Posted on 10/12/2002 7:46:02 AM PDT by yankeedame
Saturday, October 12, 2002
Former nun files lawsuit--Accuses sisters in Covington of sexual abuse
By The Associated Press
DANVILLE, Ky. - A former nun alleges in a new lawsuit that she was sexually abused by nuns in the 1950s and '60s in northern Kentucky.
Emily Feistritzer, 61, of Washington, D.C., is a Danville native who was offered a scholarship to attend Villa Madonna Academy when she was an eighth-grader at the old SS. Peter and Paul School in Danville, according to her lawyer, Robert Treadway of Lexington.
Ms. Feistritzer named Villa Madonna Academy and St. Walburg Monastery of Benedictine Sisters of Covington, formerly known as St. Walburg Convent, as defendants in the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Boyle Circuit Court.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitive damages. It says Ms. Feistritzer has spent more than $200,000 on psychotherapy for more than 20 years.
Mr. Treadway, who has also brought a sex-abuse lawsuit against the Catholic Diocese of Lexington, said Ms. Feistritzer's case involves recovered memory. He said she began to recover the memories a year ago through psychotherapy.
Ms. Feistritzer, the president and founder of the National Center for Education Information, a private research group, said her case “is not unique. I don't think this is an isolated case.”
Mark Guilfoyle, a Walton lawyer who represents both defendants, said: “We have not been able to substantiate any of her claims, and we plan to contest the lawsuit.”
Ms. Feistritzer's allegations involve incidents from 1955, when she entered the academy, through roughly 1961. She left in 1971.
Ms. Feistritzer alleges that she was “repeatedly sexually molested” by a science and mathematics teacher, Sister Eugene, whose real name is Rosemary Imbus.
In 1959, during her first year at St. Walburg Convent, Ms. Feistritzer alleges, she was molested by Sister Christopher, whose real name is Marlene Bertke.
Ms. Feistritzer also alleges she was fondled by Sister Terrance. She does not remember the nun's real name, the lawsuit says.
Mr. Treadway said he thinks Ms. Imbus and Ms. Bertke are still alive, but is uncertain about Sister Terrance.
Mr. Guilfoyle said all three women left St. Walburg years ago and are no longer connected in any way with the convent or Villa Madonna Academy. Their departures were unrelated to the allegations in the lawsuit, he said.
Ms. Feistritzer further alleges that she reported Sister Terrance to the mistress of novices, Sister Martha, whose real name she does not know. No action was taken and the alleged incident was not reported to the police, the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit says Ms. Feistritzer also reported Sister Terrance's alleged conduct to Sister Zachary, who is now known as Sister Rita Brink, the current prioress of St. Walburg. Sister Brink declined comment and referred questions to Mr. Guilfoyle.
Had to happen. I'm only surprised it took this long.
The other shoe has dropped... God knows what other repressed repressions have been repressed, as I sit here repressiong laughter about a very depressing subject.
Big news break over the past decade or so. The people who promoted the "false memory syndrome" concept are frauds and pedophiles. I thought everyone knew that there is absolutely NO scientific basis for the outlandish claims made by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. Look through my prior posts on this thread and follow the links.
It happens all the time. Not that long ago, a woman went to prison for a crime that she committed back in the 60's, where she had been involved with anti-war activities during that period.
It's why there are statutes of limitation. They should apply in civil cases as well.
I don't believe there's a statute of limitations on certain crimes such as murder, arson, and rape.
This is a South Park episode, right?
Yep, which translates to lawsuits and loads of money for the "victims"...
Nunsploitation films (lesbian/sadistic nun exploitation films) are still made/available in Europe.
I'd consider that at least some of the fascination/obession with the cloistered nuns must have to do with Catholic dislike/distrust.
So say the pedophiles who are trying to avoid prison..
Why don't you go and look at true scientific articles for a change.
Why don't YOU link some of these "scientific articles" that prove that there IS such a thing as "false memory syndrome"? I doubt you'll find any.
Incidently, I HAVE posted MANY true scientific articles. Here's a little something for your reading pleasure..
RECOVERED MEMORIES OF SEXUAL ABUSE: By Jim Hopper, Ph.D. Amnesia for childhood sexual abuse is a condition. The existence of this condition is beyond dispute.
– often a confusing and misleading one – for what causes the condition of amnesia.
will have periods of complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed recall. (Conservative estimate based on published research. See below.)
Notes on Usage & Presentation This is a very large individual Web page (over 50 printed pages). Please be patient as it loads. For your convenience, I suggest that you begin by checking out the Table of Contents, then scrolling down to read the Preface, Words of Caution, and Introduction. If you try to follow links in the Table of Contents before the page has fully loaded, you will have to reload it. I have highlighted in red those passages which particularly fit with my goals. These do not correspond to emphases in the original texts. Again, this is a very large page, and the highlights can be used for browsing too. Table of Contents
Contents Preface I am a researcher and therapist with a doctorate (Ph.D.) in clinical psychology. I am a licensed clinical psychologist, and for thirteen years I have been a therapist to men and women abused in childhood, providing individual and group treatment. In my work as a Research Associate at the Boston University School of Medicine and The Trauma Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, I investigate the effects of child abuse and other traumas on people who have been diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). My main areas of interest are the characteristics of traumatic memories, effects of trauma on biological systems involved in emotion regulation, and how effective biological and psychological treatments not only reduce symptoms but alter biology. My main collaborator in that work is Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a leader in the field of psychological trauma, with whom I have recently published two papers on the characteristics of traumatic memories (see the section on Dr. van der Kolk's work for pdf copies). The contents of this page reflect my level of experience and expertise, as well as opinions I have formed over the years. I have published this page to direct people to quality scholarly work on traumatic memory, especially:
Before proceeding, I want to acknowledge some very important issues that this page, with its limited goals related to recovered memories and dissociation, does not address, except in passing. Please read every item and the entire list very carefully. Issues not addressed on this page:
Finally, I strongly encourage you to seek out and read some of the scholarly works cited below. These will help you to make your own judgements rather than relying on what you hear or read in the popular media, or what is available on the Internet – including this page. It is my aim and hope, however, that reading this page will give you powerful knowledge and tools for thinking more critically about whatever else you hear and read on this topic. Words of Caution I
Words of Caution II - Personal Concerns & Questions You may be reading this page to gain better understanding of your own memories, or lack of memories of (suspected) sexual abuse in childhood. Or you may have questions about whether remembering child abuse experiences can improve your life. If so, please take the time to read this entire section (about two and a half printed pages). At its end are further reading suggestions, including a great book with effective tools for managing painful and unpredictable memories.
If you are looking for a therapist or counselor in the United States, even if only for a couple of consultations, the Sidran Foundation has an extensive list of therapists and clinics around the country that specialize in treating people with histories of severe child abuse. See their page on Information and Referrals from Sidran's Resource Specialist. To learn more about the stages of recovery from traumatic child abuse, you will need to go beyond information available on the internet. A great place to start is Judith Herman's book, Trauma and Recovery. (You can learn more about it from my page, Trauma and Recovery - Judith Herman's Landmark Book on Child Abuse & Other Traumas.)
Introduction: Reading this brief introduction will make it much easier to benefit from the rest of the information on this page. Empirical Evidence Physical evidence of assaults, corroboration from witnesses, and confessions by perpetrators are empirical evidence. When it comes to research on recovered child abuse memories, there IS empirical evidence of this kind, though a lot less than of the next type. . . The things people say about their abuse memories, including how they respond to researchers' questions – these are empirical evidence too. Of course, these kinds of data are not necessarily about objective events, nor conclusive evidence that abuse occurred. But they are the only evidence we have about people's memories for abuse experiences (real, imagined, or some mixture of the two). Both of these forms of evidence are extremely important, and people on all sides of the recovered memories debate acknowledge that what people say about their memories is one kind of empirical evidence, and one worth researching (whether or not a person has physical proof or corroboration from others). Theoretical Constructs Scientists try to understand and explain empirical evidence by using theoretical constructs, that is, ideas devised to integrate systematically a group of related observations or phenomena in a useful way. Constructs should not be confused with empirical evidence. Constructs should not be considered actual things, events, processes, or experiences. Rather, constructs are conceptual tools. They are conceptual tools that focus our attention on certain things, events, processes, and experiences – and help us try to make sense of them. But every construct directs our attention away from certain phenomena too, and can make it harder for us to notice and understand some empirical evidence. Therefore, when we are dealing with complex phenomena which we do not fully understand – like memories of child abuse – we must not get too attached to any one construct – whether it's "forgetting," "amnesia," "repression" or "dissociation." Otherwise we'll surely overlook important data, and fool ourselves into thinking we understand when we don't. Just as important, before drawing firm conclusions about a controversial issue – like recovered memories – we should be familiar with the various constructs used to describe and explain the empirical evidence – including constructs used by those who have studied it the most. Otherwise we leave ourselves highly vulnerable to being confused and misled. Child Abuse Memories: It is not rare for people to say they don't remember an abuse experience that actually happened.When people say these things, we try to describe and explain what they are reporting with psychological constructs:
It is not rare for people to say that at some point they came to remember a past abuse experience which they had not previously remembered.When people say things along these lines, again we use psychological constructs as we strive to describe and explain what happened to them:
As noted above, no matter which constructs we use, we should never confuse constructs with empirical evidence. And no matter which constructs we prefer, this does not change the empirical evidence we already have (though our constructs can influence our interpretations of it). Finally, better constructs lead to better research questions and methods, better empirical evidence, better interpretations of evidence and still-better constructs. . . That's the self-perpetuating process of scientific progress, of course. This Web page documents scientific progress by those who study child abuse memories:
Contents Hypertext Table of Research Findings Amnesia and delayed recall for sexual abuse experiences are NOT rare. This table presents published research studies of previously abused people who have experienced both. This is a HYPERTEXT table: Click on authors' names to go directly to abstracts of their studies; then click on your browser's "Back" button to come back to the table. Methodological notes: 1) Data from "community" samples are more representative than data from "clinical" samples; community samples represent the general population, while clinical ones represent people in mental health treatment. 2) "Prospective" studies are better than "retrospective" ones; in the former, researchers follow and later question confirmed people with abuse histories, while the latter rely on subjects' reports of past abuse. 3) Each of these studies has some methodological flaws or limitations, but their relative consistency indicates that these findings are not spurious.
A note on this table's limited scope: The table below presents only a small selection of studies. As early as 1997, Scheflin and Brown's review of the scientific research on recovered memories of sexual abuse (see next section) could present a table of 25 studies – every single one of which found periods of total and/or partial amnesia in a subpopulation of people with histories of sexual abuse.
