False Memory Syndrome: A False Construct

By Juliette Cutler Page

In recent years, one of the most controversial concepts in
psychology has been that of "recovered memory". Many therapists
have become wary of treating clients who appear to have
recovered memories of abuse after a long period of forgetting.
Among the reasons for this concern are extremely vocal
organizations that have come forward in support of accused
abusers, claiming that there is no such thing as "recovered
memory", and often stating that not only are therapists who
treat such clients negligent, but that therapists are in fact
themselves creating these memories in their clients. This
article will discuss the origins and methods of the primary such
organization (the False Memory Syndrome Foundation), and in so
doing, address relevant issues of memory and the experience of
abuse.

The concept of "recovered memory", that is, memory of a
traumatic event that had been forgotten for some period of time,
has been variously explained by such mechanisms as repression,
amnesia, and dissociation. However, there are over 100 years of
reports and descriptions of recovered memory in the literature,
including instances from times of war, torture, bereavement,
natural disasters, and concentration camp imprisonment.
(HOROWITZ) Many corroborated cases have been documented in
instances of recovered memory of sexual abuse, as well, which
will be discussed later in this paper.

Responses to trauma now termed, for example, "repression", "Post-
traumatic stress disorder", or "dissociation" have been
recognized literally for thousands of years. Charcot (a
neurologist) in the late 1800’s recognized that "hysteria" was
precipitated by events that the patient experienced as stressful
or traumatic. Several years later, Janet noted what we now
term "dissociation" as primary symptoms of hysteria - forgetting
and disconnection from emotions and/or experience. Janet also
observed the re-living or re-enactment of trauma that remains
one of the criteria of PTSD. As psychology and the DSM evolved,
the trauma response "hysteria" did as well, becoming various
hysterical neuroses, and eventually somatoform or dissociative
disorders. (KIHLSTROM).

However, organizations formed in support of those accused of
abuse have chosen to ignore this history. One such organization,
the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, was born in November 1991
as a result of an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. In this
article, a couple claimed that their adult daughter had
recovered memories of incest in therapy, and as a result refused
contact with some friends and family. The couple denied any
incest. In the week after the article appeared, a University of
Pennsylvania professor (Harold Lief) who was quoted in the
column received a number of telephone calls from people who felt
that they, too, had been falsely accused.

During this time, a psychologist at Stanford University had cut
off communication with her father after confronting him with her
own memories of abuse. Her parents, Peter (a mathematician at
the University of Pennsylvania) and Pamela Freyd, joined Dr.
Lief in March of 1992 to form the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation. All three are still FMSF board members.

The story of Dr. Freyd and her parents is an illustrative one.
Dr. Freyd confronted her father privately with her memories, yet
her parents chose to take their experiences public. The story
contains several examples of questionable behavior by FMSF board
members, which became a pattern, as will be discussed later in
this paper. For example, the very same Dr. Harold Lief who
formed the FMSF with Pamela and Peter Freyd was the therapist
not only of Dr. Freyd, but also of her father. Lief, in fact,
told Dr. Freyd that he did not believe her memories of abuse,
stating that they could not have happend because in his
experience, Peter Freyd’s fantasies were "entirely homoerotic".
(FREYD) Pamela Freyd, on her part, took her daughter’s private
life public in an article (published as a book chapter and a
journal article) that disparaged Dr. Freyd’s personal life and
compared Dr. Freyd’s successful professional career unfavorably
to her own. She also, in an interesting foreshadowing of future
FMSF members’ positions on child abuse, ridiculed those who were
opposed to child sexual abuse as "politically correct" and
therefore, perhaps, merely trendy.

Interestingly, Dr. Freyd’s memories were supported by other
family members. Her uncle William, Peter’s brother, stated in a
letter that "there’s no doubt in my mind that there was severe
abuse.... The false memory syndrome foundaton is a fraud
designed to deny a reality that Peter and Pam have spent most of
their lives trying to escape. There’s no such thing as a false
memory syndrome. It is not, by any normal standard, a
foundation. Neither Peter nor Pam have any significant mental
health expertise."(FREYD LETTER)

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation created the term "false
memory syndrome" to explain how false accusations could occur.
Further than that, however, the FMSF has taken the stance that
delayed memories are often false, and that memories recovered in
therapy are particularly suspicious. Their theory has been that
vulnerable women are often coerced into believing they have been
abused by therapists who are either more interested in having
long-term clients than in assisting those clients, or who are
unknowingly creating false memories in their clients through
hypnosis or suggestion.

Increasingly throughout the country, grown children undergoing
therapeutic programs have come to believe that they suffer
from "repressed memories" and incest and sexual abuse. While
some reports of incest and sexual abuse are surely true, the
decade delayed memories are too often the result of False Memory
Syndrome caused by a disastrous "therapeutic" program. False
Memory Syndrome has a devastating effect on the victim and
typically produces a continuing dependency on the very program
that creates the syndrome. (FMSF Newsletter, May 1995)

Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, professor of psychology at Yale
University and a member of the FMSF, has suggested the following
definition of "false memory syndrome":

" a condition in which a person's identity and interpersonal
relationships are centered around a memory of traumatic
experience which is objectively false but in which the person
strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized
by false memories as such. We all have memories that are
inaccurate. Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the
memory is so deeply ingrained that it orients the individual's
entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts
of other adaptive behavior. The analogy to personality disorder
is intentional. False memory syndrome is especially destructive
because the person assiduously avoids confrontation with any
evidence that might challenge the memory. Then it takes on a
life of its own, encapsulated and resistant to correction. The
person may become so focused on memory that he or she may be
effectively distracted from coping with the real problems in his
or her life."

Kihlstrom does not mention his basis for the creation of this
definition (studies, case reports, etc.). The FMSF website
(http://advicom.net/~fitz/fmsf/) notes, in its section "What Are
The Symptoms Of FMS?":

John Kihlstrom's definition offers a general description of many
who were making accusations. In virtually every situation of
which the Foundation is aware, the accusing adult was facing
emotional and psychological distress. Often there was a
precipitating event such as a job loss or change, divorce,
eating disorder, relationship problem, or birth or death in the
family. These contemporary concerns were seldom addressed in
therapy.

Other common observations of FMS are: radically changed
behavior, claiming a new malady of repressed memory syndrome,
redefining personal history, assuming a new identity and
refusing to have contact with anyone who did not share the
beliefs of abuse.

The symptoms indicated that FMS was probably of social origin
such as in folie a deux. FMS is not listed in the Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual-IV (1994). It quite properly takes many years
for the official recognition of a medical diagnosis. The fact
that the major professional organizations have issued statements
about FMS is an indication of its seriousness.

"The AMA considers recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse
to be of uncertain authenticity, which should be subject to
external verification. The use of recovered memories is fraught
with problems of potential misapplication."

Council on Scientific Affairs

American Medical Association, June 16, 1994

Again, no basis for these statements is given. In fact, the
syndrome as described above can alternately be explained by
disorders that are included in the DSM-IV, such as post-
traumatic stress disorder, varioius amnesias, or dissociation.

Members of the FMSF are largely individuals who seek to defend
themselves from accusations of sexual abuse of children. The
FMSF does not attempt to determine whether these members are
falsely accused or not. However, everyone who contacts their
organization is included in their statistics of "falsely
accused". There is little discrimination or skepticism, although
members often criticize supporters of survivors of sexual abuse
for believing the survivors.

