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Ethics & Behavior
Vol. 8, No. 2, 1998
Symposium: Science and Politics of Recovered Memories
Reviewed by Linda Chapman
A special issue of Ethics & Behavior has been published (Vol. 8, No. 2, 1998).
The theme is "The Science and Politics of Recovered Memory,"
and it is based on a program chaired by Gerald Koocher of Harvard
Medical School at the APA convention.
This program was also tape recorded and copies of the tape are
available from Sidran (ordering details follow). I have heard this
tape, and it's a wonderful assemblage of voices.
Reading the printed word in the special edition of Ethics & Behavior, paper after paper, is uplifting and inspiring. The
participants in this symposium are people of courage and fortitude,
and as they speak eloquently to the issues of the day, it becomes crystal
clear that this "memory war," as Anna Salter asserts, "...Is not
an academic debate at all; It is a political fight." (p. 121). I'll
leave Salter and the other authors to explain what the fight is about, and why: It's a fascinating analysis, and not to be missed by anyone who cares about abused children, the adult survivors they become, and about those
mental health professionals who would dare reach out to them in compassion.
Jump to ordering information
Selected Quotes
"...Skilled, thoughtful, well-trained clinicians are too often tarred
with the same brush that should be reserved for the quacks of psychotherapy. Not
surprisingly, the most vocal attempts to silence competent professionals
speaking out on or treating genuine abuse victims have come from organizations
populated or led by individuals who have been ruled abusive or otherwise
discredited in courts of law."
-- Gerry Koocher, Chair
JENNIFER J. FREYD, PH.D., is a full professor in the
Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon.
She is the author of the acclaimed book, "Betrayal Trauma: The
Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse." She writes:
"Despite this documentation for both traumatic amnesia and
essentially accurate delayed recall, memory science is often
presented as if it supports the view that traumatic amnesia is very
unlikely or perhaps impossible and that a great many, perhaps a
majority, maybe even all, recovered memories of abuse are
false....Yet no research supports such an implication...and a great
deal of research supports the premise that forgetting sexual abuse
is fairly common and that recovered memories are sometimes
essentially true." Science in the Memory Debate, p. 107
ANNA SALTER, PH.D., is a psychologist in Madison,
Wisconsin. In 1988, she began a study of the accuracy of expert
testimony in child sexual abuse cases utilizing psychologist Ralph
Underwager and his wife and practice partner, Hollida Wakefield,
as a case study. (Underwager is a co-founder of the False Memory
Syndrome Foundation who resigned after making statements to a
Dutch magazine in which he advocated pedophilia. See
this article for
background.) Salter writes:
"The people who support and defend those accused of child sexual
abuse indiscriminately, those who join organizations dedicated to
defending people who are accused of child sexual abuse with no
screening whatsoever to keep out those who are guilty as charged,
are...not necessarily people engaged in an objective search for the
truth. Some of them can and do use deceit, trickery, misstated
research, harassment, intimidation, and charges of laundering
federal money to silence their opponents." -- Confessions of a
Whistle Blower: Lessons Learned, p. 122.
JENNIFER A. HOULT earned degrees in harp, computer science
and religion, pursued a career in Artificial Intelligence Software
Engineering, and later returned to a career in music. In 1988, she
filed a civil suit against her father - a member of the False Memory
Syndrome Foundation - (J. Hoult v. D.P. Hoult), whom she alleged
had sexually abused her throughout her childhood. In 1993, this
case was unanimously decided in her favor, and she was awarded
monetary damages. However, Hoult has seen the facts of her case
twisted and misreported in the media and by FMS proponents. She
writes:
"Since 1995, I have become aware of the parallel between the
intimidation and silencing in the microcosm of the abusive family
and in the macrocosm of a society that is ill at ease in dealing with
the abuse of children. During my childhood my father protected
himself from being held accountable by threatening me into
silence. I believe that published documents demonstrate how some
members and supporters of false memory groups publish false
statements that defame and intimidate victims of proven violence
and their supporters. Such altered accounts are used to discredit
others in court and in the press." -- Silencing the Victim: The
Politics of Discrediting Child Abuse Survivors, p. 125.
