BEWARE OF FALSE MEMORIES IN REGRESSION HYPNOTHERAPY
Chaplain Paul G. Durbin, Ph. D.
In the early days of television there was a TV program titled, "Truth or Consequences." A question was asked and if the contestant correctly answered the question, he or she then won a prize. If the answer was incorrect, the participant got a consequence. Over the past 30 years Recovered Memory Therapy has been playing a dangerous game of "Truth or Consequence." The consequence of false memory is a lot of pain for the client, her family and others.
Hypnotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, clergy and other therapists should beware of Recovered Memory Therapy because of the danger of False Memory Syndrome. A few years ago, a new therapy system referred to as "Recovered Memory Therapy" caught on with many professional therapists. In this group, I do not include those who use hypnosis and other counseling techniques to discover past history that might contribute to a present day problem and use it to help the person live better today. I do not include those therapists who work with individuals who have always remembered that they were sexually abused and are working in the here and now to overcome any problems initiated by that abuse.
I am speaking of those therapists who plant false memories and encourage their clients to confront, hate, break with and sue parents for something that may or may not have happened years ago. These therapists generally believe that just about any adult problem is caused by sexual abuse and this is especially true of women. They assume that repressed memories of traumatic childhood sexual abuse are the main causes of eating disorders, relationship problems, depression, sexual problems, headaches, sleep disorders, phobias, anger, low self-esteem, gagging, etc. These therapists use hypnosis, guided imagery, progressive relaxation, automatic writing, bodywork, dream work, art therapy, and group therapy to uncover repressed memories. When used properly, these techniques are very helpful tools of counseling. But when used improperly, they produce false memories that are enormously destructive. Because Recovered Memory Therapy is often based on bad assumptions the result is bad therapy.
From personal counseling sessions, books and other materials which I have read, a pattern tends to occur with striking frequency. These sessions began with a client coming to the therapist with a presenting problem other than sexual abuse. Regardless of the presenting problem, the therapist assumes the cause is childhood sexual abuse. The abuser is usually assumed to be the father and/or perhaps the grandfather, and may also include the mother and grandmother as well as others.
With this motivation, the therapist's next step is to convince the client that she was abused whether she can remember abuse or not. If the client says she was not abused, the therapist will often respond that the denial is another proof of her childhood sexual abuse. The client is told that only by believing in the sexual abuse and recovering memories of abuse can she be healed. Whether the client accepts the diagnosis or continues to deny, they are often encouraged to read one of the so-called survivor's books such as The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis. Once the client is convinced that her problems can be cured by remembering childhood sexual abuse, the therapist uses the techniques described above to help the client uncover repressed memories. The consequences can be devastating.
I was first introduced to Recovered Memory Therapy about seven years ago. A man called me from California. He said that he had gotten my name and phone number through the United Methodist Church. He had an adult daughter in New Orleans who had sent him a letter accusing him of sexually abusing her in her childhood. She had recovered the memory while in therapy at a local center in New Orleans. She wrote her father requesting that he pay for her therapy and send her a specific amount of money each month as she was now too emotionally disturbed to hold a job. She was in her forties when she began therapy and was working and making a living. After a few months, she had recovered these memories of sexual abuse and had steadily gotten worse.
The father denied that he had ever touched his daughter sexually and was overcome with sadness and despair as a result of the accusations. He asked me for help. I talked to the father one more time and he said that he was trying to get an appointment with the therapist but had been unsuccessful. The therapist kept telling him that he was in denial and that the only way the daughter and the therapist would meet with him was if he confessed that he had indeed molested his daughter when she was a child. He asked me if I had ever heard of False Memory Syndrome and an organization called "False Memory Syndrome Foundation" which had been formed for parents of adult children who had been falsely accused of sexual abuse. I admitted that I had not.
Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, PhD. Describes "False Memory Syndrome" as a condition that results when the memory is distorted or confabulated so that a person's identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a memory of a traumatic experience or experiences which are false but in which the person strongly believes. The syndrome is diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it disrupts the individual's entire personality and lifestyle. "False Memory Syndrome" is especially destructive because the person stubbornly refuses to accept any evidence that might challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own which is resistant to any effort to discover the truth. 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. (John F. Khilstrom from the internet.)