The language used by the FMSF (particularly in its newsletter)
regarding psychiatry, therapists, survivors, and women in
general is frequently negative. For example, the previous quote
attempting to define false memory syndrome implies that those
who recall past abuse are suffering from a personality disorder,
rather than retrieving recollections of actual events. How to
determine the veracity of memories is not discussed; instead,
such memories are simply assumed to be false. There is certainly
no question that external ...

read more »

that of "recovered memory". Many therapists have become wary of treating
clients who appear to have recovered memories of abuse after a long period of
forgetting.
Among the reasons for this concern are extremely vocal organizations that have
come forward in support of accused
abusers, claiming that there is no such thing as "recovered memory", and often
stating that not only are therapists who
treat such clients negligent, but that therapists are in fact themselves
creating these memories in their clients. This
article will discuss the origins and methods of the primary such organization
(the False Memory Syndrome Foundation), and in so
doing, address relevant issues of memory and the experience of abuse.

    ------------------------------------

False construct here. NOBODY (including FMSF) claims there is no such thing as
recovered memories. The REAL argument is one of methodology.

1. Shooting people full of near lethal doses of drugs such as sodium amytal to
"HELP" recover memories. (With the use of repeated suggestsive questioning.)

2. The use of hypnosis with "guided imagry" as a technique.

Now let's discuss the REAL reason "therapists" (almost always MSW social
workers) are now reluctant to engage in this activity. Dozens of successful
large dollar award lawsuits against therapists.

-------------------------------------------------

had been forgotten for some period of time,
has been variously explained by such mechanisms as repression, amnesia, and
dissociation. However, there are over 100 years of reports and descriptions of
recovered memory in the literature,
including instances from times of war, torture, bereavement, natural disasters,
and concentration camp imprisonment.

---------------

Indeed there have been. And it is in the DETAILS of that 100 year history that
the modern practices have been discredited.

---------------------------------------------------

no evidence to prove the existence of a "false
memory syndrome" epidemic.

   Sure there is. A literal explosion in cases of such allegations. Going from
a half dozen or so cases a year to over 100,000 when these "techniques" were
discovered.

    Now, while it puzzles the TRUE BELIEVERS in the world that almost everyone
issexually abusing their children and the children simply don't remember it,
there is a simple reason why so many experts discount this type of "recovered
memory therapy." That is because it discredits itself.

   The SAME techniques are being used to assist people ro recall "past lives"
and "alien abductions." Many of the leading "Therapists" who do recovered
memory theray have testified that they have had several clients who were
Napoleon in a past life. It never dawns on these nit-wits that there was only
ONE Napoleon. You simply CANNOT have several clients who were REALLY Napoleon
in a past life, much less 200,000 therapists ALL with 20 or 30 Napoleons, with
out AT LEAST admitting the possibility that ONE might actually have NOT been
Napoleon..

     Now we could also go to the ailen abduction thing. BUT.... if you actually
BELIEVE that HORNEY little green men from the planet Andromenous have flown 20
million light years for a little Earth Nookey, well there is NO point in trying
to correct your belief. Nutty as it is.

     Have SOME folks been molested? YES! Have some repressed that memory? OF
COURSE! Nobody says there are No cases. But some people argue PROCESS on HOW
the memories are restored.

organizations that have

BS.  The FMSF is an organization made up of pedophiles and
sexual-predators.  These people formed the FMSF because they
were *accused* of sexual molestation.  Then, like a good Public
Relations firm, they *worked* the media bit by bit, paper by
paper, magazine by magazine, and finally, journal by journal.
These criminals inserted a false meme - "False Memory Syndrome"
into a debate about recovered memories.  Like the sociopaths
that they are, the FMSF was able to make a false and unaccepted
medical diagnosis like FMS stick.  In short, the FMSF
manipulated the media, the lawyers, the medical establishment
and the victims of sexaul abuse by the FMSF themselves!

traumatic event that

Total unsubstantiated crap.  The human brain devises various
self-defense mechanisms to protect itself from the knowledge of
painful and often traumatic experiences, aka MEMORIES.

This in no way shape or form implies that these memories are
false.  Rather, it implies that the mind develops defense
mechanisms like "forgetting" and "repression" to avoid
consciously remembering painful episodes of ones childhood or
traumatic experiences.  In some cases, it takes *decades* for
one to concsciously recall traumatic events in ones past WITHOUT
ever setting foot in a psychiatrists office.  No one knows how
the mind works this way EXCEPT those who MANIPULATE public
perception.  For years, the CIA ran a mind-control operation
called MK/ULTRA which was interested in diffusing the anti-war
and civil-rights climate of the sixties.  The knowledge from the
results of such pseudo-scientific experiments on live civilians
was used to manipulate the mass-media through television,
advertising, and of course, newspapers.  It is clear that the
public is quick to "forget" the past abuses by their own
government.  Witness the fact that Bush's son is now running for
President.  What qualifications does he have to hold the highest
offfice in the nation?  None of course, but that doesn't stop
him from trying since his entire campaign is run on the notion
of PUBLIC PERCEPTION, which brings us back full circle to the
horrendous psychological tactics of the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation.  Firstly, "False Memory Syndrome" does not exist.
It was INVENTED to protect the members of the foundation from
accusations of sexual abuse.  Using the wisdom of public
relations, along with CIA tactics of media manipulation, the
FMSF inserted the notion of a "False Memory Syndrome" into the
debate when none had previously existed.  What was the result?
Soon, therapists were being sued by the very people who had been
accused of sexual abuse!  This is hysteria at its best, except
this is not hysteria brought on by the therapist, it is hysteria
brought on by the criminal perpetrators of sexual abuse who were
found innocent of the charges brought against them by hiring
high-profile lawyers to manipulate judicial perception of the
cases at hand and introduce paid members of the FMSF to testify
how an INVENTED syndrome like FMS caused their client to be
accused of sexual abuse in the first place!

This is totally absurd!

In my opinion, all cases where FMS has been introduced into a
hearing should not only be rehear but RETRIED.  The perpetrators
of sexual abuse have been set free while the therapists and the
victims continue to suffer at the hands of the FMSF and an
uneducated public who are easily misled and swayed by propaganda
and lies.

Surely there is NOT.  No medical diagnosis exists named "False
Memory Syndrome"

It is an invented diagnosis which does not exist.

It was used by attorneys to free their clients who were accused
of sexual abuse.

FMS is a false diagnosis and cannot be found in any medical
literature.

The FMSF and those who espouse such lies need to be brought to
justice at the earliest opportunity.

This is a mass-media manipulation and propaganda effort of
ENORMOUS proportions.

- SOCkM

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On Sat, 17 Jun 2000 17:07:47 -0700, Son_of_Chive_Mynde

Clearly you are speaking with a bias that disallows any evidence
contrary to your point of view.
Your reasoning faculties are much the same as another pet peeve of
mine; religious fundamentalist who will hear nothing that disproves
events in the bible as happening exactly as written in, say, Genesis
for example.

This century has seen unbelievable instances of extremely traumatic
events being imposed on individuals. The horrors witnessed by those
who survived the holocaust, men, women AND children to the present day
horrors of the Bosnia/Serbia/Kosovo.

There were no cases that I heard of where a concentration camp member
were unable to remember what took place. On the contrary, they perhaps
remember to well., leading to the recent explosion of hate and old
memories in the Balkans. How can this happen if this syndrome is as
common as you say? This is different you say ? How ? What has happened
to anybody you speak of that didn't happen in one of those camps or
wars. Rape was/is an all too common practice during times of war. They
Remember. They remember too well.