* There were 129 subjects with documented sexual abuse incidents, but 42 (38%) apparently did not remember those experiences (see Williams, Study 1, below). Clearly, some of those subjects might experience delayed recall later, which would make the 16% figure an underestimate. (Also, 5 of the 80 who did remember were inadvertently not asked about whether they had ever experienced amnesia for the documented abuse incident.) The Journal of Psychiatry and Law
The Summer 1996 volume of The Journal of Psychiatry and Law, published in February of 1997, is an indispensable resource. Its six articles include Scheflin and Brown's comprehensive review of scientific studies of recovered memories of sexual abuse, and Dalenberg's study of the accuracy of sexual abuse memories recovered in psychotherapy (she actually conducted interviews with both victims and perpetrators, some of whom confessed). Directions for ordering this special issue, as well as the Fall 1995 special issue that focused on claims of false memories, are at the end of this section. Brown, D., & Scheflin, A. W. Editors' Page. Excerpt: "The Fall 1995 issue of The Journal of Psychiatry and Law was a special issue on the false-memory controversy. It contained a number of papers originally given at a 1994 conference at Johns Hopkins University sponsored by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. These papers represented only one side of the complex issues involved in the false-memory controversy. We appreciate the gracious invitation of Howard Nashel, editor-in-chief of this journal, to serve as guest editors to prepare a second issue that is representative of the work in the trauma field in response to false-memory claims. Our hope is that the readers of this journal will consider the Fall 1995 issue along with this Summer 1996 issue as a unit in order to get a more balanced overview of the controversy (p.139). Scheflin, A. W., & Brown, D. Repressed memory or dissociative amnesia: What the science says. Abstract: "Legal actions of alleged abuse victims based on recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) have been challenged arguing that the concept of repressed memories does not meet a generally accepted standard of science. A recent review of the scientific literature on amnesia for CSA concluded that the evidence was insufficient. The issues revolve around: (1) the existence of amnesia for CSA, and (2) the accuracy of recovered memories. A total of 25 studies on amnesia for CSA now exist, all of which demonstrate amnesia in a subpopulation; no study failed to find it, including recent studies with design improvements such as random sampling and prospective designs that address weaknesses in earlier studies. A reasonable conclusion is that amnesia for CSA is a robust finding across studies using very different samples and methods of assessment. Studies addressing the accuracy of memories show that recovered memories are no more or no less accurate than continuous memories for abuse. Excerpts: "Even more significantly, no study has surfaced that refutes the dissociative amnesia hypothesis by failing to get reports of inability to voluntarily recall repeated childhood abuse (pp.145-146). "These studies should have a direct impact on two significant and currently volatile legal issues. First, courts holding a Frye or Daubert evidentiary hearing involving expert or lay testimony on the issue of whether 'repressed memory' is reliable must, consistent with the science, hold either that such memories are reliable or that all memory, repressed or otherwise, is unreliable. The first solution is the wiser and better choice. Second, judges and legislators deciding whether the delayed-discovery doctrine should be applied to toll the statute of limitations in 'repressed' memory must acknowledge that a class of sexual abuse victims with repressed memories truly exists. The extent to which they are entitled to legal protection is a legal question, not a scientific one. Some jurisdictions have favored victims with 'repressed' memories; others have not. . . As a result of these studies, no person should in the future be denied proper legal consideration on the grounds that 'repressed' memory, as one judge unscientifically stated, 'transcends human experience.' Dalenberg, C. J. Accuracy, timing and circumstances of disclosure in therapy of recovered and continuous memories of abuse. Abstract: "Seventeen patients who had recovered memories of abuse in therapy participated in a search for evidence confirming or refuting these memories. Memories of abuse were found to be equally accurate whether recovered or continuously remembered. Predictors of number of memory units for which evidence was uncovered included several measures of memory and perceptual accuracy. Recovered memories that were later supported arose in psychotherapy more typically during periods of positive rather than negative feelings toward the therapist, and they were more likely to be held with confidence by the abuse victim." Excerpts: "[I]n the present research the author was able to substantiate the existence of the evidence offered by the clients and to have this evidence rated for evidentiary value. Further, both alleged victims and perpetrators participated in the evidence collection, providing a better balance for the search for confirming and refuting evidence (p.234). Olio, K. A. Are 25% of clinicians using potentially risky therapeutic practices? A review of the logic and methodology of the Poole, Lindsay, et al. study. Abstract: "Conclusions from the Poole, Lindsay et al. study are often cited to document claims regarding the frequency and potential risks of using so-called suggestive memory recovery techniques or memory recovery therapies. This study has also been used to document the alleged number of persuaded clients who have developed false memories of childhood abuse. The basis for these claims seems questionable when the Poole, Lindsay et al. study is examined carefully. Lack of operational definitions, flawed survey construction, lack of face validity, misclassification of techniques, and fallacious inferences about causality, such as mistaking correlation for causation, make it impossible to use these data to draw scientific conclusions about the nature and outcomes of clinicians' practices." Roe, C. M., & Schwartz, M. F. Characteristics of previously forgotten memories of sexual abuse: A descriptive study. Abstract: "The present study is a first attempt to describe what people remember when they initially recall childhood sexual abuse after a period of self-reported amnesia for that abuse. Subjects were 52 white women who had previously been hospitalized for treatment of sexual trauma. Participants completed a questionnaire that inquired about their first suspicions of having been sexually abused, their first memories of sexual abuse, other memories of abuse, and details of their abuse history. Participants were more likely to recall part of an abuse episode, as opposed to an entire abuse episode, following a period of no memory of the abuse. Additionally, first memories tended to be described as vivid rather than vague. Descriptive statistics are used to present and summarize additional findings." Williams, M. R. Suits by adults for childhood sexual abuse: Legal origins of the "repressed memory" controversy. Abstract: "In the last decade there has been a proliferation of civil lawsuits by adults claiming to be survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Many states have permitted such suits to go forward by applying some form of 'delayed discovery of injury' exception to the statute of limitations. Advocates for those claiming to have been falsely accused have generated a new concept – 'false memory syndrome' – as an alternative explanation for delayed memories of CSA. Its proponents claim that there is an epidemic of therapy-induced 'false memories' of CSA. Psychotherapists and the profession as a whole have become involved in a heated controversy, whose substance as well as intensity is to a large extent litigation driven. To understand the controversy and get a handle on its future, it is important to examine its legal origins, history and context." Hovdestad, W. E., & Kristiansen, C. M. A field study of "false memory syndrome": Construct validity and incidence. Abstract: "False memory syndrome (FMS) is described as a serious form of psychopathology characterized by strongly believed pseudomemories of childhood sexual abuse. A literature review revealed four clusters of symptoms underlying the syndrome regarding victims' belief in their memories of abuse and their identity as survivors, their current interpersonal relationships, their trauma symptoms across the lifespan, and the characteristics of their therapy experiences. The validity of these clusters was examined using data from a community sample of 113 women who identified themselves as survivors of girlhood sexual abuse. Examining the discriminant validity of these criteria revealed that participants who had recovered memories of their abuse (n = 51), and who could therefore potentially have FMS, generally did not differ from participants with continuous memories (n = 49) on indicators of these criteria. Correlational analyses also indicated that these criteria typically failed to converge. Further, despite frequent claims that FMS is occurring in epidemic proportions, only 3.9%-13.6% of the women with a recovered memory satisfied the diagnostic criteria, and women with continuous memories were equally unlikely to meet these criteria. The implications of these findings for FMS theory and the delayed-memory debate more generally are discussed." To purchase a copy of this Summer 1996 issue and/or the Fall 1995 issue, send a letter or fax, on letterhead, including your name and address, and the complete name and volume (e.g., "The Journal of Psychiatry and Law, Summer 1996") to: Linda Meyer Williams
University of New Hampshire psychologist Linda Meyer Williams has conducted the best research to date on amnesia and delayed recall for experiences of childhood sexual abuse. The two papers below are essential reading for anyone who seeks knowledge of the best available scientific evidence that people experience amnesia and delayed recall for memories of abuse. Both studies are part of a research project involving detailed interviews with 129 women who, 17 years before, had been evaluated in a hospital emergency room after being sexually abused. Study 1
Williams found that for the documented incidents of sexual abuse that had occurred 17 years earlier, one in three women did not report those abuse experiences. In these interviews the women shared intimate details of their sexual lives, and 68% of those who did not report the documented incident of sexual abuse reported other sexual assaults experienced in childhood. Williams concluded that most if not all of these women actually did not remember their previously documented abuse experiences. Williams also found that the closer the relationship to the perpetrator and the younger the child at the time, the greater the likelihood an incident was (apparently) not remembered.
The group of three articles listed below provide you with a unique opportunity to witness leading scholars and researchers debate over amnesia for child abuse experiences – and to evaluate the research and arguments for yourself. The first is Williams' report of the study. The second is a critique of this study by Elizabeth Loftus (who has declared and argued that repressed memory is a "myth") and two of her colleagues. The third is Williams' response. Williams, L. M. (1994). Recall of childhood trauma: A prospective study of women's memories of child sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 1167-1176. Study 2 This study is the second from Williams' research interviews with 129 women, 17 years after they were sexually abused and evaluated in a hospital emergency room. This paper reports the most important research to date on recovered memories of child sexual abuse, and is essential reading for anyone who wishes to evaluate the highest quality evidence currently available. The relatively young Journal of Traumatic Stress may not be easy to find, but it is highly respected in the field of psychological trauma studies. (This article is from a special issue of the journal, which is presented elsewhere on this page, as is ordering information.) Williams, L. M. (1995). Recovered memories of abuse in women with documented child sexual victimization histories. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 649-673. Abstract: "This study provides evidence that some adults who claim to have recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actual events that occurred in childhood. One hundred twenty-nine women with documented histories of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked about abuse history. Seventeen years following the initial report of the abuse, 80 of the women recalled the victimization. One in 10 women (16% of those who recalled the abuse) reported that at some time in the past they had forgotten about the abuse. Those with a prior period of forgetting – the women with 'recovered memories' – were younger at the time of abuse and were less likely to have received support from their mothers than the women who reported that they had always remembered their victimization. The women who had recovered memories and those who had always remembered had the same number of discrepancies when their accounts of the abuse were compared to the reports from the early 1970's." Contents Diana Elliott
Diana Elliott is a psychologist at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Medicine. She has published two important studies of delayed recall of abuse and other traumatic experiences, based on data from a stratified random sample of the general US population. The most recent of these publications is an investigation of rates of partial and complete delayed recall for a variety of traumatic experiences, not just sexual abuse. It was published in the October 1997 Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, the methodologically rigorous and most prestigious journal of the American Psychological Association. In that paper, extensively excerpted below, Elliott uses her findings to address the validity of the construct of psychogenic or dissociative amnesia and the claim that recovered memories are the product of questionable therapy practices. Elliott, D. M. (1997). Traumatic events: Prevalence and delayed recall in the general population. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 65, 811-820. Abstract: A random sample of 724 individuals from across the United States were mailed a questionnaire containing demographic information, an abridged version of the Traumatic Events Survey (DM Elliott, 1992), and questions regarding memory for traumatic events. Of these, 505 (70%) completed the survey. Among respondents who reported some form of trauma (72%), delayed recall of the event was reported by 32%. This phenomenon was most common among individuals who observed the murder or suicide of a family member, sexual abuse survivors, and combat veterans. The severity of the trauma was predictive of memory status, but demographic variables were not. The most commonly reported trigger to recall of the trauma was some form of media presentation (i.e., television show, movie), whereas psychotherapy was the least commonly reported trigger.
