recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. outline background information prevalence of childhood...

Recovered Memories of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Outline Background information

Prevalence of childhood sexual abuse

Recovered memory therapy

The case against RMT

Professional consensus on recovered memories

Directions for future research

Background information

1988-1993 - epidemic of childhood sexual abuse accusations and court cases based on recovered memories, some of which were very bizarre.

Alleged perpetrators successfully sued by their children who used recovered memories as their primary source of evidence.

Debate about between RM therapists and experimental psychologists about whether recovered memories are accurate representations of the past or illusory memories created during therapy.

Who are the accusers?*

92% are female

74% are between ages 31 and 50

31% have at least some post-secondary education

60% report having memories of abuse stemming from events occurring prior to age 4

*Based on statistics from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation

What types of accusations are commonly made?*

62% accuse their fathers of abuse.

30% accuse both mother and father of abuse.

18% make allegations of satanic or ritualistic abuse.

*Based on statistics from the False Memory Syndrome Foundation

Outline Background information

Prevalence of childhood sexual abuse

Recovered memory therapy

The case against RMT

Professional consensus on recovered memories

Directions for future research

Prevalence of Childhood Sexual Abuse

Prevalence estimates vary considerably across studies.

Burnam (1985) - 6%

Wyatt (1985) - 62%

Recovered Memory Therapy (RMT)

Theoretical Basis for RMT

Freud and Repression

Emotionally threatening experiences (e.g.,CSA) are banished to the unconscious.

Memories are potentially recoverable from unconscious, if anxiety associated with the memory is removed

Popular Books

“The Courage to Heal” (Ellen Bass & Laura Davis, 1988)

“Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and its Aftereffects in Women” (E. Sue Blume, 1990)

RMT movement argue…

(1) CSA is very common.

(2) Memories of CSA are often repressed.

(3) Common forms of physical and psychological distress are often symptomatic of CSA.

(4) Individuals who exhibit symptoms should attempt to recover their abuse memories.

What happens in Recovered Memory Therapy?

Visit therapistfor unrelated

reason

Therapistsuggestssym tom s

resem ble thoseof previousRM S clients

Sessions torecover

repressedm em ories

(visualisation,hypnosis,

journalling, etc.)

In itia llysceptical c lient

becom esconvinced he or

she wasabused

Recovery (orreconstruction)

of repressedm em ories

(often very vividand intense)

1 2 3 4 5

Recovery Techniques

Remember childhood event, and attempt link abuse to that event

Link abuse to family photographs

View horror films depicting sexual violence

Massage (body memories)

Stream of consciousness journaling

Hypnotic regression

Evidence for repression?

Williams (1994) interviewed 129 adults who, as children, were taken to emergency rooms for abuse-related injuries.

Two decades later, 20 indicated that they could not remember their hospitalization.

Williams found that those who had be most severely abused were more likely to have forgotten the experience.

Outline Background information about the debate

Prevalence of childhood sexual abuse

Recovered memory therapy

The case against RMT

Professional consensus on recovered memories

Directions for future research

The case against RMT

Evidence against repression

Empirical demonstrations of the creation of false memories.

Evidence Against Repression Individuals often have “recurrent, intrusive

thoughts” about traumatic events (e.g., PTSD symptoms).

Holmes (1990) review of 60 years of repression research. All studies supporting the repression concept were

flawed. No controlled laboratory studies support the

existence of repression.

Demonstrations of implanted false memories

Roediger & McDermott (1995)

Lost in a shopping mall (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995)

Lost in a shopping mall study (Loftus & Pickrell, 1995)

Goal: To instill a false memory for a mildly traumatic event using techniques similar to those used in RMT.

Reminiscence game technique.

Memoryimplantedby oldersibling

S recallsgeneralfeelings

aboutbeing lost

S recallsconversing

withmother

after beingfound

Recallsadditional

detailsabout manwho found

him

Day 1 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5

Recallsspecificstores inmall and

conversationwith man

Day 6

Results from 14 year old subject

Evidence against implantation of “implausible” false memories

Pezdek and Hodge (1999)

Sample = 39 children aged 5 to 12

Used a procedure similar to Loftus & Pickrell (1995) to compare the ease with which “plausible” and “implausible” memories could be implanted.

Results (Pezdek & Hodge, 1999)

0

5

10

15

20

25

PlausibleOnly

Both

Number of participants who recalled false events.

Implausible Only

Neither

Problems with Pezdek

Ss in Pezdek’s were asked to try to recall memories over a 3-day period. RMT often goes on for months or years.

Research by Ceci suggests that the longer people think about “non-events” the more likely they are to believe them.

Problems with Pezdek Pezdek assumes that people do not have

well-developed scripts for implausible events such as CSA and ritualistic abuse.

But… many people in RMT are encouraged to read abuse self-help books, which will facilitate the development of such scripts.

How exactly are false memories created anyway?

Heightened client suggestibility combined with bad therapy.

Source confusion

Heightened Suggestibility

IllusoryMemory

Long delaybetween

event andrecall

Source ofmisinformationperceived to be

credible

Use ofhypnosis orrelaxation

techniques

IndividualDifferences

HeightenedSuggestibility

+

BadTherapy

Source Confusion

TrueMemories

ImaginingsFalse

Memories

Key areas of consensus in the recovered memory debate.

Most psychologists agree…

CSA occurs at an unacceptably high level within society.

Satanic and ritualistic abuse is very rare.

CSA is positively correlated with psychopathology in adults.

Most psychologists also agree…

Most people who are victims of CSA remember all or part of what happened to them.

Continuous memories of CSA are likely to be accurate.

Memories of abuse from early infancy are highly unreliable (“infantile amnesia”).

And most psychologists also agree…

It is possible to implant false memories using techniques similar to those used in RMT.

False memories can be incredibly vivid.

The confidence with which one holds a memory is not predictive of the accuracy of that memory.

It is impossible to separate accurate from inaccurate memories if RMT has been used.

Recovered memories of abuse are not reliable evidence that abuse has actually occurred.

Future research is needed to…

Determine which therapeutic techniques put clients most at risk for developing false memories.

Determine which techniques are most effective in recovering accurate memories.

Understand the impact of trauma on memory processes.

Determine which types of people are most susceptible to memory suggestion, and why?