An aside to this whole question is this: How can any person take a
diagnosis seriously if one the surefire signs of abuse is the persons
inability to remember it. Think about that.
 Any therapist who would even for a moment allow such a thought to
cross their mind is in need of treatment themselves and at the very
least should be stripped of any license to practice and have their
files looked at by someone to determine how many people that therapist
has mentally "raped" and subsequent criminal charges should be
brought.
We had a therapist up here in Canada who was heavy on the "ritual
abuse" bandwagon. She was finally shut up and properly ignored when
someone sat down and added up her estimates given at different times
and using different ways of alluding to the 'horrific numbers" of
events going on right under our noses. Anyhow, some good soul did the
math and presented the results to her, on national TV. The numbers of
dead children this women had claimed were  in various forums to the
faithful exceeded the population of living children in all of Canada.
And not one bit of evidence nor one grave. Like I said, she
disappeared back into the anonymity she so richly deserved. I wonder
though. She probably still has a hardcore group of adherents that
still "believe". They probably think much the same as you, very single
minded and with blinkers that allow nothing to change their point of
view.
I'll bet you think I must be a molester of some kind to take the
position I do, don't you? How else could I deny the obvious evidence
as you see it right?

I feel deep pity for you and only wish that you would wake up before
you destroy some innocent parents lives not to mention the daughter
who now actually does suffer the damage of an actual rape because for
all intents and purposes, if she wholeheartedly believes it, she was.

On Sun, 18 Jun 2000 01:22:10 -0700, Son_of_Chive_Mynde

NO. Snip of words contrary to your point of view, reflecting precisely
the reaction that I spoke about (but that you snipped).

To sum up what I said in different words that perhaps you'll
understand:

I have no memory of being molested as a child. Therefore I probably
was molested. (according to one of the Repressed Memory Syndrome
symptoms)

If that isn't the most absurd diagnosis you have ever heard of....
Well, I leave you to your twisted little world.

Nice projection.  That statement accurately describes *your*
point of view, not mine.

[snip of complete bullshit]

she was.

"False Memory Syndrome" deos not exist.

No competent medical authority or peer-reviewed medical journal
accepts "False Memory Syndrome" as a valid diagnosis.

I'm sorry that reality conflicts with your innermost fantasy
world.

- SOCkM

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as recovered memories. The REAL argument is one of methodology.

    I am NOT a member of FMSF, but I have seen the list of its members, and
many are very prominent researchers at major universities, such as Dr.
Elizabeth Loftus at the University of Washington. Are you claiming that SHE is
a "pedophile?"
A "sexual predator?"

molestation.

   Please provide the place and date Dr. Ofshe, Dr. Loftus, etc were accused of
molestation? I could go down the entire board list of FMSF, but that would
waste bandwidth. I am expecting specifics here.
Dates of criminal charges, places, and result of the trials.

paper by paper, magazine by magazine, and finally, journal by journal.

   Funny thing here, while newspapers MAY well be a place where propaganda
prevails, usually it is on the side of the child abuse hsyterics. Academic,
peer REVIEWED Journals are another matter.
It is clear you don't know the process.

that
the modern practices have been discredited.

mechanisms to protect itself from the knowledge of painful and often traumatic
experiences, aka MEMORIES.

    Absolutely, as a Viet Nam vet, I think I have a pretty good working
kknowledge of that. HOWEVER, you missed the point here. That being that the
PROCESS of recovering those repressed memories, IE shooting near LETHAL doses
of drugs like Amytal into the people and hypnosis that have been discredited.
Actually, what is really being discredited is the "therapists" doing this,
almost always Social Workers. and almost never a Clinical Psychologist or
Psychiatrist. It is the unqualified social worker intrusion into an area in
which they posess NO skills or trainign that is the real issue here. Like
children playing with fire.

one to concsciously recall traumatic events in ones past WITHOUT ever setting
foot in a psychiatrists office.

   First let me disabuse you of the notion that "Psychiatrists" are the ones
doing this "recovered memory therapy." Almost NONE of the "Therapists" are
psychiatrists. And even fewer are Clinical Psychologists both of whom KNOW
better then to use those methods.

interested in diffusing the anti-war
and civil-rights climate of the sixties.  

    Black helicopters anyone?

qualifications does he have to hold the highest offfice in the nation?  None of
course, but that doesn't stop him from trying

   And this related to recovered memory HOW? Can we say you are making one hell
of an argument for the Fruit Loop company.

    So far you have failed to prove that.

sexual abuse.

   So YOU claim. But since most of the board of FMSF seem to have NEVER been
accused of molesting children, EVEN the hated Ralph Underwager, your story
doesn't hold together expecially well. As far as I know the only ones accused,
but never given a day in court to answer the charges were the Freyds.

sexual abuse!  This is hysteria at its best, except this is not hysteria
brought on by the therapist, it is hysteria brought on by the criminal
perpetrators of sexual abuse who were found innocent of the charges brought
against them by hiring high-profile lawyers to manipulate judicial perception
of the cases at hand and introduce paid members of the FMSF to testify how an
INVENTED syndrome like FMS caused their client to be accused of sexual abuse in
the first place!  This is totally absurd!

   Interesting. Let's note that # 1 the suits against the therapists have been
successful. "High profile lawyers?" Care to name some? How many of the people
accused were represented by Johnny Cochrane? F.Lee Bailey? Jerry Spence?
How do you define a "HIGH PROFILE LAWYER?"  Or do you suggest that people are
not entitled to legal counsel?
And somehow these "Therapists" with whole insurance companies defening them,
have, somehow, a very POOR class of lawyer? And THAT explains how they come to
LOSE these lawsuits?

   What is "absurd" here is your hysteria.

earliest opportunity.

proportions.

Oh I see, let's given them a "fair trial" and then let's hang em!  What a sense
of justice and truth you have.

your point of view.

not mine.

    No sir. It describes YOUR situation. I gave credit that SOME recovered
memories are accurate. I also stated that because of the "PROCESS USED"
(extremely high drug doses and hypnosis) that SOME of the cases are not
acurate.
Your position is that they ALL are! That ALL the accused are guilty. And you
argue any viewpoit that even differs from your beliefs even slightly like a
caged animal.

  From where I sit that covers much of YOUR blather, sir. Even when I TRY to
agree with SOME of what you say, you foam at the mouth.

  The evidence I have seen says it does.

Memory Syndrome" as a valid diagnosis.

  You are wrong, several have. Try the Journal of Behavioral Psychology to name
ONE....

   What *IS* the truth here is that NONE of the medical or psychological
journals or associations has endorsed the methods used to "receover memories."
Meaning heavy (near lethal) doses of sodium amytal and hypnosis. Which is why
we do not see psychiatrists or psychologists performing this voo doo, and it is
left to the realm of Social Workers. (MSW's) to practice.

AGAIN.... The SAME process used to help people to remember they were Napoleon
in a previous life, or that they took a flyhing saucer ride with Elvis!

 Ya know, I think that any reasonable intelligent person might want to use a
different PROCESS, when they learn that the process they are endorsing has
literally  tens of thousand of Napoleons existing simultaneously, and a like
number who believe they were scooped up into flyign saucers by sexuall
frustrated little green men looking for a little "Earth Nookie!"

   I am NOT saying that there is no traumatic repression of memory of sexual
abuse. There clearly IS. What I am saying, and now need to make in less
delicate terms, is that it takes a raving lunatic to MISS that the process in
use is at best unreliable!  That there has to be a BETTER way!  If you can't
see that, then you are too far gone for communication to be anything other than
a waste of bandwidth and time.

Yes.  False Memory Syndrome is a hoax.  FMS is a diagnosis that
does not EXIST and is being used against victims of ritual abuse
to protect pedophiles and persons accused of sexual abuse.
Additionally, the pseudo-sciencee of FMS is used by the criminal
organization FMSF to minimize reports of sadistic child abuse
and to attack those who advocate on behalf of survivors.

Pseudo-scientific organizations like the FMSF dominate media
attention with horrific tales of false allegations of abuse
ruining families and innocent individual’s lives, children and
adults are suffering indescribable torments.  It is our
obligation as investigators to uncover the meaning behind
allegations of cult and ritual abuse and to prevent continued
abuses.

