False Memory Syndrome -Part - III

By kaylar, 14th Sep 2011 | Follow this author | RSS Feed | Short URL http://nut.bz/34k9h9_p/
Posted in Wikinut>Health>Mind & Spirit>Alzheimer's & Memory

The third part in a series analysing False Memory Syndrome

A recent paper published in American Psychologist
The Courts
What is it?
A Very Sad Example
Its Something to Consider
In Real Cases..
Why?

A recent paper published in American Psychologist

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"A relatively recent set of claims hold that many therapists-for reasons as diverse as well-meaning naiveté, greed, incompetence, and zealotry-suggest a history of childhood sexual abuse to clients who have no actual abuse history."

Thus begins the paper by Kenneth S. Pope

He goes on to explain how clients uncritically accept suggestions and come to believe illusory memories of abuse with great conviction, and subsequently suffer from an iatrogenic disorder termed false memory syndrome .

In 1992 the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was created and has had a profound impact on psychological science and practice.

The Courts

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The number of successful cases brought against therapists;, State v. Warnberg , (1994), State against Herman (1994), State against Landsberg (1996a, 1996b) are just the more famous ones.

It was the successful termination of these cases which exposed False Memory, not the medical profession. Not the psychiatric community,, but the law courts.

The case of 'Viv' discussed in the previous article was one of the most important.

What is it?

Dr. Kihlstrom

John Kihlstrom, describes it as;

a condition in which a person's identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a memory of traumatic experience which is objectively false but in which the person strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by false memories as such. We all have memories that are inaccurate. Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply engrained that it orients the individual's entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behaviors. The analogy to personality disorder is intentional. False Memory Syndrome is especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids confrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own, encapsulated, and resistant to correction. The person may become so focused on the memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with the real problems in his or her life.

A Very Sad Example

victim

Harriet, who is in her late 50s will describe being abused by her sister 'her whole life'

She will describe beatings, sexual assault, and an attempt at suicide made when she was 15 to 'escape'. She is so insistent, so single minded in her recountation, she is almost believable.

She describes her suicide attempt in vivid detail. How she opened the window, opened the screen, stood upon the ledge and jumped.

Her report conflicts with the official ones given to the police and by the hospital when she was brought in.

The first statement given to the police was by the woman on the first floor who heard the screen crash to the ground. This woman looked out, saw Harriet, grabbed a blanket, told her husband to call the police, and raced out.

As she covered Harriet with the blanket came the words; "What are you doing in my bedroom?"

The police, armened with the statement went to the apartment, found a very low wide window right next to Harriet's bed. The window was flush with the wall. There was no ledge.

The doctors reported that Harriet was either asleep or unconscious when she hit the ground as she had not tensed her body.

The psychiatrists found no evidence of suicide, ruled accident, and allowed Harriet to go home for weekends during the physico therapy. She seemed to have a very good relationship with her family and at the end of therapy was discharged to her family.

For the next four years there were no incidents, then her sister married and moved a few miles away. Harriet visited every week until her sister and husband moved a few thousand miles away. Then there were phone calls and letters which ended when Harriet was 31.

At that age, Harriet attended a psychotherapist because she was sexually confused.

The psychotherapist found that Harriet had been abused by her sister which is why she tried to commit suicide.

The facts of the police and medical report were not canvassed, nor did the Therapist even glance at the building to note there was no ledge.

The therapist did not even interview the family.

Hence Harriet's life, since the age of 31 has been shaped by this 'abuse' which never happened. And can be proved to have never happened.

Its Something to Consider

infallible

For many years people considered psychiatrists/psychologists virtually infalliable.
One didn't question, few had the money or impetus to visit another therapist.
The vast majority of patients accept the diagnosis as absolute.

In actual cases of abuse there is a clear 'history'. The child's behaviour changes, there is a report of some kind, the child doesn't want to go to a certain place where the abuser is or betrays something in words or actions.

The average parent can see the child walk in the door and know something is wrong, even if it is only failing algebra. Hence how is it that people like Viv or Harriet lived thirty years of their lives with no one ever knowing that 'something' happened?
Without them knowing?

It isn't just in this one aspect that the psychiatric branch of medicine has been called into question.

Many people who attend therapy ponder how is it they never get better. How is it that they have to keep attending week after week with very little to show for it save a reducing credit balance?

In Real Cases..

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In real cases of abuse the person recognises it as a child and comes to terms with it, and moves on. Either they do it on their own, or they do it with the help of therapy, but they move on.

The only time one might know something happened to the adult is when she is called upon to speak of it at a public function, or mentions it in reference to someone else. It is not the centre piece of her life, it is not the first words out of her mouth, it is something that happened in the past, and stays in the past.

To use if to 'define' ones self is an indication it is probably a false memory. To use the terms; "I know what I know" is more to convince self than others who are not persuaded by such 'reasoning'.

Why?

the mind

It is easier to blame 'them' some force outside of one's self for failings. When one feels inferior or not as successful, it is far simplier to find some 'not me' explanation.

Since sexual abuse is so prevalent this season, that is in the forefront of the minds of many therapists.

Where the father is rarely there, the mother a peripheral figure, one may find a sibling as a useful 'abuser'. Failing that, there are always neighbours, baby-sitters, anyone who was in contact with the child is a possible suspect.

In Viv's case, the father was useful, in Harriet's case, it was the sister. The absence of cogent outside evidence and the reluctance to investigate by the therapist are key factors in the creation of a false memory in someone who needs an excuse.

All of us have stray false memories of things that didn't happen.

For example, the child playing make-believe pirate may, as an adult, remember being on something that resembles the Black Pearl.

This is the mind supplying the images.

Parents may tell the child a story in such a way that the child believes it happened, such as the 'Lost in the Mall' example.

Because it is a stray memory, because no part of one's life is based on it, there is no negative effect.

This is contrasted with the vulnerable person who puts herself in the hands of a therapist who does not take a proper history who does not investigae but let's a 'I know what I know' suffice, doing more harm than good.