Elliott, D. M., & Briere, J. (1995). Posttraumatic stress associated with delayed recall of sexual abuse: A general population study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 629-647. Abstract: "This study examined delayed recall of childhood sexual abuse in a stratified random sample of the general population (N = 505). Of participants who reported a history of sexual abuse, 42% described some period of time when they had less memory of the abuse than they did at the time of data collection. No demographic differences were found between subjects with continuous recall and those who reported delayed recall. However, delayed recall was associated with the use of threats at the time of the abuse. Subjects who had recently recalled aspects of their abuse reported particularly high levels of posttraumatic symptomatology and self difficulties (as measured by the IES, SCL, and TSI) at the time of data collection compared to other subjects." Contents Bessel van der Kolk
Boston University psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk is one of the foremost authorities on traumatic memory, particularly the possible roles of biological and dissociative phenomena in the processes of encoding and retrieval. (I conduct research with Dr. van der Kolk and have co-authored papers on traumatic memories with him.) The five papers below, four of which are available on the web, cover some of Dr. van der Kolk's key contributions to the study of traumatic memory. Abstract: "For over 100 years clinicians have observed and described the unusual nature of traumatic memories. It has been repeatedly and consistently observed that these memories are characterized by fragmentary and intense sensations and affects, often with little or no verbal narrative content. Yet, possibly because traumatic memories cannot be precipitated under laboratory conditions, the organization of traumatic memories has received little systematic scientific investing-ation. In our laboratory we have developed an instrument, the Traumatic Memory Inventory (TMI), which systematically assesses the ways that memories of traumatic experience are organized and retrieved over time. In this paper we report findings from our third study using the TMI, of 16 subjects who had the traumatic experience of awakening from general anesthesia during surgery. We assessed changes in traumatic memory characteristics over time and differences between memories of subjects with and without current Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Our findings suggest the need for more rigorous methods for the assessment of the evolution of traumatic memories. In order to develop a comprehensive and integrated understanding of the nature of traumatic memory, we need to combine careful clinical observations with replicable laboratory methods, including those of cognitive science and neuroscience."Hopper, J. W., & van der Kolk, B. A. (2001). Retrieving, Assessing, and Classifying Traumatic Memories: A Preliminary Report on Three Case Studies of a New Standardized Method. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment, & Trauma, 4, 33-71; and Freyd, J. F., & DePrince, A. P. (Editors). Trauma and Cognitive Science (pp. 33-71). Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press. Abstract: "The study of traumatic memories is still an emerging field, both methodologically and theoretically. Previous questionnaire and interview methods for studying traumatic memories have been limited in their ability to evoke and assess remembrances with the characteristics long observed by clinicians. In this paper, we introduce a new standardized method that incorporates a laboratory procedure for retrieving memories of traumatic events and a clinically informed measure for assessing these memories' characteristics. We present three case studies to demonstrate the data yielded by script-driven remembering and the Traumatic Memory Inventory - Post-Script Version (TMI-PS). We then discuss subjects' script-driven remembrances in terms of methodology, theoretical classification of traumatic memories, and the interplay between the two. Finally, we critique our method in detail and offer suggestions for future research. If validated as a method for evoking and assessing traumatic memories, and shown to yield reliable data, this integrative method shows great promise for advancing both clinical and cognitive research on traumatic memories.""In recent years, much of the research on traumatic memories has focused on recovered memories, true or false, and much of the theory on speculations about encoding and storage processes responsible for amnesia and delayed recall. This state of affairs has largely been a function of social and cultural factors. Scientifically speaking, however, the cart may have been put before the horse. That is, even though research on episodic traumatic memories is dependent on subjects' reports of memories they have just retrieved, research has shed little light on the processes and contents of memory retrieval in traumatized individuals. In this paper, we present a new method for evoking traumatic memories and assessing some of their basic characteristics. Our method brings together a laboratory procedure for standardized retrieval of memories, and a semi-structured interview for assessing memory characteristics based on well-established observations by clinicians dealing with traumatized patients. We offer this easily adapted approach to promote controlled research on the characteristics of traumatic memories, particularly prospective studies of their transformations over time. "Endel Tulving's (1972) classic chapter on episodic and semantic memory begins, "One of the unmistakable signs of an immature science is the looseness of definition and use of its major concepts" (p.381). This certainly appears to be the case today for the scientific study of traumatic memories. Use of the unitary construct of "traumatic memory" is common, though clinical experience and recent empirical and theoretical work suggest that memories for traumatic experiences are complex and heterogeneous phenomena, which change over time in a variety of ways. At this early stage, it might be more helpful to use the super-ordinate and plural construct of "traumatic memories" and methodically build a definitional taxonomy - just as traditional memory researchers have done since Tulving's incisive statement nearly 30 years ago. "A primary goal of this paper is to demonstrate that progress toward an empirically derived taxonomy of traumatic memories will be advanced by more attention to the following: (1) memory retrieval or evocation methods, and (2) instruments for assessing memory characteristics. We also aim to show that the former must draw more from laboratory research, and the latter from clinical experience and understanding... We believe such changes in shared theoretical and methodological frameworks can foster the understanding, communication and collaboration needed to advance the field (pp. 34-35). van der Kolk, B. A., & Fisler, R. (1995). Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 505-525. Abstract: "Since trauma arises from an inescapable stressful event that overwhelms people's coping mechanisms, it is uncertain to what degree the results of laboratory studies of ordinary events are relevant to the understanding of traumatic memories. This paper reviews the literature on differences between recollections of stressful and of traumatic events. It then reviews the evidence implicating dissociation as the central pathogenic mechanism that gives rise to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A systematic exploratory study of 46 subjects with PTSD indicated that traumatic memories were retrieved, at least initially, in the form of dissociated mental imprints of sensory and affective elements of the traumatic experience: as visual, olfactory, affective, auditory, and kinesthetic experiences. Over time, subjects reported the gradual emergence of a personal narrative that can be properly referred to as 'explicit memory.' The implications of these findings for understanding the nature of traumatic memories are discussed." Excerpt: "Trauma and dissociation. Dissociation refers to the compartmentalization of experience: elements of the experience are not integrated into a unitary whole, but are stored in memory as isolated fragments consisting of sensory perceptions or affect states. . . However, the word dissociation is currently used to describe four distinct, but interrelated phenomena: (1) the sensory and emotional fragmentation of experience. . . (2) depersonalization [feeling that you are not real] and derealization [feeling the world is unreal] at the moment of the trauma. . . (3) ongoing depersonalization or 'spacing out' in everyday life. . . (4) containing traumatic memories within distinct ego-states (Dissociative Disorder). . . . The precise interrelationships among these various phenomena remain to be spelled out: not all people who have vivid sensory intrusions of traumatic events also experience depersonalization, while only a small proportion of people who have both of these experiences will go on to chronically dissociate, or to develop a full-blown dissociative disorder" (pp.510-511). Excerpts from the study's results:
van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and the evolving psychobiology of posttraumatic stress. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 1, 253-265. Excerpt: "[Posttraumatic Stress Disorder], by definition, is accompanied by memory disturbances, consisting of both hypermnesias [inabilities to forget] and amnesias. . . Research into the nature of traumatic memories. . . indicates that trauma interferes with declarative memory, i.e. conscious recall of experience, but does not inhibit implicit, or non-declarative memory, the memory system that controls conditioned emotional responses, skills and habits, and sensorimotor sensations related to experience. There now is enough information available about the biology of memory storage and retrieval to start building coherent hypotheses regarding the underlying psychobiological processes involved in these memory disturbances. . ." van der Kolk, B. A., & van der Hart, O. (1989). Pierre Janet and the breakdown of adaption in psychological trauma. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 1530-1540. Abstract: "In the reappraisal of the work of Pierre Janet at the centenary of the publication of L'automatisme psychologique, the authors review his investigations into the mental processes that transform traumatic experience into psychopathology. Janet was the first to systematically study dissociation as the crucial psychological process with which the organism reacts to overwhelming experiences and show that traumatic memories may be expressed as sensory perceptions, affect states, and behavioral reenactments. Janet provided a broad framework that unifies into a larger perspective the various approaches to psychological functioning which have developed along independent lines in this century. Today his integrated approach may help clarify the interrelationships among such diverse topics as memory processes, state-dependent learning, dissociative reactions, and posttraumatic psychopathology." Contents Judith Lewis Herman
These four papers by Harvard psychiatrist Judith Herman and her colleagues Mary Harvey and Emily Schatzow address fundamental issues in the memory controversy. Judith Herman is the author of Trauma and Recovery, which is widely viewed as the best book yet written on psychological trauma and recovery; it includes an excellent chapter entitled "Remembrance and Mourning." Herman, J. L., & Schatzow, E. (1987). Recovery and verification of memories of childhood sexual trauma. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 4, 1-14. Abstract: "Fifty-three women outpatients participated in short-term therapy groups for incest survivors. This treatment modality proved to be a powerful stimulus for recovery of previously repressed traumatic memories. A relationship was observed between the age of onset, duration, and degree of violence of the abuse and the extent to which the memory of the abuse had been repressed. Three out of four patients were able to validate their memories by obtaining corroborating evidence from other sources. The therapeutic function of recovering and validating traumatic memories is explored." Harvey, M. R., & Herman, J. L. (1994). Amnesia, partial amnesia, and delayed recall among adult survivors of childhood trauma. Consciousness and Cognition, 4, 295-306. Abstract: "Clinical experience suggests that adult survivors of childhood trauma arrive at their memories in a number of ways, with varying degrees of associated distress and uncertainty and, in some cases, after memory lapses of varying duration and extent. Among those patients who enter psychotherapy as a result of early abuse, three general patterns of traumatic recall are identified: (1) relatively continuous recall of childhood abuse experiences coupled with changing interpretations (delayed understandings) of these experiences, (2) partial amnesia for abuse events, accompanied by a mixture of delayed recall and delayed understanding, and (3) delayed recall following a period of profound and pervasive amnesia. These patterns are represented by three composite clinical vignettes. Variations among them suggest that the phenomena underlying traumatic recall are continuous and not dichotomous. Future research into the nature of traumatic memory should be informed by clinical observation." Herman, J. L. (1995). Crime and memory. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, 23, 5-17. Abstract: "The conflict between knowing and not knowing, speech and silence, remembering and forgetting, is the central dialectic of psychological trauma. This conflict is manifest in the individual disturbances of memory, the amnesias and hypermnesias [inabilities to forget], of traumatized people. It is manifest also on a social level, in persisting debates over the historical reality of atrocities that have been documented beyond any reasonable doubt. Social controversy becomes particularly acute at moments in history when perpetrators face the prospect of being publicly exposed or held legally accountable for crimes long hidden or condoned. This situation obtains in many countries emerging from dictatorship, with respect to political crimes such as murder and torture. It obtains in this country with respect to the private crimes of sexual and domestic violence. This article examines a current public controversy, regarding the credibility of adult recall of childhood abuse, as a classic example of the dialectic of trauma." Herman, J. L., & Harvey, M. R. (1997). Adult memories of childhood trauma: A naturalistic clinical study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 10, 557-571. Abstract: "The clinical evaluations of 77 adult outpatients reporting memories of childhood trauma were reviewed. A majority of patients reported some degree of continuous recall. Roughly half (53%) said they had never forgotten the traumatic events. Two smaller groups described a mixture of continuous and delayed recall (17%) or a period of complete amnesia followed by delayed recall (16%). Patients with and without delayed recall did not differ significantly in the proportions reporting corroboration of their memories from other sources. Idiosyncratic, trauma-specific reminders and recent life crises were most commonly cited as precipitants to delayed recall. A previous psychotherapy was cited as a factor in a minority (28%) of cases. By contrast, intrusion of memories after a period of amnesia was frequently cited as a factor leading to the decision to seek psychotherapy. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to the role of psychotherapy in the process of recovering traumatic memories."