Due to a stressful job as a nurse's assistant, Beth Rutherford was having trouble sleeping. Her father, an Assembly of God minister, suggested that she go to Donna Strand for counseling to help her deal better with stress. Donna was a counselor and the wife of the pastor of a nearby Assembly of God Church. After three sessions, Beth, then 19 years-old was doing much better handling her stress and had overcome her sleeping problem.
During the last of those first four sessions, Beth told of a dream in which she and a friend were being raped in the presence of her father. She was told that this dream was an indication of early childhood sexual abuse. Beth said that she could not remember any sexual abuse. Without her parents' knowledge, Beth had 64 more sessions. While working with Beth, Ms Strand used hypnosis and guided imagery to help "recover" memories of sexual abuse. Beth believed the abuse occurred between the ages of 7 and 14.
Two years into Beth's therapy, the Strands informed the General Council of the Assembly of God Church that Beth's father had sexually abused her as a child. Though he denied the allegations, he was forced out of the church.
According to information received during Beth's Recovered Memory Therapy she had been raped repeatedly by her father while her mother watched and had received a painful clothes-hanger abortion after her father impregnated her. At the insistence of the Rutherford family's attorney, Beth underwent a physical exam, which showed that she was a virgin. Another important fact, Rev. Rutherford had a vasectomy when Beth was four years old. As a result of these discoveries and further self exploration Beth eventually recanted her story. The Rutherfords settled a lawsuit for one million dollars against the church and Mrs. Strand.
A woman came to me stating that she has been to a psychiatrist who regressed her back to a supposed sexual molestation by her father. She was considering confronting her father and accusing him of sexual abuse when she was a little girl. Before doing that, she wanted a second opinion because in the conscious state, she has no memory of the abuse. She had always felt very close to her father and was never consciously afraid of him.
In hypnosis, I asked her to go back to any experience from the past that could clarify her situation in relation to her father. She went back to a situation that occurred when she was three years and continued for about two years. She used to like to have her dad rock her on his foot, which she called, "riding the horsey". During this time of play, she experienced sexual pleasure and orgasms. Of the first experience, she said, "Daddy is holding my hands while I ride the horsey and it feels good between my legs. Something is happening, it feels so good, but I don't understand. The good feeling is coming from where I pee pee from." I asked her, "Is there anyone else in the room with you and your father?" She replied, "Yes, my mama and my brother." -From these regressions, it appears that her father was totally innocent of any abuse and was just playing a normal child game with his daughter the same way he had played with her older brother who wanted to "ride the horsey".
She was satisfied that her father had not abused her in any way and was indeed just having a good time with his daughter without being aware of her experiencing any sexual feeling.
Recently Gary Ramona of California won a lawsuit against his daughter's therapist. After seeing a therapist about an eating disorder, Mr. Ramona's adult daughter decided that her father raped her when she was a child. Mr. Ramona, who was a vineyard executive, lost his job and his wife who came to believe every word of the charges produced in therapy. With deep fervor, the woman proclaimed that mothers have a gut feeling about their children and that these gut feelings about her daughter's experience were all the proof she needed. Ms. Ofra Bikel who produced a documentary, "Divided Memories" for the TV program Frontline pointed out to Ms. Ramona what she had said and then asked "You said you were happily married for 25 years, so where were your gut feelings then. She mumbled a reply that the "gut feelings", like the rape memories, only began with the visits to the therapist. Mr. Ramona became the first accused parent to sue a therapist for implanting false abuse memories; a malpractice suit, which he won. Thanks to his daughter's accusations he lost his job, his family and has not seen his children in seven years. He asks the question, "So tell me, what did I win?" When his daughter received a medical exam, it was discovered that she was a virgin.
Recovered Memory Therapy is bad therapy because it makes assumptions that are not valid. It rewrites a persons history with very painful results. It makes the client very dependent on the therapist while separating the client from their natural family.
Furthermore, it often makes the client worse instead of better. I share with you some data from the Washington State Crime Victims Compensation Program. This information was presented by Elizabeth Loftus at the Southwestern Psychological Association meeting in Houston on April 5, 1996. A review of 183 of the approved claims were made from which 30 were randomly selected for closer examination. Of the 30 closely examined claimants, there were 29 women and 29 were Caucasians. The median age was 39 (15 to 67 years old). Master-level therapists treated 26 of the 30 people. Two patients saw a Ph.D. therapist and two saw an M.D. For 26 of the claimants, the first memory surfaced when they were in therapy. All of the 30 claimants were still in therapy three years after their first memory. Eighteen of the claimants were still in therapy five years after the first memory. Only 3 claimants thought of suicide or attempted suicide before recovering their first memory but 20 did so after "recovering" memories. Two people had been hospitalized prior to their first memory while 11 were hospitalized after memories started. One person engaged in self-mutilation before memories but 8 did so after memories began to surface.
