The Poole et al. (1995) Surveys of Therapists: Misinterpretations by Both Sides of the Recovered Memories Controversy

1998 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-399 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Stephen Lindsay ◽  
Debra A. Poole
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Recovered Memory ◽  
Recovered Memories ◽  
Beliefs And Practices

Olio (1996) critically reviewed an article by Poole, Lindsay, Memon, and Bull (1995) that reported surveys of clinicians' beliefs and practices regarding their clients' memories of childhood sexual abuse. Olio's article made several apt points that correctly identified limitations on the kinds of conclusions that can be drawn from the Poole et al. data, but it also made several erroneous claims. Some of these errors have been repeated in articles citing Olio by Pope (1996, 1997) and Brown (1998). In this commentary we respond to those of Olio's criticisms with which we disagree, next briefly comment on limitations of the Poole et al. data, and then turn to a more general discussion of ways in which the Poole et al. data have sometimes been misinterpreted by both sides of the controversy regarding recovered-memory experiences.

Forgetting of Trauma Cues in Adults Reporting Continuous or Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse

2005 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 336-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. McNally ◽  
Carel S. Ristuccia ◽  
Carol A. Perlman
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Divided Attention ◽  
Adult Survivors ◽  
Memory Deficits ◽  
Recovered Memory ◽  
Recovered Memories ◽  
Betrayal Trauma ◽  
History Of ◽  
Memory Group

According to betrayal trauma theory, adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) who were molested by their caretakers (e.g., a father) are especially likely to dissociate (“repress”) their memories of abuse. Testing college students, some reporting CSA, DePrince and Freyd (2004) found that those scoring high on a dissociation questionnaire exhibited memory deficits for trauma words when they viewed these words under divided-attention conditions. Replicating DePrince and Freyd's procedure, we tested for memory deficits for trauma words relative to neutral words in adults reporting either continuous or recovered memories of CSA versus adults denying a history of CSA. A memory deficit for trauma words under divided attention was expected in the recovered-memory group. Results were inconsistent with this prediction, as all three groups exhibited better recall of trauma words than neutral words, irrespective of encoding conditions.

“Truth Serum” and “Recovered Memories” of Sexual Abuse: A Review of the Evidence

1993 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
August Piper
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Medical Literature ◽  
Recovered Memory ◽  
Recovered Memories ◽  
The Mind

This article discusses the Amytal interview, which is sometimes believed to be useful to indicate deception, to reveal concealed contents of the mind, or to compel disclosure of those contents. The medical literature is reviewed to determine if the procedure reliably yields information valuable in legal evaluations of adults claiming recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. The review finds that no investigator who had performed Amytal interviews endorsed them as a method of recovering accurate memories; rather, the literature repeatedly comments on several characteristics of these examinations that make them useless for this purpose. It is concluded that the Amytal interview has no legitimate use in recovered-memory cases.

Recovered Memory Debate Revisited: Practice Implications for Mental Health Counselors

2007 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 93-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Colangelo
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Memory Retrieval ◽  
Treatment Protocol ◽  
Mental Health Counselors ◽  
Recovered Memory ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Recovered Memories ◽  
High Incidence

With the high incidence of childhood sexual abuse and the attendant serious negative consequences resulting from it clearly documented, there is a high probability that many mental health counselors will at some point in their career provide treatment to members of this population. Since memory retrieval is an integral part of the treatment protocol when working with such clients, it is imperative that clinicians have a good understanding of the controversy over recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. This article revisits the controversy, provides a detailed discussion of the issues involved, and offers practice implications for mental health counselors.

Wading through the Muddy Waters of Recovered Memory

1995 ◽  
Vol 76 (8) ◽  
pp. 478-489 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan P. Robbins
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Recent Literature ◽  
Recovered Memory ◽  
Recovered Memories ◽  
Running Away ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Common Response

The author reviews the professional debate about recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse and addresses conceptual errors, unwarranted assumptions, and factual inaccuracies in Benatar's essay “Running Away from Sexual Abuse: Denial Revisited” in the May 1995 Families in Society. Despite the fact that many therapists believe that repression or dissociation is a common response to childhood sexual abuse, little support for this idea is found in scientific studies. The author reviews the recent literature in this area and cautions social workers to avoid getting caught in the extreme polemics of this debate. Although it is important to be open to new findings in this area, we must be able to distinguish between conjecture and fact.