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Continuous memory and delayed recall | 13 | 17 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Complete amnesia and delayed recall | 12 | 16 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Uninformative charts | 11 | 14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Total | 77 | 100 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Table 2 Precipitants to Delayed Recall of Childhood Trauma |
||
|---|---|---|
| Type of Precipitant | Patients with Delayed Recall (n = 25) |
% |
| Trauma-specific reminder | 12 | 48 |
| Recent life crises/milestone | 10 | 40 |
| Psychotherapy | 7 | 28 |
| New information from another person | 5 | 20 |
| Change in close relationship | 5 | 20 |
| Abstinence from drugs or alcohol | 5 | 20 |
| Altered state experience | 5 | 20 |
| Unspecified precipitant | 4 | 16 |
| Illness or injury | 2 | 8 |
| Book, article, or TV program | 2 | 8 |
| Table 4 Sources of Memory Confirmation |
||
|---|---|---|
| Confirmation Source | Number of Patients | % of Total |
| Indirect witness (e.g., family member knew of abuse) | 12 | 16 |
| Idiosyncratic sources | 11 | 14 |
| Direct witness (e.g., family member witnessed abuse) | 10 | 13 |
| Disclosure by another victim of same perpetrator | 10 | 13 |
| Multiple sources | 10 | 13 |
| Perpetrator charged with similar crime | 6 | 8 |
| Indirect evidence (e.g., medical record of injuries) | 4 | 5 |
| Physical evidence | 1 | 1 |
| Admisssion by perpetrator | 1 | 1 |
Ross Cheit
Ross Cheit is a political scientist at Brown University who conducts important research on sexual abuse and public policy in the United States. He maintains the Recovered Memory Project, a Web site with an archive of corroborated cases of recovered memories of sexual abuse. The Recovered Memory Project Archive includes cases in which sexual abuse had gone on for years – occurrences still claimed to be impossible by those now unable to deny the existence of recovered memories. Cheit provides the criteria for inclusion in the Archive and invites Web-based submission of additional cases, as well as criticism and contrary evidence. It's an extremely valuable Web site, and I strongly encourage you to educate yourself there – especially if you're still skeptical about the reality of recovered memories of abuse.
Here's an outline of the Archive's 80 Corroborated Cases of Recovered Memory:
- 38 Cases from Legal Proceedings
- 19 Clinical Cases and other Academic/Scientific Case Studies
- 23 Other Corroborated Cases of Recovered Memory
Elizabeth Loftus
University of Washington psychologist Elizabeth Loftus is an accomplished researcher with expertise in eyewitness testimony, particularly how the memories of crime witnesses can be distorted by post-event questioning. Loftus is a prominent spokesperson for the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, and her views have by and large been very well received by the mass media in the United States. Loftus also testifies as an expert witness on the behalf of people accused of child abuse on the basis of recovered memories. She has co-authored a book entitled The Myth of Repressed Memory.
You've probably heard of Dr. Loftus, and seen her quoted approvingly and uncritically in the popular media. No doubt, as reported in the media, she has prevented some wrongly accused people from being unjustly convicted. She has also played a valuable role by bringing attention and accountability to bear on some irresponsible practices by some incompetent therapists. Yet Dr. Loftus has also claimed that recovered memory is a "myth," and that the majority of such memories are false and implanted by therapists.
Unfortunately, thus far reporters and journalists have almost completely failed to critically evaluate her claims. Nor have they addressed two crucial facts about her work:
Here is the study almost never mentioned by Dr. Loftus or the media:
Loftus, E.F., Polonsky, S., & Fullilove, M. T. (1994). Memories of childhood sexual abuse: Remembering and repressing. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 18, 67-845.
Abstract: "Women involved in out-patient treatment for substance abuse were interviewed to examine their recollections of childhood sexual abuse. Overall, 54% of the women reported a history of childhood sexual abuse. The majority (81.1%) remembered all or part of the abuse their whole lives; 19% reported they forgot the abuse for a period of time, and later the memory returned. Women who remembered the abuse their whole lives reported a clearer memory, with a more detailed picture. They also reported greater intensity of feelings at the time the abuse happened. Women who remembered the abuse their whole lives did not differ from others in terms of the violence of the abuse or whether the abuse was incestuous. These data bear on current discussions concerning the extent to which repression is a common way of coping with child sexual abuse trauma, and also bear on some widely held beliefs about the correlates of repression."If you read this paper (and I strongly encourage you to do so, especially if you are presenting this issue to others), you will find that Loftus devotes most of it to attacking the construct of repression. If you read this paper, you will probably find it interesting and ironic that Loftus, after her sustained attack on the construct of repression, uses it to explain the recovered memories of her own study's subjects. If you read this paper and some of the other works cited on this page, you will understand that experts in psychological trauma would not explain the recovered memories of her research subjects in that way, but in terms of dissociation.
Here are the findings at issue:
"Forgetting was associated with a different quality of memory, compared to those who did not forget. Forgetting was associated with a current memory that was deteriorated in some respects. The deteriorated memory was less clear; it contained less of a 'picture,' and the remembered intensity of feelings at the time of the abuse was less" (p.79).Notice the use of the word "deteriorated" to describe memory characteristics that most trauma specialists would describe as "dissociative." The principle that initially whole memories deteriorate over time is derived from research on nontraumatic memory. In contrast, just as dissociation involves a fragmentation of experience during abuse, subsequent memories tend to appear as fragments too – from the beginning. Thus, if a subject had dissociated during the abuse experience, such fragmentation would likely cause her memory to be "less clear," and to involve less of a "picture." Further, dissociative fragmentation during abuse typically involves a defensive attempt to split (dis-associate) physical and emotional pain from one's conscious experience. This could explain the finding that the women who had forgotten for some time, compared to those who had not, remembered the intensity of their feelings being less during the abuse. But Loftus and her colleagues, understandably wedded to their traditional model of memory and either unable or unwilling to apply the construct of dissociation, can only characterize such memories as "deteriorated."
This leads Loftus to misuse repression as an explanation for these lost memories – though no trauma expert would do so:
"Suppose instead we define repression more conservatively. . . . Just under one fifth of the women reported that they forgot the abuse for a period of time and later regained the memory. One could argue that this means that robust repression was not especially prevalent in our sample" (p.80).In summary:
DSM-IV : The Diagnosis of Dissociative Amnesia
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, currently in its fourth edition (DSM-IV), is the "bible" of psychiatric diagnosis. Decisions about treatment, communication among mental health professionals, and whole traditions of psychiatric research depend on use of the DSM system. Insurance companies will not pay for treatment unless the client has a DSM diagnosis. While it's true that developing diagnostic categories can be an inexact science, and that some disorders have come and gone, years of empirical research and clinical observation go into each subsequent revision of this document. In short, if the diagnosis of Dissociative Amnesia exists in DSM-IV, it's likely there for good reasons.
There are often politicized battles among different groups of psychiatrists and psychologists invested in certain diagnostic approaches, and certain diagnoses are contested by some clinicians and researchers. But two characteristics of DSM itself, which stem from the nature of the revision process, are particularly relevant here:
The below excerpts from DSM-IV clarify the nature of dissociation and show just how accepted this psychological construct is in the field of psychiatry. For starters, the same scientific progress which has led to increasing reliance on the construct of dissociation also brought about the change of the disorder's name – from the vague "Psychogenic Amnesia" to the more accurately descriptive "Dissociative Amnesia" in DSM-IV.
"The essential feature of the Dissociative Disorders is a disruption of the usually integrated functions of consciousness, memory, identity, or perception of the environment. The disturbance may be sudden or gradual, transient or chronic. The following disorders are included in this section:
"Dissociative Amnesia is characterized by an inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by ordinary forgetfulness" (p.477).
"300.12 Dissociative Amnesia
(formerly Psychogenic Amnesia)"Diagnostic Features
"The essential feature of Dissociative Amnesia is an inability to recall important personal information, usually of a traumatic or stressful nature, that is too extensive to be explained by normal forgetfulness (Criterion A). This disorder involves a reversible memory impairment in which memories of personal experience cannot be retrieved in a verbal form (or, if temporarily retrieved, cannot be wholly retained in consciousness). The disturbance does not occur exclusively during the course of Dissociative Identity Disorder [formerly Multiple Personality Disorder], Dissociative Fugue, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, or Somatization Disorder and is not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance or a neurological or other general medical condition (Criterion B). The symptoms must cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning (Criterion C).
"Dissociative Amnesia most commonly presents as a retrospectively reported gap or series of gaps in recall for aspects of the individual's life history. These gaps are usually related to traumatic or extremely stressful events. Some individuals may have amnesia for episodes of self-mutilation, violent outbursts, or suicide attempts. Less commonly, Dissociative Amnesia presents as a florid episode with sudden onset. This acute form is more likely to occur during wartime or in response to a natural disaster" (p.478)."Prevalence
"In recent years in the United States, there has been an increase in reported cases of Dissociative Amnesia that involves previously forgotten early childhood traumas. This increase has been subject to very different interpretations. Some believe that the greater awareness of the diagnosis among mental health professionals has resulted in the identification of cases that were previously undiagnosed. In contrast, others believe that the syndrome has been overdiagnosed in individuals who are highly suggestible" (p.479).
The above paragraph was written in 1993, prior to the publication of nearly all of the more than 25 research studies of amnesia and delayed recall that have now been published.
American Psychiatric Association. (1994). Diagnostic and statistic manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
Journal of Traumatic Stress
Special Issue: Traumatic Memory Research
This October 1995 special issue is an important and rich resource. I have provided an excerpt of Editor Bonnie Green's introduction, and abstracts of relevant papers. A version of the entire paper by van der Kolk and Fisler is accessible via hyperlink to David Baldwin's Trauma Information Pages. Finally, if you want a copy of this journal, ordering information appears at the end of this section.
Special Issue: Traumatic Memory Research. Journal of Traumatic Stress, Volume 8, Number 4, October, 1995.Contents and Abstracts
Green, B. L. Introduction to special issue on traumatic memory research.
Excerpt: "The present issue of JTS is dedicated to the topic of research on traumatic memory. While a few of the articles fall slightly outside of this overall designation, all articles were seen to be pertinent to clinicians and scholars who study and treat individuals with a history of traumatic exposure. The issue is sparked, to some extent, by the controversy raging within and between mental health professionals and academics about whether individuals can 'forget' traumatic events in their pasts, and whether they can 'remember' events that never took place. While the issue is not focused on this controversy per se, it was undertaken to inform clinicians and researchers about a variety of topics related to traumatic memory, 'recovered' or otherwise" (p.501).
van der Kolk, B., & Fisler, R. Dissociation and the fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory study.
Abstract: "Since trauma arises from an inescapable stressful event that overwhelms people's coping mechanisms, it is uncertain to what degree the results of laboratory studies of ordinary events are relevant to the understanding of traumatic memories. This paper reviews the literature on differences between recollections of stressful and of traumatic events. It then reviews the evidence implicating dissociation as the central pathogenic mechanism that gives rise to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). A systematic exploratory study of 46 subjects with PTSD indicated that traumatic memories were retrieved, at least initially, in the form of dissociated mental imprints of sensory and affective elements of the traumatic experience: as visual, olfactory, affective, auditory, and kinesthetic experiences. Over time, subjects reported the gradual emergence of a personal narrative that can be properly referred to as 'explicit memory.' The implications of these findings for understanding the nature of traumatic memories are discussed."
Read excerpts from this paper.
Bremner, J. D., Krystal, J. H., & Charney, D. S. Functional neuroanatomical correlates of the effects of stress on memory.
Abstract: "Recently there has been an increase in interest in the relationship between stress and memory. Brain regions which are involved in memory function also effect the stress response. Traumatic stress results in changes in these brain regions; alterations in these brain regions in turn may mediate symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Neural mechanisms which are relevant to the effects of stress on memory, such as fear conditioning, stress sensitization, and extinction, are reviewed in relation to their implications for PTSD. Special topics including neural mechanisms in dissociation, neurobiological approaches to the validity of childhood memories as they apply to controversies over the "False Memory Syndrome," and implications of the effects of stress on memory for psychotherapy, are also reviewed. The findings discussed in this paper are consistent with the formulation that stress-induced alterations in brain regions and systems involved in memory may underlie many of the symptoms of PTSD, as well as dissociative amnesia, seen in survivors of traumatic stress."