29 claimants reported memories of satanic ritual abuse (the average age at which these memories were said to have begun was 7 months.) The number of murders reported by this group of patients was 150. 22 patients claimed memories of infant cannibalism. 20 patients recalled memories of being tortured with spiders and 29 remembered physical torture and mutilation. The medical records of these patients showed no corroborative evidence of torture or mutilation. Not one of the allegations was confirmed by police investigations.
Two thirds (21) of the patients had graduated from high school and seven had post high school education. Before therapy 25 had been employed. After three years of therapy, 3 still had jobs. Before the first memory, 23 of the patients were married. Three years after getting memories, 11 of those 23 were divorced. 100% of the patients were estranged from their extended family. The average cost of non-repressed memory claims was $2,672 while the average cost for repressed memory claims was $12,296. The total cost to the Crime Victims Compensation Program for this group of 30 repressed memories was $2,533,000.
Perhaps nothing fuels the flames of Recovered Memory Therapy as much as the books by survivors. Do these books provide good advice to help women recover memories or do they tend to implant memories? The Bass and Davis book The Courage to Heal is considered the bible of the Recovered Memory Therapy movement. Early in the book the claim is made "If you are unable to remember any specific instances like the ones mentioned above and still have a feeling that something abusive happened to you, it probably did." The book continues "Often the knowledge that you were abused starts with a tiny feeling, an intuition. Assume your feelings are valid." Another statement to prepare the soil of the mind for implanted memories is "If you have unfamiliar or uncomfortable feelings as you read this book, don't be alarmed. Strong feelings are part of the healing process. On the other hand, if you breeze through these chapters, you probably aren't feeling safe enough to confront these issues. Or you may be coping with the book the same way you coped with abuse Ð by separating your intellect from your feeling." They have got you whether you are feeling uncomfortable or if you are feeling nothing. Either way the authors assume that you were sexually abused and they will go to any lengths to "recover" the memories without regard for the truth.
The authors assume that anyone reading their book was abused, for they write, "To heal from child sexual abuse, you must face the fact that you were abused. This is often difficult for survivors. When you've spent your life denying the reality of your abuse, when you don't want it to be true, or when your family repeatedly calls you crazy or a liar, it can be hard to stay clear in the knowledge that you were abused."
The authors encourage women to separate themselves from their "family of origin", to sue their parents, to disassociate with anyone who does not support their claims and hate those who they discovered abused them. The book tells of one woman who claims she was abused by her grandfather. She went to his deathbed and, in front of all the other relatives, angrily confronted him right there in the hospital. Forgiveness may be considered, but is not encouraged and in fact is discouraged.
Laura Davis's book The Courage to Heal Workbook continues with the assumption that the female child has been sexually abused and the book is to be used to confirm that the abuse actually happened. The Workbook goes on to encourage homosexual activities. The author is aware that a person who has been heterosexual might have problems with their first homosexual encounter. She writes, "You don't have to be physically aroused to begin sexual activity, simply willing to begin." So what begins with the desire to help people overcome their adult problems becomes an attempt to seduce the person into a different sexual life style.
Sue Blume, in her book "Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women, lists 34 items as "Incest Survivors Aftereffect Checklist." She includes such problems as ambivalence or intensely conflicting relationships, phobias, anger, feeling crazy, feeling different, eating disorders, fear of dark, low self-esteem, gagging sensitivity, or even wearing baggy clothes. It is not surprising that Blume writes, "At any given time, more than three quarters of my clients are women who were molested in childhood by someone they knew." Most of them did not know they were survivors until they came to Blume for counseling. She continues, "Many, if not most, incest survivors do not even know that the abuse ever occurredÉMost survivors need many years and often many therapists, before they can face the truths of their past."