False Memory Syndrome is a term coined by the Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania based False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF),
which is an advocacy group for people whose children have
accused them of either sexual abuse and/or Satanic ritual abuse.

Despite its scientific sounding title, there is actually no such
thing as a clinically acknowledged category for "false memory
syndrome."

Judith Herman, an associate clinical professor of Psychiatry at
Harvard Medical School, and author of the book, Trauma and
Recovery claims that, "The very name FMSF is prejudicial and
misleading."

"There is no such syndrome, and we have no evidence reported
memories are false. We only know they are disputed," said Dr.
Herman.

"As recently as the 1970s," said Herman, "rape was considered
rare, and incest was regarded as a universal taboo. Less than
twenty years ago, for example, the Comprehensive Textbook of
Psychiatry estimated the prevalence of all forms of incest at
one case per million population. And popular and professional
literature [as in the case with SRA survivors now] routinely
questioned the character of victims, and disparaged the
credibility of women who made claims of assault. Today, however,
widespread sexual abuse/incest has been extensively
documented."

Somre more additional facts about the "hoax" of "false memory
syndrome":

Researchers at University College London claim their study of
data from 236 adults with recovered memories shows many are of
true past events.

On Tuesday March 14, Reuters reported that the British
Psychological Society released a statement that says: ``There is
now consistent evidence that 'False Memory Syndrome' cannot
explain all, or even most, examples of recovered memories of
trauma,''

Dr Bernice Andrews, who conducted the study said, "To date there
is no convincing evidence for a specific False Memory Syndrome."

In the case of false memory allegations, perhaps we should be
spending a bit more time actually questioning the character of
some of those accusing the "alleged" victims of confabulation.
And perhaps we should start at the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation itself.

- SOCkM

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and is being used against victims of ritual abuse to protect pedophiles and
persons accused of sexual abuse.

   Lots of experts disagree with you.

FMSF to minimize reports of sadistic child abuse
and to attack those who advocate on behalf of survivors.

   Do you realize that your language pretty well brands you as a nut case?  The
false memory movement, as such, has lots better "SCIENCE" going for it that the
recovered memory crowd does. Let's look at two of the leading proponents. Bass
and Davis. Neither has a doctorate degree in ANYTHING. One doesn't even have a
college degree at all. The other is an RN.
Contrast this to the volumes written on the other side by academics with often
multiple PhD's or MD's.  Whose word should I take on a SCIENCE issue? A MSW or
an MD or PhD?

horrific tales of false allegations of abuse
ruining families and innocent individual’s lives, children and adults are
suffering indescribable torments.  

  the "PSEUDO-SCIENCE" is the recovered memory creeps, social workers shooting
people with near lethal doses of drugs and playing with hypnosis to extract
"memories." The SCIENCE here is in uncovering that the PROCESS hopelessly
contaminates memory. If anyone here is giving aid and comfort to those who
abuse children, it is those who cling to VOO DOO to deal with the process. Thus
so contaminating the memory of the victims as to make their claims
untrustworthy.
THAT, sir is the REAL crime here! Those who try to pass off QUACKERY in the
place of science!

allegations of cult and ritual abuse and to prevent continued abuses.

    Oh, are you claiming to be an "investigator?" For what type of agency?

A fallacious argument from authority.

Judith Herman, an associate clinical professor of Psychiatry at
Harvard Medical School, and author of the book, Trauma and
Recovery claims that, "The very name FMSF is prejudicial and
misleading."

"There is no such syndrome, and we have no evidence reported
memories are false. We only know they are disputed," said Dr.
Herman.

"As recently as the 1970s," said Herman, "rape was considered
rare, and incest was regarded as a universal taboo. Less than
twenty years ago, for example, the Comprehensive Textbook of
Psychiatry estimated the prevalence of all forms of incest at
one case per million population. And popular and professional
literature [as in the case with SRA survivors now] routinely
questioned the character of victims, and disparaged the
credibility of women who made claims of assault. Today, however,
widespread sexual abuse/incest has been extensively documented."

Somre more additional facts about the "hoax" of "false memory
syndrome":

Researchers at University College London claim their study of
data from 236 adults with recovered memories shows many are of
true past events.

On Tuesday March 14, Reuters reported that the British
Psychological Society released a statement that says: ``There is
now consistent evidence that 'False Memory Syndrome' cannot
explain all, or even most, examples of recovered memories of
trauma,''

Dr Bernice Andrews, who conducted the study said, "To date there
is no convincing evidence for a specific False Memory Syndrome."

- SOCkM

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Another illogical, fallacious Argument from Authority.

Responses to trauma now termed, for example, "repression", "Post-
 traumatic stress disorder", or "dissociation" have been
recognized literally for thousands of years. Charcot (a
neurologist) in the late 1800’s recognized that "hysteria" was
precipitated by events that the patient experienced as stressful
or traumatic. Several years later, Janet noted what we now
term "dissociation" as primary symptoms of hysteria - forgetting
and disconnection from emotions and/or experience. Janet also
observed the re-living or re-enactment of trauma that remains
one of the criteria of PTSD. As psychology and the DSM evolved,
the trauma response "hysteria" did as well, becoming various
hysterical neuroses, and eventually somatoform or dissociative
disorders. (KIHLSTROM).

However, organizations formed in support of those accused of
abuse have chosen to ignore this history. One such organization,
the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, was born in November 1991
as a result of an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer. In this
article, a couple claimed that their adult daughter had
recovered memories of incest in therapy, and as a result refused
contact with some friends and family. The couple denied any
incest. In the week after the article appeared, a University of
Pennsylvania professor (Harold Lief) who was quoted in the
column received a number of telephone calls from people who felt
that they, too, had been falsely accused.

During this time, a psychologist at Stanford University had cut
off communication with her father after confronting him with her
own memories of abuse. Her parents, Peter (a mathematician at
the University of Pennsylvania) and Pamela Freyd, joined Dr.
Lief in March of 1992 to form the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation. All three are still FMSF board members.

The story of Dr. Freyd and her parents is an illustrative one.
Dr. Freyd confronted her father privately with her memories, yet
her parents chose to take their experiences public. The story
contains several examples of questionable behavior by FMSF board
members, which became a pattern, as will be discussed later in
this paper. For example, the very same Dr. Harold Lief who
formed the FMSF with Pamela and Peter Freyd was the therapist
not only of Dr. Freyd, but also of her father. Lief, in fact,
told Dr. Freyd that he did not believe her memories of abuse,
stating that they could not have happend because in his
experience, Peter Freyd’s fantasies were "entirely homoerotic".
(FREYD) Pamela Freyd, on her part, took her daughter’s private
life public in an article (published as a book chapter and a
journal article) that disparaged Dr. Freyd’s personal life and
compared Dr. Freyd’s successful professional career unfavorably
to her own. She also, in an interesting foreshadowing of future
FMSF members’ positions on child abuse, ridiculed those who were
opposed to child sexual abuse as "politically correct" and
therefore, perhaps, merely trendy.

Interestingly, Dr. Freyd’s memories were supported by other
family members. Her uncle William, Peter’s brother, stated in a
letter that "there’s no doubt in my mind that there was severe
abuse.... The false memory syndrome foundaton is a fraud
designed to deny a reality that Peter and Pam have spent most of
their lives trying to escape. There’s no such thing as a false
memory syndrome. It is not, by any normal standard, a
foundation. Neither Peter nor Pam have any significant mental
health expertise."(FREYD LETTER)

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation created the term "false
memory syndrome" to explain how false accusations could occur.
Further than that, however, the FMSF has taken the stance that
delayed memories are often false, and that memories recovered in
therapy are particularly suspicious. Their theory has been that
vulnerable women are often coerced into believing they have been
abused by therapists who are either more interested in having
long-term clients than in assisting those clients, or who are
unknowingly creating false memories in their clients through
hypnosis or suggestion.

