FMSF 2005 False Memory Syndrom

We received a brief letter this month asking if the memory wars are over. The sender explained that he was a professional writer considering a novel about false recovered memories and wondering if interest in the topic was over; was he too late? "Unfortunately," we wrote back, "it's still

we are amazed at our initial naivete in thinking that the recovered memory phenomenon would be over in just a few years, as soon as people had access to scientific information about memory. Little did we anticipate the lengths to which some would go to avoid listening to that information.

winner last year was Aaron Beck, M.D., also an FMSF advisor. Surely the high level of scholarship of the FMSF Scientific and Professional Advisory Board members helped kindle the changes that we have observed. How do others view the current climate in respect to the

"I agree that the wars have subsided, though not ended. . . Merchants of discredited memory theory prevent the memory wars from being completely extinguished." Elizabeth Loftus (in press). Dispatch from the (un) civil memory wars. Lancet 364.

Elizabeth Loftus Receives Last April, Elizabeth Loftus,

incorporate suggestions about salient events after a single interview." And there can be "significant tainting of reports and production of false beliefs when interviews are only very mildly

the case for his survey. Bader compared the survey data to general population demographics and found that there were some striking differences: most UFO and SRA members were female, white, affluent, and

Chapter 3 pp. 119-149 "I can't believe that!" said Alice. "Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath,

Chapter 3 pp. 119-149 "I can't believe that!" said Alice. "Can't you?" the Queen said in a pitying tone. "Try again: draw a long breath, Alice laughed. "There's no use trying." She said. "One can't believe impossible things."

9. Laurence & Perry, Hypnosis, p. xiii. 10. Baker, They Call It, p. 17, 174. 11. Spanos, "Hypnotic Amnesia," Spanos, "Multiple Identity Enactments." 12. Baker, Hidden Memories, p. 148.

was married and that her husband loves and supports her for who she is no matter how she looks. The letter was signed by her husband and her

A grateful but grieving father Virtues of Past Life Therapy "There are those who cite at least

When 15-year-old Nicole Althaus told a teacher that her father was molesting her,

A satanic ritual abuse course for professionals in California, a Vatican-recognized course on satanism and exorcism, a Church of England recommendation of The

Our own research suggests that isolated episodes of nonviolent, seldomrepeated, nonpenetrative sexual abuse can be forgotten and later remembered *if* the child did not understand what was happening and if the child did not experience the abuse as traumatic (i.e., terrifying). The person

include three groups: current minors whose parents or guardians have not yet filed claims on their behalf, people who don't remember the abuse

prosecutors dropped the case because they felt they "couldn't sustain the burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt." They noted that experts are far apart on the accuracy and validity of recovered memories. Gerald C. Ruter,

from Richard Dawkins to his then 10 year Good Reasons and Bad Reasons

officials are worried about young people who develop their own forms of Satanism and who are not connected with the 650 satanic organizations in Italy that police monitor. Authorities believe that the young people are

by Rosemary Crossley. Not surprisingly, millions of parents latched onto the hope provided by FC. In a few short years, it has become a near-religion. In this technique, a "facilitator," usually a special education teacher,

Robert Baker describes the phenomenon: "First, the hallucinations always occur [just] before or after falling asleep. Second, the hallucinator is paralyzed or has difficulty moving .

Web Sites of Interest comp.uark.edu/~lampinen/read.html

In New Hampshire, the Hungerford criteria[1] for the admission of repressed-memory evidence remain the standard. In the November/December 2004 Newsletter we wrote about a challenge to those criteria that had been raised

articles that push the frontiers of knowledge about false memories. New articles from Richard McNally's lab at Harvard provide insight into the cognitive processes of people who are more likely to develop false memories: many of them show poor source monitoring and many have had experiences with sle

with a huge background of information, both professional and personal. For example, one reviewer wrote that Beck "organizes a meeting with her alert nonagenarian father."[3] FMSF readers will likely see the event as described in the book as an incredible and cruel confrontation. The reviewer does no

FMSF readers will likely see the event as described in the book as an incredible and cruel confrontation. The reviewer does not explain that this "meeting" was planned with deception. Beck asked a cousin who visited her father frequently to suggest going for a drive. When her father was in the car,

The good news is that the national media continue to present accurate information about memory. An outstanding example was a recent CNN series in March featuring many outstanding memory researchers. (See box below.) The last decade's gains in public and professional

"The dominant view is that the neurocircuitry underlying my memory... is widely distributed throughout the brain... So the visual memory of what things look like might be stored much closer to the visual association area

readers, however, will likely see it from a different perspective: the book includes a description of deliberate deception and a cruel confrontation. Beck, a life coach, is the author of

recovered, or continuous memories of childhood sexual abuse. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114 (1). 147-152. Poor source monitoring has been

who scored high on a dissociation questionnaire showed memory deficits for trauma words in an experiment in which they viewed the words under divided attention conditions.

in which a man convinced his wife, therapist, and apparently himself that he was experiencing excruciating flashbacks to his imprisonment in a Vietcong bamboo case. After he committed suicide, his widow tried to locate his official military record and discovered that he had never been in Vietnam.

Unfortunately, those seeking help for severe anxiety disorders are frequently

Newsletter, Jan. 1996, p. 11. 79. Whitfield, Healing…Continued, Tape 1. 80. Lenore Terr on Maury Povich Show, May 25, 1994; Pope, "Recovered Memories," p. 5. 81. Rader, "Incest and Eating Disorders."