Renee Fredrickson in her book Repressed Memories: a Journey to Recover From Sexual Abuse writes, "Denial is overcome only by patient growth in the opposite direction. In reading this book, whenever you find yourself worrying "What if I'm wrong?" try to always ask yourself the opposite question, "What if I'm right?" She asks suggestive and leading questions such as, "How old do you think you were when you were first abused? Write down the very first number that pops into your head, no matter how improbable it seems to you. Does it seem too young to be true? I assure you it is not."
Fredrickson advises, "Whoever is guiding the memory will ask questions to help you picture or sense what is happening. If nothing surfaces, wait a bit and then give your best guess in answer to the questions. If you feel resistance or skepticism, try to go past it. Whether what is remembered is made up or real is of no concern at the beginning of the process."
In her book The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse, Wendy Maltz advises readers, "Don't try to force recall. Memories will emerge when you are ready to handle them." Maltz suggests that patients "spend time imagining that you were sexually abused, without worry about accuracy, proving anything or having your ideas make sense. As you give rein to your imagination, let your intuition guide your thoughts . . .
Apparently, for these people the only thing they want is an abuse memory regardless of whether it is true or not. The truth or falsehood of the memory may indeed make no difference to them, but it sure does to the ones who are going to be confronted, accused, and perhaps sued. (Interestingly enough, Fredrickson was sued for planting false memories. The malpractice lawsuit was settled for $175,000 with Fredrickson denying any wrongdoing.)
The above mentioned techniques are among many that Recovered Memory Therapists use to produce false memories. One of those techniques is hypnosis. One of the peculiarities of the subconscious mind is that the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a hypnotically implanted memory and reality. In regards to memory; a thought, image, idea, whether real or not if repeated often enough in hypnosis or when emotionally charged becomes like a real memory to the subconscious mind. While attending a meeting of incest survivors in a San Francisco Church, Stephanie Slater tells of one young woman who said that she remembered her mother using scissors to mutilate her genitalia. As she wept, she concluded her talk with, "I know I should have scars from it but I don't."
A client is often told to join a survivors therapy group so that she can realize that she is not the only one who has been abused and that she can receive help from the group. A therapy group for people who have always remembered their abuse can be beneficial if the group is there to help each other deal with present life situations. For individuals without memories of sexual abuse, these groups are deceptive, dangerous, and another means of implanting memories. In many recovered memory groups, the members try to outdo each other in their descriptions of abuse and they encourage those who have no memories to get out of "denial" and remember.
The client is encouraged to have a confrontation with their abuser and/or abusers. This is usually done in the therapists office with strict guidelines. Supported by the therapist and perhaps others, the client reads from a prepared statement. They list a variety of accusations such as "you molested me when I was six months old., you raped me when I was four until I was seventeen. Mother you let it happen. You did nothing to stop him and in fact you assisted him and molested me also."
The parents are not allowed to challenge the accuser and if they say that the abuse never occurred, they are accused of being in denial. Sometimes the accusations are made over the telephone or in a letter with similar letters written to other family members and friends. During these confrontations there is usually a demand for the parents to pay for therapy and additional sums of money for the pain they caused the survivor. If they don't get what they want from the confrontation, they quite often sue, encouraged by the therapist.
You may ask, "Why would anyone believe such painful and horrible experiences as incest if it did not really happen?" Some reasons for believing are:
1. The therapist is the authority and has told her that childhood sexual abuse is the cause of her problems.
2. While using hypnosis, the therapist implants false memories of sexual abuse into the mind of the client, which seem real.
3. Because doubting is considered proof of "denial" and resistance to getting well, the client is humiliated into dropping all skepticism.
4. Recovered memories of sexual abuse give the client an excuse for her problems so its not her fault, and she doesn't need to solve anything. It is less painful to blame others for one's problems than to examine one's own behavior and take personal responsibility for creating a more meaningful life.
5. Because focusing on the abuse gives her a reason for her feelings of parental neglect and emotional abandonment, the recovered memory provides a compelling and guilt-free reason for separating from her family.
What can sincere therapists do to avoid these traps? Some guidelines for the therapist to avoid false memory implantation:
1. If the therapist is going to bring up the possibility of sexual abuse, it should be part of the patient history intake information and should be one question among many. The question may be "Were you sexually abused as a child?" If the answer to that question is "No." accept the answer.
2. Do not diagnosis sexual abuse based on the client's symptoms.
3. A therapist should not assume that sexual abuse has occurred because a person has periods from her past that she cannot remember.