- SOCkM

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THE TRUTH ABOUT ELIZABETH LOFTUS

In "Remembering Dangerously," Loftus (who is not a clinician and
who has no training or clinical experience in child psychology,
trauma, processes of traumatic memory, or child sexual abuse)
claimed that Hoult recovered her memories in therapy, which was
not the case. According to Hoult, Loftus added events to the
case study which did not occur and made various misstatements
regarding the abuse.

In the January/February 1995 issue of Psychology Today, Loftus
reviewed the legal case of Lynn Crook, who successfully sued her
parents for abuse. Crook had presented testimony in her case
from two sisters who also remembered incest by their father. In
the article, Loftus presented the case with (according to Crook)
nine crucial misstatements.

As a result of the errors in these articles, Jennifer Hoult and
Lynn Crook, filed separate complaints with the APA against
Elizabeth Loftus. Crook and Hoult filed their complaints on
December 18, 1995. According to the rules and procedures of the
APA ethics office, the chairman of the APA Ethics Committee (an
active expert witness for accused perpetrators of abuse, and
against therapists accused of implanting false memories in their
clients) was responsible for the initial screening of all such
complaints. The chairman and Loftus were, in fact, working
together on a different case when the complaints were filed.
They later claimed they had been unaware of this coincidence.
The chair took no action before Loftus resigned from the APA
less than a month later. After Loftus' resignation, the APA
declined to investigate the charges.
Loftus gave as her reason for resigning from the APA as her
belief that the APA had "moved away from scientific and
scholarly thinking." The APA publishes many of the most
prominent scientific psychological journals.

The FMSF is characteristically intolerant of those who do not
agree with their beliefs. In the newsletter and in board member
publications, people with recovered memories and their
supporters (particularly therapists) are compared to accusers in
the Salem "witch hunts". FMSF members consider themselves to be
victims of a "modern witch hunt". In fact, a popular Internet
mailing list of supporters of FMS (listed on the FMS home page,
but officially "not affiliated with the FMSF") is
called "WITCHUNT", and is described on the FMS website as "a
discussion list about the recent ‘ritual child abuse’ trials‘".
In Loftus' 1995 introduction to her article Remembering
Dangerously, Loftus says "we live in a strange and precarious
time that resembles at its heart of the hysteria and
superstitious fervor of the witch trials of the 16th and 17th
centuries. Men and women are being accused, tried, and convicted
with no proof or evidence of guilt other than the word of the
accuser. Even when the accusations involve numerous
perpetrators, conflicting grievous wounds over many years, even
decades, the accused's pointing finger of blame is enough to
make believers of judges and juries. (P. 20)" Many judges of
court cases would be quite surprised at hearing that they had
convicted perpetrators solely at "the word of an accuser".

In negative language that has become emblematic of the FMSF,
Loftus’ book , " the myth of repressed memory: false memories
and allegations of sexual abuse" repeatedly uses the metaphor
of "an earlier time when God-fearing citizens, gripped by fear,
superstition, and religious fervor, cried witch, and a forest of
stakes was pounded into the very heart of the community"(p.
228). Quotes from Arthur Miller's book the Crucible are
prominently featured. However, the "hysteria"
implied by Loftus is not that of female victims of abuse who
have developed dissociative or other coping skills as a result
of the abuse, but that of female therapists who implant false
memories and the female patients who believe them.

THE TRUTH ABOUT FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME

"It is now generally recognized by those working with sex
offenders that child abusers, rapists and perpetrators of incest
have an extraordinary capacity for denial and minimisation."

"Offenders may continue to assert their innocence despite
overwhelming evidence and despite good rapport with their
therapists .... offenders can be quite convincing when asserting
their innocence."

Members of the FMSF are largely individuals who seek to defend
themselves from accusations of sexual abuse of children. The
FMSF does not attempt to determine whether these members are
falsely accused or not. However, everyone who contacts their
organization is included in their statistics of "falsely
accused". There is little discrimination or skepticism, although
members often criticize supporters of survivors of sexual abuse
for believing the survivors. The language used by the FMSF
(particularly in its newsletter) regarding psychiatry,
therapists, survivors, and women in general is frequently
negative. For example, the previous quote attempting to define
false memory syndrome implies that those who recall past abuse
are suffering from a personality disorder, rather than
retrieving recollections of actual events.

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation created the term "false
memory syndrome" to explain how false accusations could occur.
Further than that, however, the FMSF has taken the stance that
delayed memories are often false, and that memories recovered in
therapy are particularly suspicious. Their theory has been that
vulnerable women are often coerced into believing they have been
abused by therapists who are either more interested in having
long-term clients than in assisting those clients, or who are
unknowingly creating false memories in their clients through
hypnosis or suggestion.

Incidentally, False Memory Syndrome is not listed in the
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual- IV (1994).

Despite its scientific sounding title, there is actually no such
thing as a clinically acknowledged category for "false memory
syndrome." Judith Herman, an associate clinical professor of
Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and author of the book,
Trauma and Recovery claims that, "The very name FMSF is
prejudicial and misleading." "There is no such syndrome, and we
have no evidence reported memories are false. We only know they
are disputed," said Dr. Herman.

Researchers at University College London claim their study of
data from 236 adults with recovered memories shows many are of
true past events.

The British Psychological Society released a statement that
says: ``There is now consistent evidence that 'False Memory
Syndrome' cannot explain all, or even most, examples of
recovered memories of trauma.'' Dr Bernice Andrews, who
conducted the study said, "To date there is no convincing
evidence for a specific False Memory Syndrome."

The FMSF believes that women who report recovered memories of
sexual abuse are led by therapists to accuse their own families
of abuse from their own sincere belief of incidents which did
not occur. However, the FMSF provides no research or statistics
to support this claim. Much FMSF evidence appears to be
anecdotal.

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On Mon, 19 Jun 2000 11:55:15 -0700, Son_of_Chive_Mynde

Don't you understand what your own evidence says?

The Society is saying that not all of the recovered memories are
false.
It does not say that all recovered memories are true.
It does says that "False memory Syndrome " cannot explain MOST, NOT
ALL of the recovered memories, meaning IT CAN explain some.
But it does not say that they are all true which leaves the question
open that there may be another reason why false memories are being
"remembered" and here is one:

Do you think it impossible or even unusual that a person who is deeply
disturbed, but doesn't know why, who obsesses about what is wrong with
them, sometimes comes to the conclusion that molestation is probably
the reason, and the mind, out of desperation to provide a reason for
it's state of distress ( What's wrong with me ! Am I crazy. Why don't
other people like me. Do I act Crazy? ), provides the needed proof in
the form of memories of molestation. This, in a sense, would be a
relief for the person as they now know it's not themselves that's at
fault, it's not themselves that's crazy but that somebody/something
else  has caused their problems.
That as well is a "defense mechanism", a term you are fond of using.
This defense mechanism absolves the individual of their problems by
laying them at the feet of someone else.
I'm sorry sir, but you are oversimplifying things to the extreme.
People are very complicated animals and are probably the worst judges
of their own motivations for why they do what they do in life.

G. Williams

What study says "vast" majority ? This one?

Vast is YOUR word that you have inserted and demonstrates that you
will exaggerate to the extreme if not outright lie to make your point.
This is identical to the religious extremists who will lie, tell half
truths,anything to show that the bible is literally true in every
word. Who they are actually trying to convince though, is themselves.
Why do you need to convince yourself so desperately that ALL recovered
memories are true? That is the only real question here.