Fivush, R., & Schwarzmueller, A. Say it once again: Effects of repeated questions on children's event recall.
Abstract: "In this paper, we review research examining the influences of repeated questioning on children's event recall. Issues addressed include how children's free recall changes across multiple recounts of the same event, whether responding to specific questions about an event affects subsequent responses to those same questions, and whether there are developmental differences in how children respond to repeated questioning. Both naturalistic studies of conversational remembering and more controlled studies using standardized interviews are discussed. Effects of repeated questioning both within and across interviews are assessed. In integrating the research findings, we present a developmental framework for understanding the effects of repeated questioning that relies on children's developing memory and narrative skills as well as their social understanding of the recall context."Excerpt: "Certainly, when children are abused, they are often sworn to secrecy, or even threatened with aversive consequences if they tell. In these kinds of situations, what happens to memory? Given the theoretical framework laid out here, we would predict that these memories may become especially difficult to retrieve and recall. If young children are dependent to some extent on talking about events with others who help them organize their verbal recount, which in turn leads to long-term retention of these events, then it seems quite likely that if children are not given the opportunity to engage in this kind of verbal work, their memories of the event would not be as good as memories of events that are discussed. Indeed, Goodman [et al.] (1994) recently reported results that support this prediction [Consciousness & Cognition, 3, 369-394]. They examined children's memories for a painful medical procedure involving catheterization and voiding. Those children whose mothers subsequently talked with them about their experience had more accurate memories of the event than children whose mothers did not discuss the event. More research focusing on the consequences of discussing or not discussing experiences on the fate of these event memories is clearly necessary. This is a critical question, both for a theoretical understanding of the role of rehearsal on memory, as well as applied issues concerning children's memories for abusive experiences, and adults' ability to recall abusive experiences from their childhood" (pp.576-577).
Ornstein, P. A. Children's long-term retention of salient personal experiences.
Tromp, S., Koss, M. P., & Tharan, M. Are rape memories different? A comparison of rape, other unpleasant, and pleasant memories among employed women.
Abstract: "The study examined empirically-measured memory characteristics, compared pleasant and unpleasant intense memories as well as rape and other unpleasant memories, and determined whether rape memories exhibited significantly more "flashbulb' characteristics. Data consisted of responses to a mailed survey of women employees of a medical center (N = 1,037) and a university (N = 2,142). Pleasant and unpleasant memories were differentiated by feelings, consequences, and level of unexpectedness. The most powerful discriminator of rape from other unpleasant memories was the degree to which they were less clear and vivid, contained a less meaningful order, were less well-remembered, and were less thought and talked about. Few 'flashbulb' characteristics discriminated among memory types. Implications for clinical work with rape survivors were discussed."
Elliott, D. M., & Briere, J. Posttraumatic stress associated with delayed recall of sexual abuse: A general population study.
Abstract: "This study examined delayed recall of childhood sexual abuse in a stratified random sample of the general population (N = 505). Of participants who reported a history of sexual abuse, 42% described some period of time when they had less memory of the abuse than they did at the time of data collection. No demographic differences were found between subjects with continuous recall and those who reported delayed recall. However, delayed recall was associated with the use of threats at the time of the abuse. Subjects who had recently recalled aspects of their abuse reported particularly high levels of posttraumatic symptomatology and self difficulties (as measured by the IES, SCL, and TSI) at the time of data collection compared to other subjects."
Williams, L. M. Recovered memories of abuse in women with documented child sexual victimization histories.
Abstract: "This study provides evidence that some adults who claim to have recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actual events that occurred in childhood. One hundred twenty-nine women with documented histories of sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked about abuse history. Seventeen years following the initial report of the abuse, 80 of the women recalled the victimization. One in 10 women (16% of those who recalled the abuse) reported that at some time in the past they had forgotten about the abuse. Those with a prior period of forgetting – the women with 'recovered memories' – were younger at the time of abuse and were less likely to have received support from their mothers than the women who reported that they had always remembered their victimization. The women who had recovered memories and those who had always remembered had the same number of discrepancies when their accounts of the abuse were compared to the reports from the early 1970's."Read an excerpt from this paper.
Foa, E. B., Molnar, C., & Cashman, L. Change in rape narratives during exposure therapy for posttraumatic stress disorder.
Rogers, M. L. Factors influencing recall of childhood sexual abuse.
Wolfe, J. Trauma, traumatic memory, and research: Where do we go from here?
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Contents
John Briere
Psychologist John Briere, of the University of Southern California (USC) Medical School, is a highly respected researcher and clinician in the field of traumatic stress studies. He has written numerous articles and several books on the lasting effects of child sexual abuse and the treatment of adults sexually abused in childhood. These include the papers below, which report research studies on amnesia for and delayed recall of memories of child sexual abuse.
Briere, J., & Conte, J. (1993). Self-reported amnesia for abuse in adults molested as children. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 6, 21-31.
Abstract: "A sample of 450 adult clinical subjects reporting sexual abuse histories were studied regarding their repression of sexual abuse incidents. A total of 267 subjects (59.3%) identified some period in their lives, before age 18, when they had no memory of their abuse. Variables most predictive of abuse-related amnesia were greater current psychological symptoms, molestation at an early age, extended abuse, and variables reflecting especially violent abuse (e.g., victimization by multiple perpetrators, having been physically injured as a result of the abuse, victim fears of death if she or he disclosed the abuse to others). In contrast, abuse characteristics more likely to produce psychological conflict (e.g., enjoyment of the abuse, acceptance of bribes, feelings of guilt or shame) were not associated with abuse-related amnesia. The results of this study are interpreted as supporting Freud's initial 'seduction hypothesis,' as well as more recent theories of post-traumatic stress disorder."
Elliott, D. M., & Briere, J. (1995). Posttraumatic stress associated with delayed recall of sexual abuse: A general population study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 8, 629-647.
Abstract: "This study examined delayed recall of childhood sexual abuse in a stratified random sample of the general population (N = 505). Of participants who reported a history of sexual abuse, 42% described some period of time when they had less memory of the abuse than they did at the time of data collection. No demographic differences were found between subjects with continuous recall and those who reported delayed recall. However, delayed recall was associated with the use of threats at the time of the abuse. Subjects who had recently recalled aspects of their abuse reported particularly high levels of posttraumatic symptomatology and self difficulties (as measured by the IES, SCL, and TSI) at the time of data collection compared to other subjects."
Shirley Feldman-Summers
Psychologist Shirley Feldman-Summers is an independent practitioner in Washington state, and serves as an expert witness in civil and criminal cases. The paper below (follow link for full text) is a research study with data on rates of amnesia and delayed recall for child abuse experiences among a national sample of psychotherapists.
Feldman-Summers, S., & Pope, K. S. (1994). The experience of "forgetting" childhood abuse: A national survey of psychologists (full text) . Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 636-639.
Abstract: "A national sample of psychologists were asked whether they had been abused as children and, if so, whether they had ever forgotten some or all of the abuse. Almost a quarter of the sample (23.9%) reported childhood abuse, and of those, approximately 40% reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse. The major findings were that (a) both sexual and nonsexual abuse were subject to periods of forgetting; (b) the most frequently reported factor related to recall was being in therapy; (c) approximately one half of those who reported forgetting also reported corroboration of the abuse; and (d) reported forgetting was not related to gender or age of the respondent but was related to severity of the abuse."Two tables from the paper:
| Table 2 Events, Experiences, or Circumstances That Triggered Recovery of the Memories of Abuse |
||
|---|---|---|
| Experience | Number of Subjects |
Percentage of Subjects |
| A book, article, lecture, movie, or TV show reminded me. | 8 | 25.0 |
| Someone who knew about the abuse reminded me. | 6 | 18.8 |
| In therapy, the memory began to return. | 18 | 56.2 |
| In a self-help or peer group (i.e., not a therapy group), the memory began to return. | 2 | 6.2 |
| Some other event seemed to trigger or elicit the memory (please describe). | 9 | 28.1 |
| Nothing seemed to be related to my remembering the abuse. | 3 | 9.4 |
| Table 3 Sources That Support, Corroborate, or Confirm the Recovered Memory of the Abuse |
||
|---|---|---|
| Source | Number of Subjects |
Percentage of Subjects |
| The abuser(s) acknowledged some or all of the remembered abuse. | 5 | 15.6 |
| Someone who knew about the abuse told me. | 7 | 21.9 |
| Journals or diaries kept by the abuser(s) described or referred to the abuse. | 0 | 0.0 |
| My own journals or diaries (that I had forgotten about) described the abuse. | 2 | 6.2 |
| Someone else reported abuse by the same perpetrator. | 5 | 15.6 |
| Medical records referred to or described the abuse. | 2 | 6.2 |
| Court or legal records referred to or described the abuse. | 0 | 0.0 |
| No support, corroboration, or confirmation has been found. | 16 | 50 |
Jennifer Freyd
University of Oregon psychologist Jennifer Freyd has written an acclaimed book (and an article) in which she advances her theory of why it is adaptive for some children not to remember childhood abuse experiences. She focuses on the issue of betrayal, and argues that the need for mental and physical survival, not merely the avoidance of painful feelings, leads children abused by caregivers to block out information about the abuse. Dr. Freyd and two of her colleagues conducted a study to test her theory, and the results are reported in a 2001 paper that is referenced below and available online as a pdf file.
Freyd, J. J. (1996). Betrayal trauma: The logic of forgetting childhood abuse. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Follow link for promotional information at HUP.
Here are excerpts from the New York Times Book Review:
"Betrayal Trauma is a thoughtful, judicious and thorough scholarly analysis of a subject that has hitherto generated more heat than light. . .
"Although the mechanisms involved [in memory loss and retrieval] are far from fully understood, Ms. Freyd marshals the psychological, neurological and cognitive-science literature with impressive skill to suggest several plausible possibilities. Her work serves as a salutary reminder that if treated as serious science rather than media hoopla the recovered-memory debate could provide a significant window on mind-brain relationships; anyone interested in the latter will find much stimulating material here. . .
"She has a complex enough case to argue; she argues it fairly and with virtuoso skill, blending vivid anecdote with statistical evidence, first-person accounts with research reports, in a highly literate and engaging style. Partisan passions, alas, are seldom quenched by reason. But unblinkered readers will surely agree that Ms. Freyd's book places recovered memories squarely on the cognitive-science agenda. Her diagnosis of their source may well turn out to be correct."
- Derek Bickerton, New York Times Book Review
Freyd, J. (1994). Betrayal trauma: Traumatic amnesia as an adaptive response to childhood abuse. Ethics & Behavior, 4, 307-329.
Abstract: "Betrayal trauma theory suggests that psychogenic amnesia is an adaptive response to childhood abuse. When a parent or other powerful figure violates a fundamental ethic of human relationships, victims may need to remain unaware of the trauma not to reduce suffering but rather to promote survival. Amnesia enables the child to maintain an attachment with a figure vital to survival, development, and thriving. Analysis of evolutionary pressures, mental modules, social cognitions, and developmental needs suggests that the degree to which the most fundamental human ethics are violated can influence the nature, form, and process of trauma and responses to the trauma."Excerpt: "Child abuse is especially likely to produce a social conflict or betrayal for the victim. . . Further, there is evidence that the most devastating psychological effects of child abuse occur when the victims are abused by a trusted person who was known to them. . . If a child processed the betrayal in the normal way, he or she would be motivated to stop interacting with the betrayer. Instead, he or she essentially needs to ignore the betrayal. If the betrayer is a primary caregiver, it is especially essential that the child does not stop behaving in such a way that will inspire attachment. For the child to withdraw from a caregiver on which he or she is dependent would further threaten the child's life, both physically and mentally. Thus the trauma of child abuse by its very nature requires that information about the abuse be blocked from mental mechanisms that control attachment and attachment behavior. The information that gets blocked may be partial (for instance, blocking emotional responses only), but in many cases partial blocking will lead to a more profound amnesia" (p.312).