4. Be aware of how you word questions or suggestions so that you do not lead a person to have false memories.
5. Be aware that because of books, media, and previous therapy experiences, that false memories may have already been planted before the client came to you. So if the client reports sexual abuse, ask the client about their previous therapy history: "how & when did you become aware of your sexual abuse history?"
6. Understand that memory can be distorted even when the person is in a hypnotic state.
7. Work toward coping with life in the here and now rather than focusing on the past especially constantly and emotionally reliving painful experiences whether real or false.
8. Do not put a client without clear and detailed memories of abuse into a survivors therapy group and then only if the group deals with adjusting to the world in the here and now.
9. If you were sexually abused as a child, do not assume that everyone else was abused also.
10. Question your motives before you suggest that a client confront and separate from her natural family. Remember our obligation as therapists: first, do no harm!
Postscript from David Quigley, founder of Alchemical Hypnotherapy:
Alchemical work specializes in helping clients recover from the real, and terrible, results of childhood sexual abuse. But every graduate of our program is trained to avoid generating or indulging in false memories. Our Institute is deeply committee to stopping the abuses of "Recovered Memory Therapy", while helping real survivors heal their bodies and souls of the trauma of real sexual abuse. We are grateful to Paul Durbin who, though not a trained Alchemical Hypnotherapist, has so succinctly articulated the dangers inherent in this form of therapy. We welcome your input about your own experiences of False Memory Syndrome and therapist's abuse of power. Email us at [email protected]
As a service to our readers, I'd like to add another set of guidelines to Rev. Durbin's insightful article.
How does a client who is interested in solving their problems, or exploring the childhood roots of their present problems, avoid the inherent dangers of "False Memory Syndrome"? Since perpetrators of "Recovered Memory Therapy" come from a broad range of schools, and often sport an impressive range of licensures, degrees, and credentials, there is no way to determine the "safety" of any therapist based on education or credentials alone. Psychiatrists, social workers, and unlicensed hypnotherapists have all been implicated in this lucrative racket. However, I believe a few well-placed questions can easily tip you off to the therapists you need to avoid. Ask these questions in your first interview:
1. Do you help most of your clients recover repressed memories of sexual abuse? (Yes is the wrong answer!)
2. What percentage of your female clients are dealing with memories of sexual abuse by family members? (33-50% is within the normal range - 100% is very dangerous!)
3. Do you offer support groups for your client's who are sexual abuse survivors? (If the answer is yes-danger!)
4. Do you encourage clients to confront their families about their sexual abuse behavior, or to sue them for their abuse? (If the answer is occasionally, regularly - danger)
5. Do you believe that most or all of your female clients were sexually abused by their families? (If the answer is yes-danger)
6. Do you believe that excessive weight, drug and alcohol abuse and compulsive eating are usually indicative of a history of sexual abuse? (If the answer is yes-danger)
BOOKS ON FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME AND RECOVERED MEMORIES;
Baker, R. A. Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions -From Within. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. 1992
Bass, E. and Davis, L. The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. 3rd ed. New York: Harper Perennial. 1994
Blume, E. S. Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women. New York: Ballantine. 1990
Bradshaw, J. Family Secrets: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You. New York: Bantam. 1995
Davis, Laura. Courage to Heal Workbook. NY: Harper Row. 1990
Dawes, R. M. House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth. New York: Free Press. 1994
False Memory Syndrome Newsletter; False Memory Syndrome Foundation. 3401 Market St., Ste 130, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3318
Fredrickson, R. Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from Sexual Abuse. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1992
Goldstein, E. and Farmer, K. True Stories of False Memories. Boca Raton, FL: SIRS. 1993
Goldstein, E., with Farmer, K. Confabulations: Creating False Memories, Destroying Families. Boca Raton, FL: SIRS. 1992
Gondolf, L. P. "Traumatic Therapy". Issues in Child Abuse Accusations. 4, 239-245. 1992
Hansen, J. "The False Memory Syndrome: How it's affecting the Use of Hypnosis" NGH Convention Manual, Merrimack, NH. 1994. "What Is The False Memory Controversy?" NGH Convention Manual. Merrimack, NH. 1995, "Hypnosis Ð Controversial Again" NGH Convention Manual. Merrimack, NH. 1996
Herman, J. L. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books. 1992
Herman, J. L. Father-daughter Incest. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press. 1981
