Recovered Memories
childadvocate
copied with permission
Recovered memories have been defined as the phenomenon of partially or
fully losing parts of memories of traumatic events, and then later
recovering part or all of the memories into conscious awareness. They
have also been defined as the recollections of memories that are
believed to have been unavailable for a certain period of time[1].
There is very strong scientific evidence that recovered memories exist.
[2] This has been shown in many scientific studies. The content of
recovered memories have fairly high corroboration rates.
Contents
* 1 Scientific evidence
* 2 Corroboration rates
* 3 References
* 4 Bibliography
* 5 External Links
Scientific evidence
There are many studies that have proven that the recovered memories of
traumatic events exist. Brown, Scheflin and Hammond found 43 studies
that showed recovered memories for traumatic events[3]. The Recovered
Memory Project has collected 101 corroborated cases of recovered
memories[4]. Hopper's research shows that amnesia for childhood sexual
abuse is "beyond dispute." He states that "at least 10% of people
sexually abused in childhood will have periods of complete amnesia for
their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed recall" [5] In one
study of women with previously documented histories of sexual abuse,
38% of the women did not remember the abuse that had happened 17 years
before.[6] Most recovered memories either precede therapy or the use
of memory recovery techniques[7]. One studied showed that five out of
19 women with histories of familial sexual abuse either forgot
specific details or had "blank periods" for these memories[8]. Another
study showed that "40% reported a period of forgetting some or all of
the abuse"[9]. Herman and Harvey's study showed that 16% of abuse
survivors had "complete amnesia followed by delayed recall"[10].
Corwin's individual case study provides evidence of the existence of
recovered memories on videotape[11].
Other researchers state:
Research has shown that traumatized individuals respond by using a
variety of psychological mechanisms. One of the most common means of
dealing with the pain is to try and push it out of awareness. Some
label the phenomenon of the process whereby the mind avoids conscious
acknowledgment of traumatic experiences as dissociative amnesia.
Others use terms such as repression, dissociative state, traumatic
amnesia, psychogenic shock, or motivated forgetting. Semantics aside,
there is near-universal scientific acceptance of the fact that the
mind is capable of avoiding conscious recall of traumatic experiences.
[12]
A body of empirical evidence indicates that it is common for abused
children to reach adulthood without conscious awareness of the
trauma[13]
Corroboration rates
Many studies show high corroboration rates for recovered memories of
traumatic events. These rates vary from 50 - 75%[14], 64%[13],
77%[15], 50%[16], 75%[17] 68%[18] 47%[9], and 70% [19]. One study
showed amnesia in 12 murderers, with "objective evidence of severe
abuse...obtained in 11 cases"[20]. There are also additional studies
showing the corroboration of recovered memories[21][22][23][24].
References
1. What about Recovered Memories? Jennifer J. Freyd, University of
Oregon http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/whatabout.html
2. Research discussing corroboration and accuracy of recovered
memories: An Annotated Bibliography by Lynn Crook
http://dynamic.uoregon.edu/~jjf/suggestedrefs.html
3. Brown, Scheflin, & Whitfield. (1999). Recovered Memories: The
Current Weight of the Evidence in Science and in the Courts Journal of
Psychiatry & Law, 27, 5-156. "Brown, Scheflin and Hammond reviewed 43
studies relevant to the subject of traumatic memory and found that
every study that examined the question of dissociative amnesia in
traumatized populations demonstrated that a substantial minority
partially or completely forget the traumatic event experienced, and
later recover memories of the event. By 1999, over 68 studies had been
published that document dissociative amnesia after childhood sexual
abuse. In fact, no study that has looked for evidence of traumatic or
dissociative amnesia after child sexual abuse has failed to find it."
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/prev.html
4. The Recovered Memory Project http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Taubman_Center/Recovmem/index.html
5. Recovered Memories of Sexual Abuse - Scientific Research &
Scholarly Resources by Jim Hopper “Amnesia for childhood sexual abuse
is a condition. The existence of this condition is beyond dispute.
