September/October 2005

A true or false question:
False memory syndrome and recovered memories

By Lisa Turner

When Martha Beck's book Leaving the Saints was published last spring, it met with a mix of praise and vehement denials. Critics included her family, members of the Mormon Church, even anonymous letter writers on her website ("You are a disgusting piece of filthy garbage," "I will smile the day you burn in hell..."). Her more articulate detractors claim that Beck's allegations of childhood sexual abuse are wholly false. Beck says she didn't come forward with her accusations for decades because she didn't remember her abuse; critics say that's because it never happened.

There is currently a fierce debate among mental health professionals, attorneys and the lay public regarding the phenomenon of recovered memories. One of the more vocal groups questioning recovered memories is the False Memory Foundation Society, based in Philadelphia. The Foundation was formed in 1992 by a combination of professionals and parents who had been accused of sexual abuse by their children. According to the foundation, they have been contacted by thousands of families in the U.S. and Canada who believe their children have what they call false memory syndrome (FMS).

According to the foundation, "As scientists and practitioners, it is our clear understanding of the scientific literature that traumatic events are typically remembered well by those who experience them and that emotional and physiological arousal tends to enhance memory for these events—it does not, as some recovered memory theorists suggest, lead to trauma-related amnesia for entire events. Adults and children who develop PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) almost always suffer from intrusive memories of the traumatic events that gave rise to the disorder... In other words, there is no convincing empirical evidence for the theory that trauma survivors truly Œrepress' and then later Œrecover' memories of events that were experienced as traumatic at the time."

The foundation believes that some people who say they've recovered repressed memories of childhood abuse are suffering from false memory syndrome. "Some memories are true, some are a mix of fact and fantasy, and some are false, whether continuous or recovered," says Pamela Freyd, Ph.D., one of the foundation's founders. "The only real way to discover Œtruth' is through some kind of external corroboration." The theory is that some therapists, in an attempt to "recover" buried memories of childhood abuse, engage their clients in such techniques as hypnosis, regression therapies, guided imagery, body memories, dream interpretation and journaling. These techniques are thought to sometimes create what the foundation calls "disturbing fantasies" and wholly inaccurate portrayals of events that never happened.

"When you start using these techniques, they totally contaminate the whole situation," Freyd says. "During these therapies, people are in a suggestible state and things can get mixed up and muddled. Even if a memory is true, it becomes so contaminated that you can never tell what the real truth is." Additionally, there has been the suggestion that some therapists plant "memories" in the minds of their vulnerable and suggestible clients.

The foundation and its supporters say deeply troubling events aren't likely to be forgotten. For example, in the case of victims of post traumatic stress disorder—such as those who were in Nazi concentration camps or were tortured as POWs—traumatic events aren't forgotten; rather, they create intrusive and vivid memories that plague victims, forcing them to relive the trauma throughout their lives. The foundation believes that real incest survivors never forget their traumas.

Elizabeth Loftus, Ph.D., a cognitive psychologist at the University of Washington, is a respected and prolific researcher in the area of memory; she is also a member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation's advisory board. Loftus notes that research consistently shows that few adults remember anything that happened to them before they were four years old, and that earlier "memories" are likely false. She also notes that even if a memory could be repressed, its "unrepressed" version would not necessarily be accurate. Further, Loftus believes that, besides therapists suggesting abuse to clients, popular writings and self-help books also contribute to false memories.

However, other experts claim that early traumas are routinely forgotten because the victims—mostly children—suffer from traumatic memory loss, also referred to as dissociative amnesia. The evidence is compelling, and has some basis in early psychotherapy. According to Freud, people who undergo extreme trauma banish memories of the event to prevent overwhelming anxiety. In the 19th century, French psychologist Pierre Janet found evidence that trauma victims lost memories of all or part of the trauma; during intense emotional experiences, the traumatic memories appear to be split off from ordinary consciousness and repressed.
"It seems pretty clear that in cases of trauma, memory can be repressed," says Lois Talbot Flaherty, M.D, chair of APA's Council on Children, Adolescents and Their Families. "The general agreement is that if there's a single traumatic event, people have trouble forgetting it. But if you have chronic trauma and repeated events, as usually happens in abuse, you develop a way of coping that involves a dissociative response. People who are in abuse situations seem to be able to shut off the whole experience from their awareness."

Additionally, the phenomenon of repressed memories has been recognized by a number of medical authorities and organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Medical Association and the American Psychological Association.
The DSM-IVr (the revised fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the foremost diagnostic manual of the mental health profession) recognizes the existence of dissociative amnesia and dissociative identity disorder; these conditions (which refer to what we call "repression") describe a fragmenting of the brain during trauma, leading to an inability to remember some or all of the event.

According to the APA, "In the presence of severe or prolonged stress, people may suffer significant impairment of the retention, recall and accuracy of memories."

The American Medical Association's Council on Scientific Affairs issued a report confirming cases of amnesia resulting from childhood sexual abuse, in which the "recovered memories proved to be correct." And a report from an American Psychological Association group investigating memories of childhood abuse notes that "it is possible for memories of abuse that have been forgotten for a long time to be remembered."

Regarding so-called "implanted memories"—those that have been suggested to an unwitting, highly suggestible client by his or her therapist—there is evidence that people are not as gullible as some would have us believe. Studies have noted that people can be misled to believe that they saw a certain color or witnessed a certain series of events. But no studies have found that the adult mind can be swayed to believe that fictional events truly happened. In one study, for example, researchers failed to convince subjects that they had experienced rectal enemas as children.

And while Loftus' work is thorough and highly regarded, she does not deal specifically with issues of abuse; even so, her findings have been grossly generalized. Since her studies simulate traumatic events, critics argue that test subjects don't have the same kind of mind-numbing terror experienced in real trauma; additionally, a controlled study environment is very different from the often-chaotic surroundings common to traumatic events.

The False Memory Syndrome Foundation is surrounded by some controversy as well. There is no mention of "false memory syndrome" in the DSM-IVr; the term was coined by the foundation. The foundation itself was initially made up of a group of parents, mainly fathers, whose adult daughters accused them of childhood sexual abuse. And one of its founders and prominent members, Ralph Underwager, was quoted in 1993 in the Dutch pedophile magazine Paidika as saying that pedophilia could be a responsible choice, that "Pedophiles can boldly and courageously affirm what they choose. They can say that what they want is to find the best way to love... With boldness they can say, ŒI believe this is in fact part of God's will.'"

The truth is that "truth" may be more subjective than any of us care to recognize. The APA's position holds that "psychotherapy focuses on the patient's perceived experience, and does not customarily search for proof of veracity of memories... treatment may focus on assisting patients in coming to their own conclusions about the accuracy of their memories, or in adapting to uncertainty regarding what actually happened." In the final analysis, it seems, our memories are what we say they are.