Freyd, J.J., DePrince, A.P., & Zurbriggen, E.L. (2001). Self-reported memory for abuse depends upon victim-perpetrator relationship. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 2, 5-17.
Abstract: "We present preliminary results from the Betrayal Trauma Inventory (BTI) testing predictions from betrayal trauma theory (Freyd 1994, 1996, in press) about the relationship between amnesia and betrayal by a caregiver. The BTI assesses trauma history using behaviorally defined events in the domains of sexual, physical, and emotional childhood abuse, as well as other lifetime traumatic events. When participants endorse an abuse experience, follow-up questions assess a variety of factors including memory impairment and perpetrator relationship. Preliminary results support our prediction that abuse perpetrated by a caregiver is related to less persistent memories of abuse. This relationship is significant for sexual and physical abuse. Regression analyses revealed that age was not a significant predictor of memory impairment and that duration of abuse could not account for the findings."
Dr. Freyd and Dr. Chris Brewin organized the 1998 Meeting on Trauma and Cognitive Science. At the site there is an order form for a set of 10 tapes of presentations by leading researchers. The conference was offered by the University of Oregon's Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences, Department of Psychology, and Center for the Study of Women in Society. Its aim was "to share knowledge and theory relvant to understanding the way in which trauma interacts with information processing," including "a particular focus on how traumatic information is encoded, stored, and later retrieved from memory." The conference had a research focus, but also addressed the significant ethical, clinical, and societal implications of the researchers' work. Speakers represented a broad spectrum of research approaches and points of view. Trauma and Cognitive Science, an excellent book based on the conference, has recently been published.
Contents
Chris Brewin
Chris R. Brewin, Ph.D., is a Professor and Co-director of the Cognition, Emotion and Trauma Group, in the Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London. He is a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma and memory. In addition to publishing several studies on intrusive memories with his colleagues, Dr. Brewin is the first author of two important review articles that bring the latest cognitive science theory and research to the issue of traumatic memories, including recovered memories. Both are featured below.
Brewin, C. R., & Andrews, B. (1998). Recovered memories of trauma: Phenomenology and cognitive mechanisms. Clinical Psychology Review, 4, 949-970.
Abstract: "We outline four current explanations for the reported forgetting of traumatic events, namely repression, dissociation, ordinary forgetting, and false memory. We then review the clinical and survey evidence on recovered memories, and consider experimental evidence that a variety of inhibitory processes are involved in everyday cognitive activity including forgetting. The data currently available do not allow any of the four explanations to be rejected, and strongly support the likelihood that some recovered memories correspond to actual experiences. We propose replacing the terms repression and dissociation as explanations of forgetting with an account based on cognitive science."Excerpts: "Given that the recovery of essentially accurate memories of trauma after a period of forgetting is agreed to occur in some cases, the plausibility of competing accounts of forgetting depends on whether: (a) clients report active attempts to forget memories or banish them from consciousness, and the strategies they use to do this; (b) the memories recalled possess the hallmarks of disrupted encoding, such as fragmentation, intense sensory and perceptual features, and the experience of reliving the event in the present; (c) evidence for inhibitory processes can be found in everyday cognitive tasks; (d) ordinary individuals display a selective problem in processing negative memories. In the next two sections of this article, we consider the clinical and experimental evidence relevant to these issues" (p.953).
"Of particular value is the evidence that memory recovery can take several forms. Amnesia may be partial or profound, and individuals can often give accounts of deliberate strategies they use to banish distressing memories from consciousness. Recovered memories may be fragemented, emotion-laden, and similar to intrusive memories of the PTSD patient, or (less often) they may more closely resemble ordinary memories. These observations suggest that several different kinds of underlying cognitive processes are likely to be necessary to explain such diverse phenomena. In search of such processes we now turn to the experimental literature" (p.958).
"Studies of retrieval inhibition suggest a mechanism to explain how instructions to forget generated by the self or others might lead to profound amnesia for an event, which could subsequently be lifted by exposure to relevant cues.... Retrieval inhibition may apply to an entire set of items in memory and can explain profound amnesia. In the case of partial forgetting, however, the individual has to forget a subset of items from a larger, interrelated item pool, some of which is accessible to working memory.... "Johnson (1994 [Psychol Bull, 116, 274-292]) argued that once this mixture of [to be forgotten] and [to be remembered] information was in memory, forgetting could not be explained solely by representational processes operating on the storage of information to prevent retrieval. It would additionally have to be assumed that some material had been partially retrieved but was not fully processed or expressed because of some decisional processes.... This kind of model is consistent with reports of partial forgetting in which clients describe remaining unaware of particular aspects of their trauma by choosing not to remember them. They typically describe a state of mind in which they know that they know something, but prefer to remain in ignorance of it.... (pp.963-964)
"Although repression and dissociation have proved useful in carrying forward the idea of defensive strategies for forgetting trauma, and can plausibly be used to refer to different types of forgetting, we argue that neither is adequate to explain recovered memories of trauma. Use of the term repression has led to confusion because it can be defined in quite different ways, and dissociation, although often coexistent with traumatic amnesia, is concerned with alterations in consciousness rather than specifically with forgetting. Neither concept can account for the range of empirical data.
"An adequate account of recovered memories of trauma must explain the large variations both in the degree of prior amnesia and in the quality of the memories recovered. We have argued that these variations may be explicable in terms of three processes familiar to cognitive psychologists, retrieval inhibition, postretrieval decisional processes, and implicit memory. Also integral to the explanation is the idea that there are dual representations of trauma in memory, one explicit and deliberately accessible (verbally accessible memory) and one automatically triggered by situational cues (situationally accessible memory)" (p.966).
Brewin, C. R., Dalgleish, T., & Joseph, S. (1996). A dual representation theory of posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychological Review, 103, 670-686.
Abstract: "A cognitive theory of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is proposed that assumes traumas experienced after early childhood give rise to 2 sorts of memory, 1 verbally accessible and 1 automatically accessible through appropriate situational cues. These different types of memory are used to explain the complex phenomenology of PTSD, including the experiences of reliving the traumatic event and of emotionally processing the trauma. The theory considers 3 possible outcomes of the emotional processing of trauma, successful completion, chronic processing, and premature inhibition of processing We discuss the implications of the theory for research design, clinical practice, and resolving contradictions in the empirical data."
Cynthia Bowman & Elizabeth Mertz
Northwestern University Law professors Cynthia Bowman and Elizabeth Mertz have written an important paper of interest to therapists, lawyers and judges concerned with legal and liability issues in criminal cases based on recovered memories. Their paper includes an excellent pre-1996 review of the scientific evidence as well. Directions for ordering a copy follow the excerpt.
Bowman, C. G., & Mertz, E. (1996). A dangerous direction: Legal intervention in sexual abuse survivor therapy. Harvard Law Review, 109, 551-639.
Abstract: "In this article, Professors Brown and Mertz question recent popular and academic commentary that disputes the validity of all delayed-recall memories of childhood sexual abuse. They examine one court's decision to allow a father, accused by his daughter of childhood sexual abuse, to recover malpractice damages from his daughter's therapist in connection with therapy during which the daughter recovered memories of the abuse. The authors argue that such third-party liability is unsound in terms of established principles of tort doctrine and in terms of public policy. After a review of the scientific evidence, the authors further conclude that, although some memories may be inaccurate, delayed-recall memory can also accurately reflect that past abuse occurred. Permitting third-party liability against therapists when accurate memories of abuse surface in therapy gives abusers a weapon to use against their victims. Because such suits exclude the party in privy (the client), they effectively erase the victim's voice. Professors Bowman and Mertz argue that such a novel extension of third-party liability is at best a misuse of the court's resources and ultimately harms abuse survivors, therapists, and the community far more than it helps any wrongfully accused parents."To order a copy of this issue, send a check for $9 to:Excerpt: "Part I discusses the California case that is the immediate impetus for this article, Ramona vs. Isabella. Part II explores existing law relating to therapist liability, discussing doctrines about third-party liability in tort, medical malpractice by psychotherapists, and the like. Part III discusses policy issues raised by the background law. In Part IV, we examine what is known about the delayed recall of memories involving abuse. Based on this discussion, we evaluate in Part V the problems involved in translating psycho/social knowledge into legal standards for the sexual abuse context and, in Part VI, discuss the implication for survivors' agency and personhood of permitting third-party suits against their therapists. We conclude that allowing recovery [of damages] in a case like Ramona is unsound. Part VII sets forth recommendation based upon our analysis" (p.555).
Judge Edward Harrington, U.S. District Court
Judge Edward Harrington of the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, has written an important decision on the validity of "repressed memory." Judge Harrington based his ruling on those factors the U.S. Supreme Court has decided must be considered when deciding if proffered testimony is valid "scientific knowledge," and therefore reliable. Here are some key passages in the decision:
"After considering these factors, this Court finds that the reliability of the phenomenon of repressed memory has been established, and therefore, will permit the plaintiff to introduce evidence which relates to the plaintiff's recovered memories (p.3).
"In brief, Dr. van der Kolk testified that repressed memories is not a scientific controversy, but merely a political and forensic one (p.5).
"Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, 1994), which is a widely used manual by psychiatrists to define mental diagnostic categories and is published by the American Psychiatric Association, also recognizes the concept of repressed memories (p.7).
"It is important to stress that, in considering the admissibility of repressed memory evidence, it is not the role of the Court to rule on the credibility of this individual plaintiff's memories, but rather on the validity of the theory itself. For the foregoing reasons, the Court hereby denies the Defendant's Motion in Limine to Exclude Repressed Memory Evidence. For the law to reject a diagnostic category generally accepted by those who practice the art and science of psychiatry would be folly. Rules of law are not petrified in the past but flow with the current of expanding knowledge" (p.9).
I have created a Web page with a copy of this decision: The Validity of Recovered Memory: Decision of United States District Court, District of Massachusetts.
Contents
Selected Books on Recovered & Traumatic Memories
There are now available many good, and some great books on recovered memories of sexual abuse in particular and traumatic memories in general. Below is a short list of books that I have found very informative and thought-provoking. I am confident that these are worthwhile reading for therapists, students, scientists, lawyers, philosophers and anyone else interested in the many facets and implications of traumatic memory. You can go directly from the book titles to their pages at Amazon.com, which will give me 5-15% of the price on some purchases (all pages will open in a new browser window or one already open in the background). I have entered into this arrangement in association with Amazon.com to cover some costs of running this website.
Unchained Memories: True Stories of Traumatic Memories, Lost and Found
By Lenore Terr. New York: Basic Books, 1994.
Psychiatrist Lenore Terr University of California's San Francisco Medical School helped found the field of psychological trauma with her study of children involved in the Chowchilla kidnapping incident. In this book, which is accessible to everyone interested in this topic, she recounts her experiences as a therapist working with people who have experienced amnesia and delayed recall for traumatic memories. Written by a competent and ethical therapist and researcher, this book is a matter of fact response to sweeping generalizations about professionals doing this work.
Trauma and Cognitive Science
Edited by Jennifer J. Freyd & Anne P. DePrince. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press, 2001.