Any person with any sense of scientific credibility would be
embarrassed to cite these widely divergent numbers as any kind of
proof. I read this to say 16% presented with some amnesia thereby
proving that False Memory Syndrome exists. ( I really don't know nor
frankly care, but that is not the point I'm trying to make).
What is striking about you citing this report is that you are so
selective in what you see , read and integrate into your thoughts that
you seem literally blind to the other interpretation of the statement.
That borders on a pathological level of selectivity.
Take this further. 16% is closer to saying none of the patients
exhibited amnesia than 78% is to saying all of the patients had
amnesia. One wonders if the doctor wasn't being paid by a group that
he knew wanted a result you would approve of but slyly let those who
are aware of such dealings in on it by placing the true results closer
to the end I pointed out while still pleasing his benefactors.
 And yes, experts can be hired to testify to whatever you want if the
price is right. American criminal trials are ample evidence of that.

Anyhow, I would quit trying to convince us that all recovered memories
are true and talk to a psychiatrist about why it is so important to
convince yourself of it.

Start taking care of yourself,

G.Williams

many are very prominent researchers at major universities, such as Dr.
Elizabeth Loftus at the University of Washington.

   Oh really? Elizabeth Loftus has been considered the foremost authority on
the planet on human memory. We could go to Dr. Richard Ofshe at the University
of California, and MANY others. In  fact if we do a who's who of the leading
authorities in the world on memory, all support false memories. Even some of
the faculty at Harvard. Several at Johns Hopkins, Albert Einstein School of
Medicine, University of Wisconsin, and so on.

the University of Pennsylvania) and Pamela Freyd, joined Dr. Lief in March of
1992 to form the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation. All three are still FMSF board members.

   No argument of history from here.

LETTER)

   This would be important IF they were the ones making the claims. But they
are not.
The claims attacking the PROCESS by whihc these memories are ellegedly
recovered has come from ACADEMIA.

   Again you RUN from the issue. That is the ***PROCESS*** whereby the claim of
recovered memories is typically made. That being the use of near lethal doses
of drugs, such as sodium amytal, and hypnosis.  I see you will NOT address the
issue, but cling to wild personal attacks on the Freyds and anyone who doesn't
buy your hysterical views.

 Nope, the SLANDER of Dr. Loftus..

declined to investigate the charges.
Loftus gave as her reason for resigning from the APA as her belief that the APA
had "moved away from scientific and
scholarly thinking."

  As one who is perhaps more familiar with the details of this than you, this
is rather OLD and THOROUGHLY discredited slander.

training or clinical experience in child psychology, trauma, processes of
traumatic memory, or child sexual abuse)

  Thanks for showing yourself for what you are. ANyone in the field of
Psychology KNOWS the vast contributions in RESEARCH Loftus has performed and
how she has advanced our understanding of human memory.

    Those who attack Loftus personally, such as this, are people from the
extreme lunatic fringe of the issue. And this kind of personal assault is made
on anyone who DARES disagree with the hard line. Most recentl;y attacks on Dr.
Steven CEci of Cornell have begun in an IDENTICAL vein!
Attacks on Maggie Bruck (Johns Hopkins) and MANY more.  Anyoen who DARES
disagree with this lunatic base can count on personal assaults and threats of
personal harm or ruin. An old tactic to silence opposition. All tyrants have
used it.

I didn't attack anyone.  This article was published on the net
to debunk the claims of the FMSF, which you obviously support.

Anyone who claims that those who post facts and figures
are "people from the extreme lunatic fringe" is obviously afraid
of the truth and will work hard to slander anyone who points out
their misdeeds.  It's very similar to the denial that people who
accused of sexual abuse go through when their children recover
memories of incest and abuse.  The False Memory Syndrome
Foundation is made up of such people.  The have
somehow 'forgotten" the damage they have caused to their victims
and they feel they must slander people who remind them of their
crimes as the "lunatic fringe".  How totally transparent.

You sir or madam, are a disgrace to the psychology profession,
and you should retire ASAP.

- SOCkM

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Scientific truth does not equate to SLANDER, PangK.

The FMSF is characteristically intolerant of those who do not
agree with their beliefs. In the newsletter and in board member
publications, people with recovered memories and their
supporters (particularly therapists) are compared to accusers in
the Salem "witch hunts". FMSF members consider themselves to be
victims of a "modern witch hunt". In fact, a popular Internet
mailing list of supporters of FMS (listed on the FMS home page,
but officially "not affiliated with the FMSF") is
called "WITCHUNT", and is described on the FMS website as "a
discussion list about the recent ‘ritual child abuse’ trials‘".
In Loftus' 1995 introduction to her article Remembering
Dangerously, Loftus says "we live in a strange and precarious
time that resembles at its heart of the hysteria and
superstitious fervor of the witch trials of the 16th and 17th
centuries. Men and women are being accused, tried, and convicted
with no proof or evidence of guilt other than the word of the
accuser. Even when the accusations involve numerous
perpetrators, conflicting grievous wounds over many years, even
decades, the accused's pointing finger of blame is enough to
make believers of judges and juries. (P. 20)" Many judges of
court cases would be quite surprised at hearing that they had
convicted perpetrators solely at "the word of an accuser".

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Yes.  You are arguing that since Loftus are experts
and "prominent" researchers, they are somehow above reproach.

Nothing could be farther from the truth.

As it turns out, PangK has been lying to everyone on this
newsgroup.

Loftus is not a clinician.  Loftus has no training or clinical
experience in child psychology, trauma, processes of traumatic
memory, or child sexual abuse.

Elizabeth Loftus accused Kenneth Pope, a respected memory and
trauma researcher, in the APA journal Clinical Psychology of
being "wildly reckless" in an area of ethics. Her claim was
later investigated by the journal and found to be false.

The Fall 1997 issue of the journal published a correction and
apology for the "false statement disparaging Dr. Pope’s ethics".
(POPE LETTER ETC) It is disheartening to observe the FMSF, which
in its newsletters and publications continually emphasizes the
importance of scientific discourse, actively promoting such
accusations.

In the January/February 1995 issue of Psychology Today, Loftus
reviewed the legal case of Lynn Crook, who successfully sued her
parents for abuse. Crook had presented testimony in her case
from two sisters who also remembered incest by their father. In
the article, Loftus presented the case with (according to Crook)
nine crucial misstatements.

As a result of the errors in these articles, Jennifer Hoult and
Lynn Crook, filed separate complaints with the APA against
Elizabeth Loftus. Crook and Hoult filed their complaints on
December 18, 1995. According to the rules and procedures of the
APA ethics office, the chairman of the APA Ethics Committee (an
active expert witness for accused perpetrators of abuse, and
against therapists accused of implanting false memories in their
clients) was responsible for the initial screening of all such
complaints. The chairman and Loftus were, in fact, working
together on a different case when the complaints were filed.
They later claimed they had been unaware of this coincidence.
The chair took no action before Loftus resigned from the APA
less than a month later. After Loftus' resignation, the APA
declined to investigate the charges.

Loftus gave as her reason for resigning from the APA as her
belief that the APA had "moved away from scientific and
scholarly thinking." The APA publishes many of the most
prominent scientific psychological journals.

The FMSF is characteristically intolerant of those who do not
agree with their beliefs. In the newsletter and in board member
publications, people with recovered memories and their
supporters (particularly therapists) are compared to accusers in
the Salem "witch hunts". FMSF members consider themselves to be
victims of a "modern witch hunt". In fact, a popular Internet
mailing list of supporters of FMS (listed on the FMS home page,
but officially "not affiliated with the FMSF") is
called "WITCHUNT", and is described on the FMS website as "a
discussion list about the recent ‘ritual child abuse’ trials‘".
In Loftus' 1995 introduction to her article Remembering
Dangerously, Loftus says "we live in a strange and precarious
time that resembles at its heart of the hysteria and
superstitious fervor of the witch trials of the 16th and 17th
centuries. Men and women are being accused, tried, and convicted
with no proof or evidence of guilt other than the word of the
accuser. Even when the accusations involve numerous
perpetrators, conflicting grievous wounds over many years, even
decades, the accused's pointing finger of blame is enough to
make believers of judges and juries. (P. 20)" Many judges of
court cases would be quite surprised at hearing that they had
convicted perpetrators solely at "the word of an accuser".

