Keyword: False memories

Pendergrast, Mark; A victim of memory recalls; Unknown
After his children 'remembered' in therapy that he had abused them, Mark Pendergrast helped sound the alert about false memory syndrome in the USA.
He wrote Victims of Memory: incest accusations and shattered lives.
[...]
The recovered memory epidemic was just the most virulent and destructive in a long line of pseudoscientific psychological fads. Unless we change the way we approach messing with one another's minds, we will repeat the past, including its witch hunts, in other forms in the future. Right now, I am deeply concerned over the repeated questioning of young children who are bullied into 'disclosing' fictional abuse, even though they denied that it took place initially.
Fitzpatrick, Michael; The memories linger on; LM
Dr Michael Fitzpatrick asks why the professional reaction against this psychotherapeutic irrationality has been so slow and so muted.
The Brandon report is widely regarded as the final nail in the coffin of the recovered memory movement. Published in April this year in the form of an article: 'Recovered memories of child sexual abuse: implications for clinical practice', British Journal of Psychiatry, 172, S Brandon, J Boakes, D Glazer and R Green, the committee chaired by professor Sydney Brandon is categorical in its condemnation of the theory and practice of the movement.
Brandon's conclusion is that 'there is no evidence to support the wholesale forgetting of repeated experiences of abuse, nor of single episodes of brutality or sadistic assault, apart from the normal experience of infantile amnesia'.
[...]
The Brandon report notes that a significant proportion of abused children grow up to become well-adjusted adults, and that there is no evidence that childhood abuse leads to any specific pattern of symptoms in adults, or that recovering memories of abuse helps to alleviate such symptoms (indeed there is much evidence to the contrary).
Furthermore, the report insists that 'no evidence exists for the repression and recovery of verified, severely traumatic events, and their role in symptom formation has yet to be proved'.
Giordano, Kevin; False memory syndrome: As women bring lawsuits, therapists are having to pay for their mistakes.
Valerie decided to enter therapy. ...
By the end of the first hypnotherapy session, Jenks came to believe that she'd been sexually abused not only by her family but also by friends and strangers. ...
Over the course of six months, Jenks was led through a series of so-called repressed childhood memories that included specific details of being sexually molested. ...
The doctor then drew out further memories, including one of her being a member of her grandparents' satanic cult. She was led to believe she had helped torture and kill babies and children. ...
Anonymous; No Thanks for the Memories
Repressed Memory Therapy (RMT) is based on the theory that certain dysfunctional behaviors and mental illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, bulimia, sexual inhibition, and anorexia, stem from childhood traumas such as physical or, more commonly, sexual abuse. In patients who exhibit no known history of trauma, but display severe behavior dysfunction, RMT uses a variety of techniques to "recover" a repressed memory of physical or sexual abuse. ...
Many RMT clients recalled memories of being forced into sexual acts, engaging in cannibal-ism, brutally slaughtering of animals for sacrifice, and even being coerced into allegedly murdering children or babies as part of cult rituals.
Clancy, Susan A.; The Trauma Myth - Susan Clancy - The Book; 257 pp
Consensual, non-violent/not overtly coercive sexual activity involving adults and minors, contrary to popular belief, does NOT normally cause trauma to young people - even when engaged it at a very early age. Susan Clancy demonstrates this through her research, but fails to reach this (obvious) conclusion in her text.
This file gives some comments and reviews present in Ipce's library, as well as a link to the .PDF version of the book.
McNally, Richard J., & Geraerts Elke; A New Solution to the Recovered Memory Debate; Perspectives on Psychological Science 2009; 4(2), 126-134
The controversy regarding recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) has been characterized by two perspectives.
[1] According to one perspective, some people repress their memories of abuse because these experiences have been so emotionally traumatic, and they become capable of recalling the CSA only when it is psychologically safe to do so many years later.
[2] According to the other perspective, many reports of recovered memories of sexual abuse are false memories, often inadvertently fostered by therapists.

