole thinks of it? Do they still accept it or is it officially no longer considered valid?
Back in High School I did a report on False Memory Syndrome, I must say there were stories there I’ll never forget.
Letting kids know (at an appropriate age of course) that there are such things, might be the best way to protect them.
I later did some studies on things like Stockholm Syndrome, brainwashing, and covert hypnosis. They have much in common. They all depend on how the human mind tends to edit memories and behaviors based on new information, rather than questioning the new info based on past experiences. For all of them the best internal defense seems to be an unending line of questions. “Why are they phrasing it that way?” “How do I know that fact they just quoted is real?” “What other possible causes could there be?” “Does this mesh with what’s already known?” “Is it necessarily either-or?” “Do the words match the motive?” etc. Doesn’t matter if you actually say the questions out loud, the key is to hold your mind accountable for the information its absorbing.
Makes me a pain in the butt sometimes, but it works. And yes, there have been occasions where that was tested.
Maybe it won't be.
How about when people say they’ve done some unlikely thing? Something they most likely wish they had done?
Many years ago I saw a social worker for depression. She tried to convince me I was a victim of ritual satanic abuse by my family, which was really puzzling. Looking back I don’t think she cared if it was true or not... I believe she was trying to groom me as a victim.
Then either a: they’re delusional and think they really did it, or b: they don’t think they’re special enough as they are so their need for attention is driving them to try and make themselves special.
To tell which it is, observe how desperate they are in trying to make you believe them. If they’re delusional they don’t need you to validate them, in their eyes it happened. If they need you to validate their memories for them, its because they need somebody to pay attention to them.
I should mention here that I am NOT a licensed psychiatrist, just an armchair scholar with too much time on her hands.
A mythology forum I’m on recently had problems with a guy claiming to be a vampire, saying his mission in life was to unite all the vampires, and that the FBI had gotten wind of it and had tried to poison him. He was . . . most entertaining. Made a nice change from the “Elven Princess Syndrome” that usually runs rampant in such groups.
Sometimes you can ask questions and get people to poke holes in their own ridiculous stories, sometimes all you can do is let them have their delusion. As long as they’re not a threat to anyone, of course.
I don’t know if that answers your question or not, I’ve been kinda ramble-y all night.
She sounds demented.
I was thinking of something a little different. Not that someone is trying to convince me but that they seem to have convinced themself.
Reality has mostly caught up with these unethical perpetrators, virtually the entire cascade of travesties has been discredited, including the "satanic day care scare," and whole platoons of scurrilous harmdoers have been sued and driven from the professions.
The authors of most of the influential "professional" books on this subject from that era, and the practitioners they misled, are now in other lines of work. You can check the website of FMSF for archival details.
Sadly, like any urban legend, these primitive sexual projections die hard, and especially in Great Britain, which is a generation behind us in these matters, it still has some legs.
In short, any "therapist" who would try to pull this crap in the US today is flirting with losing her license and a malpractice lawsuit to boot.
I'm wondering the same thing.
Definitely nuts. I stopped seeing her when she wanted to pull on my arms to divine yes or no answers to questions she would ask... a technique she called “muscle pulling.” That’s how she determined I had been “satanically abused.” I reported her, but no one would believe me. I basically got laughed at.
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