ROSS E. CHEIT is a professor in the Department of Political
Science, Brown University. Cheit, who as an adult recovered
memories of abuse by a camp counselor, has established an
archive of _corroborated cases_ of recovered memories
here.
From the Abstract of Cheit's article:
"Some self-proclaimed skeptics of recovered memory claim that
traumatic childhood events simply cannot be forgotten at the time
only to be remembered later in life. This claim has been made
repeatedly by the Advisory Board members of a prominent
advocacy group for parents accused of sexual abuse, the so-called
False Memory Syndrome Foundation. The research project
described in this article identifies and documents the growing
number of cases that have been ignored or distorted by such
skeptics. To date, this project has documented 35 cases in which
recovered memories of traumatic childhood events were
corroborated by clear and convincing evidence." False
Representations About True Cases of Recovered Memory. (p. 141)
(Note: The archive now has 45 corroborated cases.)
DAVID L. CALOF is a respected therapist in Seattle,
Washington, and founder and editor emeritus of the professional
journal Treating Abuse Today. His latest book is "The Couple Who
Became Each Other: Stories of Healing and Transformation From a
Leading Hypnotherapist." Despite the fact that he has never treated
any relative of a member of the False Memory Syndrome
Foundation, and for more than 25 years practiced without a single
ethics complaint or lawsuit, proponents of false memory syndrome
waged an intensive three-year war of harassment against him and
his practice. His patients often had to cross a picket line just to get
to their therapy appointments; He was forced to move his office
several times; His attorney's wife and family were harassed, and he
spent many thousands of dollars defending bogus lawsuits. He
writes:
"Psychotherapy clients require privacy and confidentiality, not
assault by offensive signs, threats by camera, stigma, or breach of
privacy. They do not benefit from ad hominem broadsides against
the clinical community. If we condone this new self-styled assault
on psychotherapy in the name of scientific debate or freedom of
speech while we ignore the rights of speech, privacy, and
assembly for patients and clinicians, we might eventually lose the
clinical container of psychotherapy itself to any aggressive third
party who comes along with some ax to grind with the field of
mental health." -- Notes from a Practice Under Siege: Harassment,
Defamation, and Intimidation in the Name of Science, p. 185.
LAURA S. BROWN, PH.D. was named clinical professor of
psychology in 1992 at the University of Washington. Since 1980,
she has maintained a full-time independent practice of clinical and
forensic psychology in Seattle. She has edited three books,
authored a fourth, and co-authored a fifth, and has written 44
journal articles and 35 chapters in professional books, and has
been instrumental in the development of theory in feminist
psychotherapy. She too, has been picketed by pro-fms individuals
in Seattle, Washington.
As symposium discussant, she writes:
"Denial of perpetration is simply not evidence that none has
occurred, because even when there is physical evidence of abuse,
sexual abusers of children may continue to deny that they did
anything....The tactics of the false memory movement have shown
remarkable parallels to those of sexual abusers who attempt to
silence their victims, and I wonder why this is." -- The Prices of
Resisting Silence: Comments on Calof, Cheit, Freyd, Hoult, and
Salter, p. 191.
I strongly urge you to locate this issue in your library, or order a
copy, and share it with survivors and professionals alike. It's
heartening to be reminded that there are people of principle in this
world who care about those who have experienced the trauma of
child abuse, and who are willing to stand on their convictions and
pay a price, if necessary. We can all take a lesson from their
courage of conviction. - Linda Chapman
How to Order
Copies of this special issue may be obtained from the publisher for
$20.00, plus shipping.
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, NJ
Phone: 1-800-9-Books-9
(Single copies: Book Department)
WWW: http://www.erlbaum.com
Fax: 201-236-0072
orders@erlbaum.com
To order the audiotape, contact Sidran's phone at 410-825-8888,
email them at sidran@access.digex.net, or visit the website:
http://www.sidran.org
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Symposium: Science and Politics of Recovered Memories