Repression is merely one explanation - often a confusing and
misleading one - for what causes the condition of amnesia. At least
10% of people sexually abused in childhood will have periods of
complete amnesia for their abuse, followed by experiences of delayed
recall.” http://www.jimhopper.com/memory/
6. Williams LM (1994). Recall of childhood trauma: a prospective
study of women’s memories of child sexual abuse. J Consult Clin
Psychol 62: 1167–76. PMID 7860814. "One hundred twenty-nine women with
previously documented histories of sexual victimization in childhood
were interviewed and asked detailed questions about their abuse
histories to answer the question “Do people actually forget traumatic
events such as child sexual abuse, and if so, how common is such
forgetting?” A large proportion of the women (38%) did not recall the
abuse that had been reported 17 years earlier." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7860814
7. Andrews, B., Brewin, C., Ochera, J., Morton, J., Bekerian, D.,
Davies, G., and Mollon, P. (1999). Characteristics, context and
consequences of memory recovery among adults in therapy. Brit J
Psychiatry 175:141-146. "Of a total of 690 clients, therapists
reported that 65% recalled child sexual abuse and 35% recalled other
traumas, 32% started recovering memories before entering therapy.
According to therapists’ accounts, among the 236 detailed client
cases, very few appeared improbable and corroboration was reported in
41%. Most (78%) of the clients’ initial recovered memories either
preceded therapy or preceded the use of memory recovery techniques
used by the respondents. Techniques seemed to be used more to help the
clients to elaborate the memories than to facilitate their initial
recovery. Clients with whom techniques had been used before the first
reported memory recovery were no less likely to have found
corroborating evidence than clients with whom no techniques had been
used before memory recovery."
8. Bagley, C. (1995). The prevalence and mental health sequels of
child sexual abuse in community sample of women aged 18 to 27. Child
sexual abuse and mental health in adolescents and adults. Aldershot:
Avebury. "Study of women 18-24 years who had been removed from home 10
years previously by social services due to intrafamilial sexual abuse.
Of the 19 women for whom there was evidence of serious sexual abuse,
14 remembered events corresponding to their records. Two remembered
that abuse had taken place but could recall no specific details, and
three had no memory. Two of the last three described long blank
periods for the memory of childhood corresponding to the age when
abuse had taken place.
9. Feldman-Summers, S., & Pope, K. S. (1994). The experience of
forgetting childhood abuse: A national survey of psychologists.
Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 62, 636-639. "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....Of those abused, 40% did not
remember at some time. 47% had corroboration. 56% said psychotherapy
aided in recall. Differences between those who first recalled abuse in
therapy and those who recalled it elsewhere were not significant.
10. Herman, J. L., & Harvey, M. R. (1997). Adult memories of
childhood trauma: A naturalistic clinical study. Journal of Traumatic
Stress, 10, 557-571. "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."
11. Corwin, D.; Olafson E. (1997). Videotaped Discovery of a
Reportedly Unrecallable Memory of Child Sexual Abuse:Comparison with a
Childhood Interview Videotaped 11 Years Before Child Maltreatment 2
(2): 91–112. doi:10.1177/1077559597002002001 http://cmx.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/2/2/91
12. The Leadership Council - Trauma and Memory
http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/1/tm/tm.html
13. “True” and “False” Child Sexual Abuse Memories and Casey’s
Phenomenological View of Remembering Joanne M. Hall, Lori L. Kondora -
American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 48, No. 10, 1339-1359 (2005) DOI:
10.1177/0002764205277012 "Research shows that 64% of adult women
childhood sexual abuse survivors had some degree of amnesia regarding
the trauma; but in the majority of cases, corroboration was available
to verify that abuse had occurred (Herman & Schatzow, 1987). Of 129
women with recorded histories of childhood sexual abuse, 38% did not
recall the abuse that had been clearly verified and documented decades
earlier. This lack of recall was especially likely among those abused
at younger ages and among those whose perpetrators were known by them
at the time of the abuse (L.Williams, 1994). In fact, a body of
empirical evidence indicates that it is common for abused children to
reach adulthood without conscious awareness of the trauma (Briere,
1992; Herman, 1992; Schetky, 1990; van der Kolk et al., 1996)."