This book is based on a ground-breaking 1998 conference hosted by Jennifer Freyd and Chris Brewin, which brought together clinicians, clinical researchers, cognitive scientists and neuroscientists, in an effort to bridge gaps across these disciplines and their respective theoretical frameworks and research methodologies. As indicated by the contents below, this collection of papers addresses a variety of important issues concerning recovered memories of abuse and traumatic memories more generally. (This book contains two papers that I co-authored with Bessel van der Kolk - see links to pdf files below.) For the publisher's information/spin on the book, click here.
You can order the book from Amazon (easy if you've ordered from Amazon before, 1-2 weeks for delivery), or directly from the publisher, The Haworth Press (harder to order, but probably faster delivery):
Phone: 800-429-6784Chapter titles and authors:
Email: getinfo@hasworthpressinc.com
Web: http://www.haworthpressinc.com/store/product.asp?sku=2228
Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law
By Daniel Brown, Alan W. Scheflin, & D. Corydon Hammond. New York: Norton, 1997.
This book is by far the most comprehensive and acclaimed on this topic. Brown, Scheflin and Hammond's encyclopedic volume is a remarkably thorough treatment of many crucial issues, including memory, suggestibility, therapy, and the law. It is an expensive and massive book, at $100 and over 700 pages, and will be an authoritative work for years to come.
Chapter titles:
- The False Memory Debate
- The Contours of the False Memory Debate
- The Nature of Memory
- Laboratory Simulation Studies on Memory for Negative Emotional Events
- Personal Memories
- Memory for Events of Impact
- Trauma Memory
- Misinformation Suggestibility
- Interrogatory Suggestion and Coercive Persuasion
- Hypnosis and Memory: Analysis and Critique of Research
- A Critical Evaluation of Research on Emotion and Memory
- The False Logic of the False Memory Controversy and the Irrational Element in Scientific Research on Memory
- Phase-Oriented Trauma Treatment
- Trauma Treatment and the Standard of Care
- Suing Therapists
- Repressed Memory and the Law
- Distingushing between True and False Memories
- Hypnosis and the Law
Recovered Memories of Abuse: Assessment, Therapy, Forensics
By Kenneth Pope & Laura Brown. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 1996.
This highly acclaimed book is an excellent practical resource for therapists, lawyers, and expert witnesses.
Three examples of the praise this book has received:
"Pope and Brown have presented a careful review of memory science that both appreciates complexity and cautions against overgeneralization. . . . The book presents very pragmatic guidelines for clinicians that serve to improve the standard of care and decrease liability risk. . . . This is a very sane, ethical, and compassionate approach to a very controversial and often irrational debate."
- Daniel Brown, Ph.D., ABPH, Harvard Medical School"Essential reading for lawyers and expert witnesses, this landmark book is scientifically grounded, carefully researched, and – thankfully! – of great practical use. The consent forms, deposition and cross-examination questions, outlines for reviewing treatment plans, and scrupulously fair examinations of the major controversies are major contributions. Avoiding the polarizing polemics and limited points of view that mar so much of the work in this area, this is the best book on this topic."
- Gary Sampley, Esq., Attorney at Law"This is a book that a clinician, researcher, or trainee cannot afford to miss. . . . Only with this type of comprehensive information can we begin to appreciate the complexities of therapeutic and legal issues surrounding child sexual abuse."
- Gail Elizabeth Wyatt, Ph.D., Department of Psychiatry, UCLA
Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse
By Jennifer Freyd. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1996.
Freyd is a University of Oregon research psychologist. In this acclaimed book she advances her theory of why it is adaptive for some children not to remember childhood abuse experiences. Freyd focuses on the issue of betrayal, and argues that the need for mental and physical survival, not merely the avoidance of painful feelings, leads children abused by caregivers to block out information about the abuse.
Here are excerpts from the New York Times Book Review:
"Betrayal Trauma is a thoughtful, judicious and thorough scholarly analysis of a subject that has hitherto generated more heat than light. . .
Although the mechanisms involved [in memory loss and retrieval] are far from fully understood, Ms. Freyd marshals the psychological, neurological and cognitive-science literature with impressive skill to suggest several plausible possibilities. Her work serves as a salutary reminder that if treated as serious science rather than media hoopla the recovered-memory debate could provide a significant window on mind-brain relationships; anyone interested in the latter will find much stimulating material here. . .
She has a complex enough case to argue; she argues it fairly and with virtuoso skill, blending vivid anecdote with statistical evidence, first-person accounts with research reports, in a highly literate and engaging style. Partisan passions, alas, are seldom quenched by reason. But unblinkered readers will surely agree that Ms. Freyd's book places recovered memories squarely on the cognitive-science agenda. Her diagnosis of their source may well turn out to be correct."
- Derek Bickerton, New York Times Book Review
Sexual Abuse Recalled: Treating Trauma in the Era of the Recovered Memory Debate
Edited by Judith Alpert. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1995.
This collection of thoughtful and informative essays addresses the range of clinical issues encountered in this work, from therapeutic practice and ethics, to scientific bases and legal concerns. Contributors include Judith Alpert, Bessel van der Kolk, Laura Brown, and Daniel Brown. Richard Kluft, an expert on dissociation and dissociative identity disorder, says this about the book:
"Dr. Alpert and her contributors have produced a foundation resource document for therapists who labor to console and heal patients struggling with issues of trauma. By restraining from indulgence in unseemly polemics. . . they bring thoughtful insight to the study of recollections of sexual traumatization and to the management of such memories in treatment. This is not a gratifying text for the true believer who seeks confirmation of a particular point of view, but it is an excellent text for the honest clinician or scholar willing to grapple with an extremely complex and challenging problem in a candid and circumspect manner. We owe Dr. Alpert and her colleagues a debt of gratitude."
Holocaust Testimonies: The Ruins of Memory
By Lawrence Langer. New Haven, CN: Yale University Press, 1991.
Boston University scholar Lawrence Langer has spent years studying videotapes from the Holocaust Archive at Yale University. Langer's research has focused on Holocaust survivors' oral testimonies. Based on this work he has formulated a distinction between what he refers to as "common memory" and "deep memory." Langer's insights may shed light on memories of the most extreme forms of child abuse.
Common memory has meaningful continuity with the present for its possessor, and can be linked to the present by a storyline. Common memory can be communicated to a listener who can imagine a relevant past in common with the speaker. It can be communicated to another as a narrative that is, by its nature, comprehensible to its audience. In contrast, deep memory cannot be integrated into a narrative continuous with the present, even by its possessor. Indeed, deep memory ultimately cannot be understood by another person, since a listener has no basis for imagining the past it depicts.
Langer conveys the experience of watching videotapes of oral Holocaust testimonies:
"We wrestle with the beginnings of a permanently unfinished tale, full of incomplete intervals, faced by the spectacle of a faltering witness often reduced to a distressed silence by the overwhelming solicitations of deep memory. Witnesses' chronic frustration and skepticism about the audience's ability to understand their testimony is almost a premise of these encounters. Written texts, on the other hand, are designed to avert this possibility – otherwise, one assumes, they would not be published. Indeed, the initial problem surfacing in these oral testimonies with sufficient regularity to call it a 'theme' is exactly the opposite: whether anything can be meaningfully conveyed" (1991, p.21).
The Recovered Memory/False Memory Debate
Edited by Kathy Pezdek & William Banks. San Diego: Academic Press, 1996.
This collection of scholarly papers, including a number of research studies, presents work representing a range of opinion. It is a good resource for therapists, lawyers, graduate and college students, and anyone else interested in these issues.
Trauma: Explorations in Memory
Edited by Cathy Caruth. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995.
Cathy Caruth of Yale University's English Department edited two 1991 special issues of American Imago, and this book presents the same material. These are historically, culturally and philosophically rich essays on psychological trauma and traumatic memory, from child abuse to Holocaust experiences.
Special Issue: Psychoanalysis, Culture, and Trauma, I. American Imago, 48(1).Special Issue: Psychoanalysis, Culture, and Trauma, II. American Imago, 48(2).
Additional Resources
If you need immediate information about and/or connection to resources in your own community in the United States, here are three 24-hour toll-free hotlines that you can call:
Childhelp USA is a non-profit organization "dedicated to meeting the physical, emotional, educational, and spiritual needs of abused and neglected children." Its programs and services include this hotline, which children can call with complete anonymity and confidentiality. To know what to expect when you call, see How We Help. From the site: "The Childhelp USA® National Child Abuse Hotline is open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Don't be afraid to call. No one is silly or unimportant to us. If something is bothering you or you want information, CALL!" To learn more about reporting child abuse or neglect in your state, see Report Child Abuse.
RAINN is a national network of rape crisis centers. This is an automated service that links callers to the nearest rape crisis center automatically. Rape crisis centers are staffed with trained volunteers and paid staff members who also have knowledge of sexual abuse issues and services (though sometimes they are not adequately prepared to refer males with abuse histories). All calls are confidential, and callers may remain anonymous if they wish.
This is a 24-hour-a-day hotline, staffed by trained volunteers who are ready to connect people with emergency help in their own communities, including emergency services and shelters. The staff can also provide information and referrals for a variety of non-emergency services, including counseling for adults and children, and assistance in reporting abuse. They have an extensive database of domestic violence treatment providers in all US states and territories. Many staff members speak languages besides English, and they have 24-hour access to translators for approximately 150 languages. For the hearing impaired, there is a TDD number. This is a good resource for people who are experiencing or have experienced domestic violence or abuse, or who suspect that someone they know is being abused (though it is not perfect, and may not have the best number in your area). All calls to the hotline are confidential, and callers may remain anonymous if they wish.
If you are looking for a therapist or counselor in the United States, even if only for a couple of consultations, the Sidran Foundation has an extensive list of therapists and clinics around the country that specialize in treating people with histories of severe child abuse. See their page on Information and Referrals from Sidran's Resource Specialist.
If you want to start learning and practicing the self-regulation skills essential to managing painful memories, or to build on progress you are already making, I strongly recommend that you get this book: Growing Beyond Survival: A Self-Help Toolkit for Managing Traumatic Stress, by Elizabeth Vermilyea. To learn more about the book and/or order it directly from the publisher (for a higher price than Amazon), go to the Growing Beyond Survival page of the Sidran Press catalog.
For more links to child abuse resources, go from the bottom of this page to "Child Abuse: Statistics, Research, and Resources." There are great resources there that are not here.
U-Turn on Memory Lane is an informative article on the media's handling of the recovered memory controversy. Journalist Mike Stanton published this article in the July/August 1997 issue of Columbia Journalism Review.
Trauma and Memory, by Victoria Banyard, Ph.D., a Professor of Psychology at the University of New Hampshire, is a concise, 3-page review of research on trauma and memory. The Fall 2000 issue of the PTSD Research Quarterly, a publication of the National Center for PTSD, it covers recent developments and emerging trends, and is supplemented by selected abstracts and additional citations.
The web site of Ken Pope has several articles on the recovered memory/false memory debate, which can be ordered for free. Pope is an accomplished psychologist who has published many articles and a book on the scientific and therapeutic issues involved. See the Award Address and Other Articles on the Recovered Memory Controversy section of his page, and follow links for the article reprint ordering form.
