Transcript Recovered vs. False Memories

Recovered vs. False
Memories
Presented by: Luise Liebig
November 1st, 2005
The Debate
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“Debate centers on the question of whether
many clients are amnesic for histories of
CSA and whether memory work
(techniques used to recover suspected
hidden histories of childhood traumas) can
lead people who were not sexually abused
as children to believe that they were.”
(Lindsay, D. S., Read, J. D.)
Historical Background
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Late 19th century: Hysteria
Sigmund Freud vs. Pierre Janet
1950: Kinsey’s research
Late 1970’s: Women’s movement
1980: Viet Nam war and PTSD
Research on Dissociative Disorder
Recovered Memories
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Symptoms of sexual child abuse (CSA)
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Posttraumatic stress
Emotional effects
Self-perception
Physical effects
Sexual effects
Interpersonal relations and functioning
Social effects and functioning
Recovered Memories
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CSA victims and psychological disorders
Seek treatment
Recovery of memory of CSA
Use of defense mechanisms to cope with
trauma leads to interference in memory
processes
Evidence
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33% of women with CSA history
50% of victims without conscious memory
Victims are very likely to seek treatment
Memory research
What role does therapist play in induction
of memory?
False Memories
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No established guidelines for memory work
Techniques used to recover memories
Percentage of victims that experienced
repeated, incestuous CSA
Evidence
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Core of highly salient events tend to be well
remembered
Criteria for “diagnosing” CSA
Reliability of therapists
Patients’ openness to suggestion
Bernheim (1884/1889), Loftus (1993)
How valuable is recovery of memories?
Graduate Studies
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Elizabeth F. Loftus, Ph.D.
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Karmen Bleile, Ph.D.
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University of California, Irvine – Human Memory
Ph.D. in Psychology and Social Behavior
Acadia University – Attention and Memory
Honours Degree in Psychology
Carole Peterson, Ph.D.
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Memorial University – Children’s memory for stressful
events
References
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Alpert, J. L., Brown, L. S., & Courtois, C. A. (1998). Symptomatic Clients And
meories Of Childhood Abuse: What the Trauma and Child Sexual Abuse
Literature tells us. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 4 (4), 941-995.
Courtois, C. A. (2001). Commentary on “Guided Imagery and Memory”:
Additional Considerations. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 48 (2), 133-135.
Farrants, J. (1998). The “False Memory” Debate: a critical review of the
research on recovered memories of child sexual abuse. Counselling
Psychology Quarterly, 11 (3), 229-238.
Lindsay, D. S., & Read, J. D. (1995). Memory Work And Recovered Memories
Of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Scientific Evidence and Public, Professional, and
Personal Issues. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 1 (4), 846-908.
Madill, A., & Holch, P. (2004). A Range of Memory Possibilities: The Challenge
of the False Memory Debate for Clinicians and Researchers. Clinical
Psychology and Psychotherapy, 11, 299-310.
Rosen, G. M., Sageman, M., & Loftus, E. F. (2004). A Historical Note on False
Traumatic Memories. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 60 (1), 137-139.