In this article, we provide evidence for a third interpretation that applies to a subset of people reporting recollections of CSA; it does not require the concepts of repression, trauma, or false memory. These people did not experience their CSA as traumatic; they either failed to think about their abuse for years or forgot their previous recollections, and they recalled their CSA spontaneously after encountering reminders outside of psychotherapy. Their recovered memories are corroborated at the same rate as those of people who never forgot their abuse. Hence, recalling CSA after many years is not the same thing as having recalled a previously repressed memory of trauma.
Ipce-member; About the Trauma Myth, Sep 20 2012
Letter from an Ipce-member to Ipce, critisizing Susan Clancy's book and essay about the Trauma myth.
Clancy, Susan A.; The Trauma Myth: Understanding the True Dynamics of Sexual Abuse, Jun 03 2010
Susan Clancy, in a nutshell, describes her theories on why sexual abuse is not seen as such by victims until the therapist has "reconceptualized" fully for the victim how the victims truly were abused and how their trust had been violated, even though the victims originally deny having felt that they had actually been abused.
Percy, William A.; Susan Clancy's Stake Through The Heart Of The Child Sex Abuse Industry
The most spectacular and debated book on this subject is Clancy's boldly entitled The Trauma Myth. It has driven a stake through the heart of the dogmatic assertion of the child sexual abuse industry that intergenerational sex - even that of infants under 6 and children under 13 with adults over 18 - is automatically traumatic to the younger person. Clancy, who interviewed only victims not hospitalized or in treatment, says that it only traumatizes those 10% compelled by violence and intimidation.
[...] Clancy’s work is not without flaws
Twymann, Tracy R.; False Memories: An Interview with Pamela Freyd, Aug 28 2001
Chapter from the book, "Mind Controlled Sex Slaves And The CIA" by Tracy R Twymann, Nick Redfern and Commander X (July 4, 2008)

(Following is from Amazon.com)
Book Description
Publication Date: July 4, 2008

UNIMAGINABLE RAPE, TORTURE AND BLOODY RITUALS. . . LEADING POLITICIANS INVOLVED IN CHILD ABUSE RINGS. . . U.S. PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS COMPLICIT. . . USE OF OCCULT AND 'SATANISM' AS TRAUMA BASE . . . ANTI-CHRISTIAN NIGHT SERVICES AT CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. . .
Plus Exposing The Mind Controlled "Stepford Whores," as well as Human Sacrifices at Bohemian Grove Retreat . . . Indeed, what do Satanism, human trafficking, mind control experiments and child sex abuse have to do with the U.S. government? According to the testimony of experts and survivors, the CIA utilized all of these elements and more for their Top Secret Project Monarch, part of the MK-ULTRA mind control program. For reasons of National Security, dozens if not hundreds of people, many of them children, were allegedly subjected to unimaginable rape, torture, and bloody satanic rituals, with the aim of fracturing the human mind through trauma. This created multiple personalities that could then be programmed to perform specific tasks . . . Many of the purported victims say they were used to satisfy the sexual urges of the rich and powerful, even U.S. presidents. . . For these purposes, the CIA is said to have sought help from intergenerational cults, as well as child pornography and snuff film networks. As thousands of people were bought and sold on the underground sex market, our government supposedly looked the other way, seing it not as an atrocity, but as an opportunity.
- - -
Pamela Freyd is the co-founder of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation.
"People with false memories believe them sincerely and with much conviction, especially if some hypnotic techniques are involved."
Herman, Peter; The Trauma Myth - Susan A. Clancy - (book review)
In her book, The Trauma Myth, Susan Clancy, citing her scientific study, details a finding that anyone who has ever been subjected to non-violent, but unsolicited sexual advances in childhood could have come to on their own. Namely, the experience is seldom traumatic to the individual at the time. Although I have not done any formal research in this area, my own experiences, some of which I will expound on shortly, can attest to the validity of Clancy's astonishing finding.
Hagen, Margaret A.; Whores of the Court: The Fraud of Psychiatric Testimony and The Rape Of American Justice; 352 pp., Feb 01 1997
In this provocative and well-researched book, Margaret Hagen, Ph.D, reveals how expert psychological testimony is a total fraud, showing how the courts have increasingly embraced not a cutting-edge science but, instead, a discipline that represents a terrifying retreat into fantasy and hearsay; a discipline propelled by powerful propaganda, arrogance, and greed. Dr. Hagen sounds a clarion wake-up call, offering some startling – and much-needed – recommendations about how we can reclaim our own ability to judge and supplying vital advice on how we can protect ourselves from the ravages of psychological testimony in our own lives. “A damning indictment of the psychologizing – and undermining – of the American legal system. With righteous wrath and devastating wit, this sweeping critique should stir national debate.” Publishers Weekly
This book is freely available for download.
Andrews, University St; Experts able to plant false memories in minds
New research into the human memory has found that it is possible to plant false memories in the human mind that can have significant long-term effects on behaviour.
The new study could have significant implications for recovered memories involving abuse - previous research has claimed that it is possible for people to create false memories of being abused as a child, when memories are recovered through suggestive therapy.