http://abs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/48/10/1339?ijkey=ciZjJlFifgYIY&keytype=ref&siteid=spabs
14. Corroboration of Child Abuse Memories "Studies vary in
frequency. Between 31 and 64 percent of abuse survivors in six major
studies reported that they forgot “some of the abuse.” Numbers
reporting severe amnesia ranged from under 12% to 59%....Studies
report 50-75% of abuse survivors corroborating the facts of their
abuse through an outside source." http://mentalhealth.about.com/cs/abuse/a/cooroborate.htm
15. van der Kolk, BA & R Fisler (1995), “Dissociation and the
fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory
study”, J Traumatic Stress 8: 505–25 "a systematic exploratory study
of 46 subjects with PTSD which indicates that traumatic memories are
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 some believe can be properly referred to as
“explicit memory”....Of the 35 subjects with childhood trauma, 15
(43%) had suffered significant, or total amnesia for their trauma at
some time of their lives. Twenty seven of the 35 subjects with
childhood trauma (77%) reported confirmation of their childhood
trauma." http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
16. “Recovered memories of abuse among therapy patients: A national
survey.” Pope, Kenneth S.; Tabachnick, Barbara G. Independent
practice, Norwalk, CT, US Ethics & Behavior 1995 Vol 5(3) 237-248
"about 50% of the patients who claimed to have recovered the memories
had found external validation, a percentage that coincides with that
obtained in the Feldman-Summers & Pope, 1994 study"
17. Herman, J L.; Schatzow E (1987). Recovery and verification of
memories of childhood sexual trauma. Psychoanalytic Psychol 4. “Three
out of four patients were able to validate their memories by obtaining
corroborating evidence from other sources” http://www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ppsy.004.0001a
18. Kluft, RP (1995). The confirmation and disconfirmation of
memories of abuse in Dissociative Identity Disorder patients: A
naturalistic study. Dissociation 8: 253-8. "Nineteen, or 56%, had
instances of the confirmation of recalled abuses. Ten of the 19, or
53%, had always recalled the abuses that were confirmed. However, 13
of the 19, or 68%, obtained documentation of events that were
recovered in the course of therapy, usually with the use of hypnosis.
Three patients, or 9%, had instances in which the inaccuracy of their
recollection could be demonstrated."
https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/1155/Dis_8_4_9_ocr.pdf?sequence=1
19. Westerhof, Y., Woertman, L. Van der Hart, O., & Nijenhuis,
E.R.S. (2000). Forgetting child abuse: Feldman-Summers and Pope’s
(1994) study replicated among Dutch psychologists. Clinical Psychology
and Psychotherapy, 7, 220-229. "In a replication of Feldman-Summers
and Pope’s (1994) national survey of American psychologists on
‘forgetting’ childhood abuse, a Dutch sample of 500 members of the
Netherlands Institute of Psychologists (NIP) were asked if they had
been abused as children and, if so, whether they had ever forgotten
some or all of the abuse for some significant period of time. As
compared to the 23.9% in the original study, 13.3% reported childhood
abuse. Of that subgroup, 39% (as compared to 40% in the original
study) reported a period of forgetting some or all of the abuse for a
period of time. Both sexual and non-sexual physical abuse were subject
to forgetting, which in 70% of cases was reversed while being in
therapy. Almost 70% of those who reported forgetting also reported
corroboration of the abuse."
20. Lewis, D., Yeager, C., Swica, Y., Pincus, J. and Lewis, M.
(1997). Objective documentation of child abuse and dissociation in 12
murderers with dissociative identity disorder. Am J Psychiatry,
154(12):1703-10. "Signs and symptoms of dissociative identity disorder
in childhood and adulthood were corroborated independently and from
several sources in all 12 cases; objective evidence of severe abuse
was obtained in 11 cases. The subjects had amnesia for most of the
abuse and underreported it. Marked changes in writing style and/or
signatures were documented in 10 cases. CONCLUSIONS: This study
establishes, once and for all, the linkage between early severe abuse
and dissociative identity disorder."
21. Martinez-Taboas, A. (1996). Repressed memories: Some clinical
data contributing toward its elucidation. American Journal of
Psychotherapy, 50(2), 217-30. "the author presents two well documented
and corroborated cases of dissociated or delayed memories of child
sexual abuse in patients with a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity
Disorder (DID). The patients had absolutely no conscious memory of
their childhood abusive experiences and in both cases the author
obtained definite and clear cut independent corroboration of the
realities of the abuse. The amnesia was documented and memories were
recovered in the course of treatment."