In negative language that has become emblematic of the FMSF,
Loftus’ book , " the myth of repressed memory: false memories
and allegations of sexual abuse" repeatedly uses the metaphor
of "an earlier time when God-fearing citizens, gripped by fear,
superstition, and religious fervor, cried witch, and a forest of
stakes was pounded into the very heart of the community"(p.
228). Quotes from Arthur Miller's book the Crucible are
prominently featured. However, the "hysteria"
implied by Loftus is not that of female victims of abuse who
have developed dissociative or other coping skills as a result
of the abuse, but that of female therapists who implant false
memories and the female patients who believe them.

The evidence contradicts your pet beliefs.

FMSF board member Elizabeth Loftus resigned from the APA to
avoid ethics violations due to the cases cited above.

Elizabeth Loftus is none other than a scientific obstructionist,
and she represents one of the greatest threats to science.

- SOCkM

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she was.

Medical science has demonstrated that no False Memory Syndrome
exists.

Cite?
Despite its scientific sounding title, there is actually no such
thing as a clinically acknowledged category for "false memory
syndrome." Judith Herman, an associate clinical professor of
Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and author of the book,
Trauma and Recovery claims that, "The very name FMSF is
prejudicial and misleading." "There is no such syndrome, and we
have no evidence reported memories are false. We only know they
are disputed," said Dr. Herman.(Reuters)

FMS is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual- IV
(1994).

Medical science has demonstrated that the vast majority of all
recovered memories are real.

Cite?
Researchers at University College London claim their study of
data from 236 adults with recovered memories shows many are of
true past events.(Reuters)

The British Psychological Society released a statement that
says: ``There is now consistent evidence that 'False Memory
Syndrome' cannot explain all, or even most, examples of
recovered memories of trauma.'' Dr Bernice Andrews, who
conducted the study said, "To date there is no convincing
evidence for a specific False Memory Syndrome." (Reuters)

The majority of sexually abused children are girls. The National
Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse has estimated that
one in three girls is sexually abused before age 18 (one in four
before 14), and one in six boys before age 16. In 85% of cases,
the perpetrator is known to the victim, and 1 in 25 girls is
sexually abused by her father. (NCPCA)

There is considerable evidence supporting the recovery of
traumatic memories. Contrary to the statements of the FMSF,
there is empirical evidence regarding corroboration of formerly
repressed memories, including that from other family members,
medical or other physical evidence, and confessions of
perpetrators. Ross Cheit, for example, has compiled a list of 50
cases of corroborated recovered memory. (See Ross Cheit.) In
fact, research evidence shows that it is not unusual for victims
of childhood sexual abuse to forget the abuse either entirely or
for a period of time after the abuse.

The FMSF also frequently attacks "repression", stating that
either it does not exist, or that it does not result in the
forgetting and later remembering of experiences of extreme
trauma. However, there are other, well-studied mechanisms which
are involved in the processing and storing of trauma
experiences. For recovered memories to exist, belief in
repression is not necessary.
For example, women with known histories of abuse have been
studied to determine if they had ever had periods in which the
abuse had been forgotten. The abstract of Linda M. Williams’
1995 study, Recovered memories of abuse in women with documented
child sexual victimization histories. (Journal of Traumatic
Stress, 8,649 — 673, 1995) states:
The study provides evidence that some adults who claimed to have
recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actual events that
occurred in childhood. 129 women with documented histories of
sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked
about abuse history. 17 years following the initial report of
the abuse, 80 of the women recalled the victimization. One in 10
women (16 percent 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 account of the abuse were compared to
the reports from the early 1970s.
None of the women in this study who had forgotten the abuse were
in therapy at the time they began to remember again, and women's
memories, when they returned, were consistent with the actual
abuse.

Charles L. Whitfield, M.D. performed a review of 36 studies on
over 6,000 children and adults who were abused as children. His
results showed that between 16 and 78% of subjects in these
studies experienced partial to total amnesia for their abuse for
some substantial amount of time. Most of the subjects had been
sexually abused as children. Eight of these studies involved
only subjects with fully corroborated abuse histories, four had
to a corroboration rate of 60 to 80 percent, and four had
corroboration among half of the subjects. All groups were
similar in occurrence of traumatic amnesia.

- SOCkM

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extreme lunatic fringe of the issue.

claims of the FMSF, which you obviously support.

  The aryicle beyond being a personal SLUR against Loftus was pure BULLSHIT!
And repeating a slur IS a personal attack.

extreme lunatic fringe" is obviously afraid
of the truth and will work hard to slander anyone who points out their
misdeeds.

  That might hold water *IF* the "facts and figures" were actually true! Since
they do NOT, then it is fair to conclude that you are part of the lunatic
fringe.

retire ASAP.

    I just have a standard of demanding science and not accepting HYSTERIA.

    I made it very clear that I accept recovered memories as REAL. I just
refuse to endorse scurrlious factless allegations, personal attacks, and
anti-science nonsense. I also refuse to accept a process that only an IDIOT
would not know would contaminate memory. That being, for the 23,885th time,
near lethal doses of drugs and hypnosis!

  I just don't buy your EXTREMISM!

   I read that SLUR against Dr. Loftus 4 years ago, and it was old news then. I
saw ABSOLUTELY NO "science" in the article, what I did see is a despicable
personal attack on the world's MOST respected researcher on human memory. I saw
you were wise enough to edit out the really nasty SEXUAL allegations from that
article. A bit too embarassed to post that along with the rest of that BS?

beliefs.

   Have you seen ME or ANYONE attack the sources you quoted? SUggest that THEY
were sexual deviants? Or dishonorable?  No, the **ONLY** person doing that is
YOU, sir!

publications, people with recovered memories and their supporters (particularly
therapists) are compared to accusers in
the Salem "witch hunts".

   Not a bad analogy given the RECENT history in Washington State.

says "we live in a strange and precarious
time that resembles at its heart of the hysteria and superstitious fervor of
the witch trials of the 16th and 17th
centuries.

    I have said that most "recovered memory" cases are REAL. Can you admit that
ANY are not?? I didn't think so!

convicted perpetrators solely at "the word of an accuser".

   Ever hear of juries?

researchers, they are somehow above reproach.
Nothing could be farther from the truth

   Nobody has successfully disputed her SCIENCE thus far. So far all I have
seen is PERSONAL allegations, including her SEX LIFE!

  Pretty  strong accusation there dude.

child psychology, trauma, processes of traumatic memory, or child sexual abuse.

   She is just a PROFESSOR at a MAJOR public university TEACHING it and having
done the LEADING research in the world on memory!

researcher, in the APA journal Clinical Psychology of being "wildly reckless"
in an area of ethics. Her claim was later investigated by the journal and found
to be false.

   Found to be "without merit." Not quite false Her OPINION. Have YOU ever had
an opinion others disagreed with?

filed separate complaints with the APA against
Elizabeth Loftus.

later. After Loftus' resignation, the APA
declined to investigate the charges.

  Not quite 100% accurate. The APA ... DID review the complaints after a
firestorm from APSAC members including the article being quoted, and found NO
misconduct on Loftus' part. Loftus also became President of the APS.

APA had "moved away from scientific and
scholarly thinking." The APA publishes many of the most prominent scientific
psychological journals.