Did Freud Mislead Patients to Confabulate Memories of Abuse? A Reply to Gleaves and Hernandez (1999)

2004 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 863-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
Russell A. Powell ◽  
Douglas P. Boer
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Traumatic Events ◽  
False Memories ◽  
Recovered Memories

Gleaves and Hernandez have argued that skepticism about the validity of Freud's seduction theory, including by Powell and Boer, is largely unjustified. This paper contends that their analysis is in many ways both inaccurate and misleading. For example, we did not, as they implied, reject the possibility that some of Freud's early patients were victims of childhood sexual abuse. We also maintain that the weight of the available evidence indicates that false memories of traumatic events probably can be implanted, and that Freud's (1896/1962a) original evidence for the validity of his patients' recovered memories remains lacking in several respects—particularly in view of the extremely suggestive procedures he often used to elicit such memories.

scholarly journals Politics, Responsibility and Adult Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jo Woodiwiss
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
False Memory ◽  
The Self ◽  
Recovered Memory ◽  
False Memory Syndrome ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hidden Knowledge ◽  
Adult Lives ◽  
Material Conditions

This paper will explore ways in which self identified survivors of childhood sexual abuse and false memory syndrome appropriate therapeutic discourses which both encourage women to hold themselves responsible for their own unhappiness and provide a way to alleviate that responsibility. Although I look critically at women's engagement with abuse narratives the intention is not to enter the ‘recovered memory wars’ but rather to explore the consequences of locating adult victims of childhood sexual abuse within a therapeutic rather than a political framework. Within this therapeutic culture priority is given to self-actualisation and personal fulfilment and the self is increasingly seen as a project to be worked on. A pervasive theme within the therapeutic literature is a particular linkage between women's ‘inferiority’ and their oppression. Women are not only shown an array of problems from which they suffer together with self-improving solutions but are encouraged to seek the ‘hidden’ causes of these problems in the past and to probe further and further back rather than look to the material conditions of their adult lives for explanations. Drawing on interview material I will look at how women invest in discourses which provide an explanation for hidden knowledge of abuse and may offer a way to alleviate responsibility but which also encourage them to (re)construct themselves as sick, damaged and ultimately responsible for their own unhappiness.

A Field Study of “False Memory Syndrome”: Construct Validity and Incidence

1996 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-338 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy E. Hovdestad ◽  
Connie M. Kristiansen
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
False Memory ◽  
Interpersonal Relationships ◽  
Discriminant Validity ◽  
Community Sample ◽  
Recovered Memory ◽  
Trauma Symptoms ◽  
Recovered Memories ◽  
False Memory Syndrome ◽  
Using Data

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.

Fact or fantasy? A review of recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse

2001 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 99-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael M DelMonte
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Abuse ◽  
Childhood Sexual Abuse ◽  
Research Evidence ◽  
The Other ◽  
Recovered Memories ◽  
The One ◽  
Psychological Defenses

AbstractMore than a century ago Freud provoked a bitter controversy concerning alleged recollections of childhood sexual abuse: Were they fact or fiction? This debate is still ongoing, with some professionals stubbornly holding on to deeply entrenched and polarised positions. On the one side there are those who continue to deny the veracity of all ‘recovered memories’, and thus also of the implicated psychological defenses of repression and dissociation. At the other extreme are those therapists who simplistically assume that particular symptoms invariably imply sexual abuse. Over the decades there is a growing corpus of anecdotal, clinical and, more recently, research evidence supporting the contention that childhood sexual abuse, like all other trauma, can be forgotten for days, and even for many years, before being recalled. However, the reconstruction of these memories is a complex and, at times, a rather fallible process.

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