We are delighted to let you know that Robin Mewes, who has been missing for 15 years, has been found safe and sound by the Illinois police. (See p. 3) A terrified Robin disappeared in 1990 after a therapist convinced her that her

case study published by Corwin and Olafson [2] after widespread claims were circulated that the study proved that people could repress and then recover accurate memories of abuse. Loftus and Guyer arrived at a very different conclusion, but before they could publish their results, an ethical complai

2. Corwin, D.L. & 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, 91-112. 3. Loftus, E.F. & Guyer, M.J.(2002, May/June, July/August). Who

5. If you have come across the work of Alice Miller, you will know that she is one…(2005, April 20). Guardian Features Pages. The Guardian (UK), 12. 6. Miller, A. (1981). The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the

We extend a very special "Thank you" to all of the people who help prepare the FMSF Newsletter. Editorial Support: Janet Fetkewicz, Howard Fishman, Peter Freyd, Members of

sessions using the drugs. [91] In fact, Amytal interviews are even more likely than simple hypnosis to produce confabulations. The barbiturates do not magically enhance memory. Like hypnosis, they simply render the subject more relaxed and suggestible. According to psychiatrist

had been "kind of depressed" for a few months, and that her marital sex life had worsened. At the end of the first session, the therapist suggested that she might have been sexually abused

The Day Care Ritual Abuse

The Day Care Ritual Abuse McFarland & Co., 2004

of the day care ritual abuse cases uses the symbols of the "vulnerable child," the "menacing devil," and the "psychological trauma model" to examine the social stresses that fueled the phenomenon during the 1980s. The author notes ways in which this moral panic

insights and new perspectives on familiar issues and cases. "The day care ritual abuse moral panic was little more than a late-modern version of a very old, and very familiar

the boar's teeth picture caused her to recover memories of being sexually assaulted as a teen and to develop post-traumatic stress disorder. Although Woo apologized, the

"While we recognize the benefit from allowing therapists to diagnose and treat victims of sexual and physical abuse as children, no utility can be derived from protecting careless or

Successful Strategies in Fighting Moral Panics: American and Jeffrey S. Victor, Ph.D.

Pamela Freyd, Director of the American False Memory Syndrome Foundation, what helped most in fighting false accusations. Her response follows: "I think one of the most important aspects of the inroads that were made

not name the radical FMS spokesman. The "misrepresentation" by Prime Time Live included the scene in its program "Devilish Deeds," January 7, 1993, where Dr. Hammond said that therapists are not responsible for verifying the information they teach in workshops.

Thursday June 25, 1992, at the Radisson Plaza Hotel, Mark Center, Alexandria, Virginia. Sponsored by the Center for Abuse Recovery & Empowerment, The Psychiatric Institute of

6. In the Greenbaum speech, Dr. Hammond says: "I would take your entire Greek alphabet and, with ideomotor signals, go through the alphabet and say, 'Is there any programming inside associated with epsilon, omicron,' and go on

March/April 2004, Vol. 13 No. 2 as leading to the quick resolution of the lawsuit Ms Gale filed. It was settled in her favor, even before depositions had been taken, for $7.5 Million. Dr. Hammond's share was $175,000. 8. For more excerpts see FMSF Newsletter, Vol 3

No. 3, March 8, 1994. 9. Deseret News, The, November 21, 1991, page B1. The task force, in fact, was not disbanded 10. (Op cit) In the course of the story it becomes

2. See FMSF Newsletter Vol. 10(1). 3. See FMSF Newsletter Vol. 10(4). "If the plaintiff establishes a reasonable likelihood that the records contain information regarding negligent

3. See FMSF Newsletter Vol. 10(4). "If the plaintiff establishes a reasonable likelihood that the records contain information regarding negligent treatment, the circuit court must proceed to conduct an in camera review

"If the plaintiff establishes a reasonable likelihood that the records contain information regarding negligent treatment, the circuit court must proceed to conduct an in camera review regardless of the victim's lack of consent...[T]his case presents a claim that

We thank you greatly for your timely response to our annual appeal and for your kind words. Your help with this necessary task, in addition to the help of a loyal volunteer,

reached a point of being almost sure that he would never see his daughter again, but then he was pleased to be able to send us an "Afterword." It's challenging to balance "hope" with the need to go on with life. The letters from readers have offered a road map for families over the years.

2. Send your email to: mail@FMSFonline.org. Be sure to put something about FMSF in the subject header so it does not get trapped in a 3. For more information about the Illinois-Wisconsin group survey go to:

illustrates how Ted made new friends and how his creativity continually led to new insights into the human condition. Just as Martin Orne laid the basis for our understanding of hypnotic confabulations, and Elizabeth Loftus showed how false memories are constructed, Ted Sarbin established the

"In every case he knew about, MPD was caused by terrifying childhood traumatic experiences which prompted the mind to fracture, some parts absorbing the pain, other parts surviving by separating themselves from it,

Imagery, November 3-6, 2005 in serious problem at the far end of dissociation. The good news is that it's not like certain other disorders, manic

Identity of Sybil Revealed The best-selling book Sybil was published in 1973. That book and the 1976 movie starring Sally Field as

"Mediation, joint therapy" "Support of therapist for parents, contact, open to mediation, stopped paying for daughter's therapy"

"Accuser left therapy, husband

"Wife maintaining contact" "Gifts to grandchildren" "Contact, low-key approach"

"Agreeing not to talk about accusation but doing so anyway" "Letters pointing out absurdity" "Factual confrontation" "Explained by phone and mail that it

"Factual confrontation" "Explained by phone and mail that it Influence of books, information,

that wrongly charged 43 people. The city refused to turn over all of the records and prevailed in the trial. The records came to light in a separate case in 2002 and showed that Perez was suffering from a serious mental disability during the period of the investigations. In 2003, a judge ruled that