The following passage is an excerpt from an invited guest editorial that
appeared in the June, 1999, issue of General Hospital Psychiatry, vol. 21,
#3. ŠElsevier Science, Inc.
Invited Guest Editorial:
The Ethics of Research Involving Memories of Trauma
Kenneth S. Pope
EXCERPT:
Informed consent and other ethical principles have long been fundamental
to research involving human participants, as emphasized for example by the
Nuremberg Code (2). But somehow ethics have become lost as a focus of
careful, informed consideration in articles examining this area, in part
because of the bitter controversy that erupted over recovered and false
memories of child sex abuse. In the early 1990s, the topic became
fiercely polarized. Disagreement gave way to demonization of those who
disagreed. Those on one side might be portrayed in ways that suggested
them to be supporters of pedophilia if not actual pedophiles themselves.
Those on the other side might be portrayed in ways that suggested them to
be hate-filled, pseudoscientific witch-hunters and True Believers.
Advocates claimed that they had discovered a new clinical syndrome whose
diagnostic criteria were explicitly analogized to borderline personality
disorder, and an epidemic of False Memory Syndrome was announced.
Therapists' homes have been picketed. Speakers holding unpopular views
have been excluded from conferences.
In such a bitter atmosphere, emerging research tends to be viewed through
a tightly restrictive lens focusing on the unforgivingly dichotomized
question: does the research provide solid proof of one side or the other
of this controversy? There is little room for complexity, nuance,
ambiguity, shades of gray, and findings that suggest new questions. There
is also little room for careful examination of the ethics of such
research.
One striking exception was a landmark exchange of views among 3
scholars--including a professor who had conducted the experiment--on the
ethics of one of the most famous and influential studies of attempting to
implant false memories (3-5). This exchange has been the central
examination of the ethics of research in this area, and is now joined by
"Assessing the Ethical Costs and Benefits of Trauma-focused Research."
Newman, Walker, and Gefland's study (1) reminds us that not only are
ethical considerations crucial to research in this area, but that they may
have additional implications. Informed consent, for example, rests on
participants' ability to understand adequately the effects a research
project may have on them. But as this study (1) found, some participants
who have experienced major trauma may not realistically anticipate the
distress such research can cause: "Not surprisingly, individuals with
histories of maltreatment, especially sexual maltreatment, were more
likely to underestimate their level of upset from research participation
on both questionnaires and interviews."
Studies that invite participants to remember trauma may, as this study
suggest, themselves be traumatic. As Primo Levi (6) wrote: "the memory
of a trauma suffered or inflicted is itself traumatic because recalling it
is painful or at least disturbing" (p. 24).
References:
1) Newman, E., & Walker, E.A. Assessing the ethical costs and benefits of
trauma-focused research. General Hospital Psychiatry, 1999, vol. 21, #3,
pp. 187-196.
2) Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals under
Control Council Law No. 10, vol. 2. Washington, DC: U.S. Government
Printing Office, 1949.
3) Crook, L.S., & Dean, M.C. "Lost in a Shopping Mall"--A Breach of
Professional Ethics. Ethics & Behavior, 1999, vol. 9, #1, pp. 39-50.
4) Loftus, E.F. Lost in the Mall: Misrepresentations and
Misunderstandings. Ethics & Behavior, 1999, vol. 9, #1, pp. 51-60..
5) Crook, L.S., & Dean, M.C. Logical fallacies and ethical breaches..
Ethics & Behavior, 1999, vol. 9, #1, pp. 61-68.
6) Levi, P. The drowned and the saved. New York: Vintage International,
1988.
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Jim Guinee, Ph.D. Director of Training, Counseling Center
Adjunct Professor, Dept. of Psychology/Counseling
Dept. of Health Sciences
President-Elect, Arkansas College Counselor Association
University of Central Arkansas
313 Bernard Hall Conway, AR 72035
(501) 450-3138 (office) (501) 450-3248 (fax)
"When you are angry, do not sin; do not let
the sun go down on your wrath." Ephesians 4:26
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