LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists say they have cast doubts on the
prevalence of False Memory Syndrome and the idea that recovered memories are
often bogus ones induced by therapists.
The theory that memories of events which never occurred can be constructed
by suggestion during therapy has been used successfully as a defense by
those accused of child abuse, to discredit children's testimony.
Researchers at University College London claim their study of data from 236
adults with recovered memories shows many are of true past events.
``There is now consistent evidence that 'False Memory Syndrome' cannot
explain all, or even most, examples of recovered memories of trauma,'' the
British Psychological Society said in a statement.
``There is increasing evidence that many recovered memories cannot be
explained by so-called False Memory Syndrome. To date there is no convincing
evidence for a specific False Memory Syndrome,'' Dr. Bernice Andrews, who
conducted the study, told Reuters.
``What we've shown is that a substantial proportion of these memories have
been corroborated,'' she said in a telephone interview.
Contrary to common belief, she added, not all repressed memories are about
childhood sexual abuse. They can result from many types of trauma and not
all are recovered during therapy.
``People often come into therapy because they have started to remember
things that have happened in the past. In our study around a third of cases
were people who came into therapy after recovering memories,'' said Andrews.
She and her colleagues interviewed 108 qualified therapists about the 236
patients. They said the most common triggers for recovering memories were
events concerning patients' own children that they associated with violence
or fear that they felt themselves.
Less often books, videos and memory recovery techniques were used to help
patients recall the events.
``Therapists in the majority of cases do not use aggressive, suggestive
techniques to get their clients to remember things. They (memories) come up
just as a matter of course during therapy and are often accompanied by a lot
of emotion as though the person is reliving the event in the present,''
Andrews explained.
The researchers said their study cannot prove that all recovered memories
are true.
``You certainly can't explain all instances of people recovering memories in
therapy in terms of so-called False Memory Syndrome,'' Andrews added.