22. Viederman M. (1995). The reconstruction of a repressed sexual
molestation fifty years later. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association, 43(4): 1169-1219. Reconstruction of a previously
completely repressed memory of sexual molestation. Six years following
termination of analysis, the patient wrote a letter describing a
confirmation of the event, now sixty years past, from the sole other
survivor of the period who had knowledge of what had happened.
23. Bull, D. (1999). A verified case of recovered memories of sexual
abuse. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 53(2), 221-224. "a 40-year-
old woman with no history of mental illness and ten years of exemplary
professional work, recovers memories of childhood sexual abuse by her
father through a call from her youth pastor in whom she had confided
as an adolescent."
24. Dahlenberg, C. (1996, Summer) Accuracy, timing and circumstances
of disclosure in therapy of recovered and continuous memories of
abuse. The Journal of Psychiatry and Law. "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."
Bibliography
1. Brown, Scheflin and Hammond (D. Corydon), 1998, "Memory, Trauma
Treatment, And the Law" W. W. Norton (0-393-70254-5)
2. Knopp, F. H. & Benson, A. R. (1996) A primer on the complexities
of traumatic memory childhood sexual abuse; a psychobiological
approach. Brandon, VT : Safer Society Press
3. Leavitt, Ph.D., F. Manufactured Memory, Altered Belief and Self
Report Mirage: The Alleged False Memory of Jean Piaget. Child Abuse &
Neglect, 1999, 23, No. 12, pp. 1221-1224. [1]
4. van der Kolk, B. A. (1994). The body keeps the score: Memory and
the evolving psychobiology of post traumatic stress.
http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk4.php
5. van der Kolk, B. A. & Fisler, R. (1995) Dissociation and the
fragmentary nature of traumatic memories: Overview and exploratory
study. http://www.trauma-pages.com/a/vanderk2.php
6. Whitfield M.D.,C. Memory and Abuse - Remembering and Healing the
Effects of Trauma Health Communications, Inc 3201 SW 15th St,
Deerfield Beach, FL.33442-8190.
7. Whitfield M.D.,C. Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 4, 2, 1997,
Brunner/Mazel.Inc. c 1997, Traumatic Amnesia: The Evolution of Our
Understanding From a Clinical and Legal Perspective
8. Whitfield M.D., C. Traumatic Amnesia: The Evolution of Our
Understanding From A Clinical and Legal Perspective(Sexual Addiction
and Compulsivity, 4(2), 3-34, 1997)
9. Whitfield M.D., C. Trauma and Memory: Clinical & legal
understanding of traumatic amnesia (Chapter 12) in Burgess, Ann W.
(ed): Advanced Practice Psychiatric Nursing. Appleton & Lange,
Stamford, Ct., 1998, pp 171-186.
10. Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1996). Accuracy of adult
recollections of childhood victimization: Part 1. Psychological
Assessment, 8(4), 412-421. "accuracy of adult recollections of
childhood physical abuse was assessed. Two hour in-person interviews
were conducted in young adulthood with 1,196 of the original 1,575
participants. Two measures (including the Conflict Tactics Scale) were
used to assess histories of childhood physical abuse. Results indicate
good discriminant validity and predictive efficiency of the self-
report measures, despite substantial underreporting by physically
abused respondents."
11. Widom, C. and Shepard, R. (1997). Accuracy of adult
recollections of childhood victimization. Part 2. Childhood sexual
abuse. Psychological Assessment 9: 34-46. "A prospective study in
which abused and neglected children (court substantiated) [N=1,114]
were matched with non-abused and neglected children and followed into
adulthood. There was substantial underreporting of sexual abuse, when
compared to court and medical records. Victimization recall was
checked by comparing crimes disclosed in victimization surveys found
in police records."
External Links
1. Recovered Memory Data http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-data/
2. Recovered memory corroboration rates
http://ritualabuse.us/research/memory-fms/recovered-memory-corroboration-rates/