You can order a set of 10 tapes of presentations by leading researchers at the 1998 Meeting on Trauma and Cognitive Science, organized by Drs. Jennifer Freyd and Chris Brewin. The conference was offered by the University of Oregon's Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences, Department of Psychology, and Center for the Study of Women in Society. Its aim was "to share knowledge and theory relvant to understanding the way in which trauma interacts with information processing," including "a particular focus on how traumatic information is encoded, stored, and later retrieved from memory." The conference had a research focus, but also addressed the significant ethical, clinical, and societal implications of the researchers' work. The speakers represented a broad spectrum of research approaches and points of view: Bessel van der Kolk, Jonathan Schooler, Kathy Pezdek, John Morton, Mary Koss, Terence Keane, Ira Hyman, Jennifer Freyd, Robyn Fivush, Catherine Classen, Chris Brewin, J. Douglas Bremner, Bernice Andrews, and Michael Anderson.
If you are a clinician seeking (non-suggestive) methods to help your clients cope with and integrate traumatic memories, I strongly encourage you to look into Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). This powerful brief treatment has been extensively researched, and clinical efficacy has been shown in methodologically rigorous research, including studies published in top journals like the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. For more information, including lists of publications and upcoming trainings in your area, visit the Web sites of the EMDR Institute and the EMDR International Association.
For another, more readily accessible clinical resource, read The Counting Method for Ameliorating Traumatic Memories. This prepublication paper by Frank M. Ochberg, a psychiatrist and expert in posttraumatic therapy, gives detailed directions for employing the method. From the article: "Several clinicians have developed, tested and promulgated therapies designed to prevent or ameliorate traumatic memory and associated dysphoria. The Counting Method is one such approach. Although the method has been discussed and disseminated at national conferences and through an instructional videotape [link at site], this is the first published description and written guide."
False Memory Syndrome Facts is maintained by Linda Chapman, M.S.W., whose goal is "to offer easy access to accurate foundational information about 'false memory syndrome', in the following arenas: scientific analysis, clinical practice, legal, media, and organizations."
The Web site of the Colin A. Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma presents a fairly balanced perspective on traumatic memories, including their potential inaccuracy. Dr. Ross is an internationally recognized expert on dissociation and dissociative disorders. At this site, the widely used and easy to administer 28-item Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), created by Eve Carlson, Ph.D., and Frank Putnam, M.D., is available for free. Here's an excerpt of the Ross Institute's Traumatic Memory Statement:
"Our basic philosophy concerning memory is that all human memory is inaccurate, error-prone, and reconstructive in nature - reconstructive means that memories are not exact video images of past reality. Rather, they are influenced by feelings, current social context, how the brain functions, and many other factors. Memories of severe childhood trauma are often fragmented and unclear in the early stages of therapy, so they are bound to be at least as inaccurate as regular memories, and probably more so. This means that there are bound to be aspects of your abuse memories which are distorted. The process of therapy may clarify memories and make them more accurate, but may also contribute to the formation of inaccurate memories. This is unavoidable, since all human memory works this way. Reorganization of memory occurs in all forms of psychiatric treatment, including medications, cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoanalysis, and family therapy.
"It appears that the majority of people admitted to the DDU [Dissociative Disorders Unit] actually experienced traumatic childhoods. Although details of the memories may be wrong, it seems unlikely that any but a minority of DDU patients did not in fact experience some form of abuse as children. Although the final scientific proof is not in, it appears to us that it is possible to block out, then remember large amounts of traumatic memory with reasonable accuracy."
On the Veracity and Variability of Traumatic Memory is a paper by Kevin Thomas, Holly Laurance, W. Jake Jacobs and Lynn Nadel in Volume 2, Issue 2 of the online journal Traumatology, edited by Charles Figley. Thomas and his colleagues advance a model which specifies: (1) "the conditions under which a memory for a traumatic event has a high, medium or low probability of accurately reflecting the target event," and (2) "the conditions under which a second party might have a large, medium or minimal influence on the content of the traumatic memory." Their theoretically integrative proposal addresses possible neurobiological, neuroanatomical, psychological and interpersonal processes involved in the retrieval of traumatic memory fragments.
Debunking "False Memory" Myths in Sexual Abuse Cases" is an extremely valuable article by attorney Wendy Murphy. Published in the November 1997 Trial magazine, it teaches plaintiff's attorneys how "an aggressive litigation strategy can head off defense claims that memories of trauma are all in the victim's head." This Internet copy of the article is at the Web site of Susan K. Smith, Attorney, where you will find a wealth of legal resources on sexual abuse and harassment, for both people with severe abuse histories and their attorneys.
If you would like to quickly learn more about trauma and dissociation, read psychiatrist Joan Turkus's brief and very clear article, The Spectrum of Dissociative Disorders: An Overview of Diagnosis and Treatment.
The Sidran Foundation has a wealth of excellent Online Resources, including a Traumatic Memories Brochure written for non-specialists by Joyanna Silberg, Ph.D., and a PsychTrauma Glossary that has clear and concise definitions of terms related to traumatic memory, dissociation, and numerous therapeutic issues.
The Ottawa Recovered Memory Page, maintained by Wendy Hovdestad, has a variety of resources, including a bibliography with 245 citations.
"This page aims to be a storehouse of information about the current recovered memories debate. As you will see, below, it offers a wide range of materials, including. . . "
Particularly if you're a journalist or reporter, you might be interested in a study of dissociative symptoms in media eyewitnesses to a gas chamber execution. In addition to facilitating understanding of dissociation, this paper raises the possibility that "the act of objective reporting in part consists of a mental state similar to dissociation, which serves the defensive purpose of reducing the emotional impact of traumatic events." The authors end with the suggestion that, given the journalists' experiences, "dissociative symptoms are not an extreme or pathological reaction seen only among victims of disaster, war, and interpersonal violence. Rather, it seems likely that such dissociation is a nonpathological and expectable response to witnessing unusual or extreme physical trauma or violence."
Freinkel, A., Koopman, C., & Spiegel, D. (1994). Dissociative symptoms in media eyewitnesses of an execution. American Journal of Psychiatry, 151, 1335-1339.
Clearly the scholarly work cited on this page demonstrates that people experience amnesia and delayed recall for memories of childhood sexual abuse. But there are other traumas for which these phenomena have been found as well – though this is often forgotten in the debate. The following is a sampling of papers reporting findings like those for sexual abuse. Combat trauma:
Karon, B.P., & Widener, A.J. (1997). Repressed memories and World War II: Lest we forget! Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 28, 338-340.Natural disasters and accidents:Hendin, H., Haas, A. P., & Singer, P. (1984). The reliving experience in Vietnam veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. American Journal of Psychiatry, 146, 490-495.
Archibald, H. C., & Tuddenham, R. D. (1956). Persistent stress reaction after combat. Archives of General Psychiatry, 12, 475-481.
Kubie, L. S. (1943). Manual of emergency treatment for acute war neuroses. War Medicine, 4, 582-599.
Myers, C. S. (1915, January). A contribution to the study of shell-shock. Lancet, 316-320.
Thom, D. A., & Fenton, N. (1920). Amnesias in war cases. American Journal of Insanity, 76, 437-448.
Madakasira, S., & O'Brian, K. (1987). Acute posttraumatic stress disorder in victims of a natural disaster. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 175, 286-290.Victims of torture:van der Kolk, B. A., & Kadish, W. (1987). Amnesia, dissociation, and the return of the repressed. In B. A. van der Kolk (Ed.), Psychological Trauma. American Psychiatric Press, Inc., Washington, D.C.
Goldfeld, A. E., Mollica, R. F., Pesavento, B. H., & Faraone, S. V. (1988). The physical and psychological sequelae of torture: Symptomology and diagnosis. Journal of the American Medical Association, 259, 2725-2729.Holocaust survivors:Kinzie, J. D. (1993). Posttraumatic effects and their treatment among Southeast Asian refugees. In J.P. Wilson and B. Raphael (Eds.), International handbook of traumatic stress syndromes. New York: Plenum, pp.311-319.
24 Publications Concerning Traumatic Amnesia in Holocaust Survivors
To find the latest research in medical and (most) psychological journals, use the PubMed database, provided free by the National Institutes of Health. You can go to the site, or launch your search now using the form below. for: This page is maintained by Jim Hopper, Ph.D., as are these related pages: Child Abuse: Statistics, Research, and Resources The Validity of Recovered Memory: Decision of a United States District Court Sexual Abuse of Males: Prevalence, Lasting Effects, and Resources Factors in the Cycle of Violence - Abused Boys, Gender Socialization, and Violent Men Trauma and Recovery - Judith Herman's Landmark Book on Child Abuse & Other Traumas
Contents
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False Memory Syndrome - Scientific Analysis
Facts related to the False Memory Syndrome Foundatation are available at the following website;
You should perhaps take your own advice and read what I posted. You obviously can't tell the difference between subject matter and spam, so I take what you say with an entire box full of salt...
You obviously aren't intelligent enough to understand what you read. My only question is whether you are being deliberately dense or if you simply can't help it...
You see, what I posted IS a collection of scientific facts and articles along with links to published studies and reports. That is what YOU suggested that I read, yet you attack me for posting that very material. You appear to have more of a problem with the truth than you have with your reading ability.
Why don't YOU link some of these "scientific articles" that prove that there IS such a thing as "false memory syndrome"? I doubt you'll find any.
Canadian Psychiatric Association Position Paper:
Adult Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse
Quote:
A further important concern is that poorly trained or misguided therapists have been urging patients, as a specific part of their therapy, to confront and accuse the alleged perpetrators of the abuse once they have been identified. As a consequence of this type of therapy, members of the patient's family are most often identified and accused. When recovered memories are found to be false, family relationships are unnecessarily and often permanently disrupted. Furthermore, such therapists have been sued for malpractice.
Developmental psychology casts doubt upon the reliability of recovered memories from early childhood. The older the child at the time of the event, the more reliable is the memory.
The controversy over recovered memory has been compounded by certain therapists who use a list of symptoms that are said to indicate the likelihood of individuals having been abused. Common symptoms such as depression, anxiety, anorexia or overeating, poorly explained pains, and other bodily complaints have all been used as proof of alleged sexual abuse. There is no support for such propositions. Psychotherapy based on these assumptions may lead to deleterious effects. Increases in self-injury and suicide attempts have been reported in some patients given recovered memory treatment.
In response to this controversy, at least four separate bodies have issued statements. These include the American Psychiatric Association (December 12, 1993), the Australian Psychological Society Ltd (Board of Directors, October 1, 1994), the American Psychological Association (November 11, 1994), and the American Medical Association (1994 Annual Meeting). All of these statements recognize and emphasize the seriousness of childhood sexual abuse and of false accusations of childhood sexual abuse. The American Medical Association took the view that it is not yet known how to distinguish true memories from imagined events and that few cases in which adults make accusations of childhood sexual abuse based on recovered memories can be proved or disproved.
Ummmm....Darksheare.....Dude....Why don't you calm down, breathe slowly into a paper bag and actually read the article I linked.
Carefullly.
The article agrees with your positition.
The article also states that the American Medical Association has warned about the dangers of "Recovered Memory".
Like I said, talk to REAL professionals. Like tjose who ACTUALLY deal with mental problems in THE REAL WORLD. not in some LIBERAL GOVERNMENT PROGRAM that is biased towards a certain outcome. Got it yet?
Ummmm.....Dude....I'm an M.D.
American..... Not Canadian.
I supported your position.
Got it yet?
I have spoken out against one of the quacks in our community that diagnoses "past sexual abuse" by using "Recovered Memory" on practically every patient that walks through her door.
An old Professor in Medical School advised us to "Load brain before firing off mouth."
That is very wise adice to follow. Especially in a public Forum.
In my opinion, Darksheare, you are correct in regards to Recovered Memory but have lost the debate on style points.
FormerLurker, if you want to know why I believe that Recovered Memory is a dangerous practice, I can let you know by FreepMail.
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