  Again DISHONEST! Loftus and MANY members of the APA resigned in protest to
several events that displayed that politics was running roughshod over science
in the APA. Many thousands of APA members formed the APS a more demanding
science based organization than APA has become.

the planet on human memory.

   I am sorry, I have YET to see anything that contradicts that.

FLATLY AND DELIBERATELY UNTRUE!

PERSONAL attack without factual foundation.

Instead of making irrational blanket statements about things you
know nothing about, how about pointint out what part of the
article you disagree with in reference to Loftus?

FACT: Loftus is not a clinician. Loftus has no training or
clinical experience in child psychology, trauma, processes of
traumatic memory, or child sexual abuse.

FACT: Elizabeth Loftus accused Kenneth Pope, a respected memory
and trauma researcher, in the APA journal Clinical Psychology of
being "wildly reckless" in an area of ethics. Her claim was
later investigated by the journal and found to be false.

FACT: The Fall 1997 issue of the journal published a correction
and apology for the "false statement disparaging Dr. Pope’s
ethics". (POPE LETTER ETC) It is disheartening to observe the
FMSF, which in its newsletters and publications continually
emphasizes the importance of scientific discourse, actively
promoting such accusations.

FACT: In the January/February 1995 issue of Psychology Today,
Loftus reviewed the legal case of Lynn Crook, who successfully
sued her parents for abuse. Crook had presented testimony in her
case from two sisters who also remembered incest by their
father. In the article, Loftus presented the case with
(according to Crook) nine crucial misstatements.

FACT: As a result of the errors in these articles, Jennifer
Hoult and Lynn Crook, filed separate complaints with the APA
against Elizabeth Loftus. Crook and Hoult filed their complaints
on December 18, 1995. According to the rules and procedures of
the APA ethics office, the chairman of the APA Ethics Committee
(an active expert witness for accused perpetrators of abuse, and
against therapists accused of implanting false memories in their
clients) was responsible for the initial screening of all such
complaints. The chairman and Loftus were, in fact, working
together on a different case when the complaints were filed.
They later claimed they had been unaware of this coincidence.
The chair took no action before Loftus resigned from the APA
less than a month later. After Loftus' resignation, the APA
declined to investigate the charges.

FACT: Loftus gave as her reason for resigning from the APA as
her belief that the APA had "moved away from scientific and
scholarly thinking." The APA publishes many of the most
prominent scientific psychological journals.

Nothing I have posted is "bullshit", and nothing I have posted
is a "slur".  You are mistaken, uninformed, and/or lying.

Which is it?

Otherwise, back up your unsubstantiated claims with evidence.

actually true!

The facts and figures that are posted are *true*.  Please back
up your claims to the conrary or issue a retraction.

You are obviously lying, PangK?  Why is that?

You have provided no evidence that the FACTS and FIGURES that I
have posted are false.  Please backup your unsubstantiated
claims with evidence.  Otherwise, please issue a retraction.

It is fair to conclude that you are doing the same thing the
pseudo-scientific False Memory Syndrome Foundation does to
anyone who points out their disinformation and propaganda.

FACT: The FMSF is characteristically intolerant of those who do
not agree with their beliefs. In the newsletter and in board
member publications, people with recovered memories and their
supporters (particularly therapists) are compared to accusers in
the Salem "witch hunts". FMSF members consider themselves to be
victims of a "modern witch hunt". In fact, a popular Internet
mailing list of supporters of FMS (listed on the FMS home page,
but officially "not affiliated with the FMSF") is
called "WITCHUNT", and is described on the FMS website as "a
discussion list about the recent ‘ritual child abuse’ trials‘".
In Loftus' 1995 introduction to her article Remembering
Dangerously, Loftus says "we live in a strange and precarious
time that resembles at its heart of the hysteria and
superstitious fervor of the witch trials of the 16th and 17th
centuries. Men and women are being accused, tried, and convicted
with no proof or evidence of guilt other than the word of the
accuser. Even when the accusations involve numerous
perpetrators, conflicting grievous wounds over many years, even
decades, the accused's pointing finger of blame is enough to
make believers of judges and juries. (P. 20)" Many judges of
court cases would be quite surprised at hearing that they had
convicted perpetrators solely at "the word of an accuser".

If you equate your "standard" of demanding science with the
demanding of PSEUDO-SCIENCE then you might have a point.  I have
a feeling you don't understand the difference between science
and pseudo-science.

Nice projection of your own actions.

It is you who puts forward the EXTREME views of the pseudo-
scientific False Memory Syndrome Foundation.

FACT: Medical science has demonstrated that no False Memory
Syndrome exists.

FACT: Despite its scientific sounding title, there is actually
no such thing as a clinically acknowledged category for "false
memory syndrome." Judith Herman, an associate clinical professor
of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and author of the book,
Trauma and Recovery claims that, "The very name FMSF is
prejudicial and misleading." "There is no such syndrome, and we
have no evidence reported memories are false. We only know they
are disputed," said Dr. Herman.(Reuters)

FACT: FMS is not listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-
 IV (1994).

FACT: Medical science has demonstrated that the vast majority of
all recovered memories are real.

FACT: Researchers at University College London claim their study
of data from 236 adults with recovered memories shows many are
of true past events.(Reuters)

FACT: The British Psychological Society released a statement
that says: ``There is now consistent evidence that 'False Memory
Syndrome' cannot explain all, or even most, examples of
recovered memories of trauma.'' Dr Bernice Andrews, who
conducted the study said, "To date there is no convincing
evidence for a specific False Memory Syndrome." (Reuters)

FACT: The majority of sexually abused children are girls. The
National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse has
estimated that one in three girls is sexually abused before age
18 (one in four before 14), and one in six boys before age 16.
In 85% of cases, the perpetrator is known to the victim, and 1
in 25 girls is sexually abused by her father. (NCPCA)

FACT: There is considerable evidence supporting the recovery of
traumatic memories. Contrary to the statements of the FMSF,
there is empirical evidence regarding corroboration of formerly
repressed memories, including that from other family members,
medical or other physical evidence, and confessions of
perpetrators. Ross Cheit, for example, has compiled a list of 50
cases of corroborated recovered memory. (See Ross Cheit.) In
fact, research evidence shows that it is not unusual for victims
of childhood sexual abuse to forget the abuse either entirely or
for a period of time after the abuse.

FACT: The FMSF also frequently attacks "repression", stating
that either it does not exist, or that it does not result in the
forgetting and later remembering of experiences of extreme
trauma. However, there are other, well-studied mechanisms which
are involved in the processing and storing of trauma
experiences. For recovered memories to exist, belief in
repression is not necessary.
For example, women with known histories of abuse have been
studied to determine if they had ever had periods in which the
abuse had been forgotten. The abstract of Linda M. Williams’
1995 study, Recovered memories of abuse in women with documented
child sexual victimization histories. (Journal of Traumatic
Stress, 8,649 — 673, 1995) states:
The study provides evidence that some adults who claimed to have
recovered memories of sexual abuse recall actual events that
occurred in childhood. 129 women with documented histories of
sexual victimization in childhood were interviewed and asked
about abuse history. 17 years following the initial report of
the abuse, 80 of the women recalled the victimization. One in 10
women (16 percent 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 account of the abuse were compared to
the reports from the early 1970s.
None of the women in this study who had forgotten the abuse were
in therapy at the time they began to remember again, and women's
memories, when they returned, were consistent with the actual
abuse.

FACT: Charles L. Whitfield, M.D. performed a review of 36
studies on over 6,000 children and adults who were abused as
children. His results showed that between 16 and 78% of subjects
in these studies experienced partial to total amnesia for their
abuse for some substantial amount of time. Most of the subjects
had been sexually abused as children. Eight of these studies
involved only subjects with fully corroborated abuse histories,
four had to a corroboration rate of 60 to 80 percent, and four
had ...

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