-Caveat Lector- Hi ! Below please find information on "false memories." The book and websites below go into much great detail about these topics and people. Sincerely, Neil Brick All accusations are alleged. The following is from "Memory, Trauma Treatment and the Law" by Brown, Scheflin and Hammond, C 1998, W. W. Norton Pub. Chapter 12, "The False Logic of the False Memory Controversy and the Irrational Element in Scientific Research on Memory" p. 383-384 "...In particular, the following positions asserted by extreme false memory proponents are mistaken: 1. All or most therapists working with childhood sexual abuse believe in the tape-recorder theory of memory. 2. Repressed memory does not exist, or, as Ofsche has stated, "repressed memory is the scientific quackery of the twentieth century." (Ofsche, cited in Loftus and Ketchum, 1994, p. 206) 3. There is only one "normal" model for memory, whether traumatic or nontraumatic. 4. Memories of events are stored the way books are stored on library shelves - as an entire unit. Many trauma advocate and almost all memory researchers...adhere to a multidimensional view of memory systems, and they correctly point out that false memory advocates who apply research findings on normal autobiographical memory to the domain of trauma have incorrectly assumed a unitary model of memory.... There is a growing corpus of scientific and clinical data in support of the view that traumatic experiences are encoded and stored both as behavioral memory and verbal memory, and that in certain instances the implicit, behavioral memory for the trauma make take primacy over the verbal memory in the form of behavioral reenactment and intrusive reexperiencing..... normal behavioral memory in children and behavioral memory for trauma in children and adults have been the subjects of numerous scientific investigations. Some false memory advocates consistently ignore these data. To ignore the entire corpus of scientific data on implicit, behavioral memory because it might lend credence to clinicians' description of unconcious behavioral reenactments of trauma, which in turn might even justify memory recovery techniques, is poor science....Dismissing the validity of recovered memories of abuse on the grounds that the memory is accompanied by somatic distress (or a body memory) is neither logical nor scientific...Implicit memories, which are not currently available to consciousness, nevertheless exert influence on thoughts and behaviors (Graf & Masson 1993)..." Excerpts from : http://idealist.com/tat/97-07-01-unsilent.shtml Unsilent Witness: Ralph Underwager And The FMSF by Stephanie J. Dallam, RN, MSN, FNP Originally published in Treating Abuse Today, Vol. 7, No. 1, Jan/Feb 1997, pp. 31-39 Copyright ©1997, SAVE In a study supported by a 1988 grant from the New England Commissioners of Child Welfare Agencies, Anna Salter, Ph.D. (1992) analyzed the scholarly and factual errors in the expert testimony and writings of Underwager and Wakefield. With full references and citations, Salter analyzed the ways that they often misstate research results in attempts to aid defendants accused of molesting children. Salter enumerates the following problems with their work: •The research they cite sometimes simply does not say what they say it does. •They frequently cite research in a context where the unsuspecting reader would erroneously infer that the research relates to sexual abuse. •They frequently cite a minor finding of a study out of context in situations in which had they quoted it in context, it would not have supported their position. •They will use a minor or outdated comment of an author as representing his/her position when they are aware it does not represent the author's position. •They state positions as facts when there is no research evidence to substantiate their claims. •They simply ignore contrary evidence. •They extrapolate beyond the limits of the data. •They leave crucial information out of quotations. •They cite studies of adults in places where the unwary reader would assume they were referring to studies of children, without noting that they are of adults. •They make numerous logical errors. •The citations themselves are so filled with errors that it is difficult to find many of them. John E. B. Myers (1990), a law professor at McGeorge School of Law (University of the Pacific), reviewed Accusations of child sexual abuse for The Michigan Law Review. In his view, "The overriding failure of Accusations of child sexual abuse is its abdication of objectivity. Excerpts from http://fmsf.com/clinical.shtml - IMO, this is an anti-FMS site False Memory Syndrome Clinical Practice Issues False Memory Syndrome Facts Website See the website of Kenneth S. Pope, Ph.D., ABPP, Abuse, Memory, Science and Malpractice for information about his two articles, Memory, Abuse, and Science: Questioning Claims About the False Memory Syndrome Epidemic (1996), and its follow-up, Science As Careful Questioning: Are Claims Of A False Memory Syndrome Epidemic Based On Empirical Evidence? Traumatic Amnesia: The Evolution of Our Understanding From a Clinical and Legal Perspective, by Charles L. Whitfield, MD. Originally published in Sexual Addiction & Compulsivity, 4, 2, 1997. While some accused and convicted child molesters have inappropriately influenced the media, the public, and many in the clinical and legal professions by claiming that traumatic amnesia does not occur in child sexual abuse, workers in the field of trauma psychology have accumulated solid empirical evidence over the past 100 years that it does occur and is common. Its existence and natural history are documented throughout the clinical literature. This review describes extensive evidence that traumatic amnesia is a real part of the effects and the natural history of child sexual abuse. -- Charles L. Whitfield, MD Read about the Special Edition of Ethics & Behavior -- A must-read for anyone concerned with the issue of recovered memories. Pope, Kenneth S. and Brown, Laura. Recovered Memories of Abuse : Assessment, Therapy, Forensics. (1996: American Psychological Association.) >From The False Memory Debate: Social Science or Social Backlash? by Judith L. Herman and Mary R. Harvey, The Harvard Mental Health Letter, Vol. 9, No. 10, April, 1993. The notion that therapists can implant scenarios of horror in the minds of their patients is easily accepted because it appeals to common prejudices. It resonates with popular fears of manipulation by therapists and popular stereotypes of women as irrational, suggestible, or vengeful. It appeals to the common wish to deny or minimize the reality of sexual violence. In actuality, false claims of childhood sexual abuse are demonstrably rare, and false memories of childhood trauma are no doubt equally so. The evidence comes from epidemiological research, investigations of sexual abuse reports, and studies on the nature of traumatic memory. -- Herman and Harvey The Treating Abuse Today website offers several relevant articles by Stephanie J. Dallam, RN, MSN, FNP: Is there a false memory epidemic? "...The FMSF's 2,056 unsubstantiated reports of 'false memory' must be understood in relation to the estimated millions of cases of sexual abuse and subsequent traumatic amnesia in our society. Rather than demonstrating an epidemic of false memories, the statistics provided by the FMSF demonstrate just the opposite: In spite of heavy media coverage, relatively few families have contacted or joined the organization. Furthermore, the incidence of false memory claims, which was never significant in proportion to the population, has declined steadily since 1992." -- Dallam DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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