"Hypnosis and Delayed Recall: Part 1" )Vol. xlii#4) The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Periodicals Press. April 1995
Loftus, E. and Ketcham, K. The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. New York: St. Martin's. 1994
Loftus, E. and Ketcham, K. Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial. New York: St. Martin's 1991
Maltz, Wendy. The Sexual Healing Journal: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse. New York: Harper Collins. 1991
Nathan, D. and Snedeker, M. Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic Books. 1995
Ofshe, R. and Watters, E. Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria. New York: Scribner. 1994
Pendergrast, M. Victims of Memory: Sex Abuse Accusations and Shattered Lives. Second ed. Hinesburg, VT: Upper Access. 1996
Piper, August. Hoax and Reality: The Bizarre World of Multiple Personality Disorder. Northvale, NJ Jason Aronson. 1997
Prozon, C. K. Feminist Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. 1992
Prozan, C. K. The Technique of Feminist Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. 1992
Stephens, R. L. Hypnosis and False Memories. Freeport, PA: Ziotech. 1996
Underwager, R. and Wakefield, H. The Return of the Furies: Analysis of Recovered Memory Therapy. Chicago: Open Court. 1994
Wassil-Grimm, C. Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers and Families. Woodstock, NY: Overlook. 1995
Yapko, M.D. Suggestions of Abuse: True and False Memories of Childhood Sexual Traumas. New York. Simon & Schuster. 1994
In the early days of television there was a TV program titled, "Truth or Consequences." A question was asked and if the contestant correctly answered the question, he or she then won a prize. If the answer was incorrect, the participant got a consequence. Over the past 30 years Recovered Memory Therapy has been playing a dangerous game of "Truth or Consequence." The consequence of false memory is a lot of pain for the client, her family and others.
Hypnotherapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, clergy and other therapists should beware of Recovered Memory Therapy because of the danger of False Memory Syndrome. A few years ago, a new therapy system referred to as "Recovered Memory Therapy" caught on with many professional therapists. In this group, I do not include those who use hypnosis and other counseling techniques to discover past history that might contribute to a present day problem and use it to help the person live better today. I do not include those therapists who work with individuals who have always remembered that they were sexually abused and are working in the here and now to overcome any problems initiated by that abuse.
I am speaking of those therapists who plant false memories and encourage their clients to confront, hate, break with and sue parents for something that may or may not have happened years ago. These therapists generally believe that just about any adult problem is caused by sexual abuse and this is especially true of women. They assume that repressed memories of traumatic childhood sexual abuse are the main causes of eating disorders, relationship problems, depression, sexual problems, headaches, sleep disorders, phobias, anger, low self-esteem, gagging, etc. These therapists use hypnosis, guided imagery, progressive relaxation, automatic writing, bodywork, dream work, art therapy, and group therapy to uncover repressed memories. When used properly, these techniques are very helpful tools of counseling. But when used improperly, they produce false memories that are enormously destructive. Because Recovered Memory Therapy is often based on bad assumptions the result is bad therapy.
From personal counseling sessions, books and other materials which I have read, a pattern tends to occur with striking frequency. These sessions began with a client coming to the therapist with a presenting problem other than sexual abuse. Regardless of the presenting problem, the therapist assumes the cause is childhood sexual abuse. The abuser is usually assumed to be the father and/or perhaps the grandfather, and may also include the mother and grandmother as well as others.
With this motivation, the therapist's next step is to convince the client that she was abused whether she can remember abuse or not. If the client says she was not abused, the therapist will often respond that the denial is another proof of her childhood sexual abuse. The client is told that only by believing in the sexual abuse and recovering memories of abuse can she be healed. Whether the client accepts the diagnosis or continues to deny, they are often encouraged to read one of the so-called survivor's books such as The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse by Ellen Bass and Laura Davis. Once the client is convinced that her problems can be cured by remembering childhood sexual abuse, the therapist uses the techniques described above to help the client uncover repressed memories. The consequences can be devastating.
I was first introduced to Recovered Memory Therapy about seven years ago. A man called me from California. He said that he had gotten my name and phone number through the United Methodist Church. He had an adult daughter in New Orleans who had sent him a letter accusing him of sexually abusing her in her childhood. She had recovered the memory while in therapy at a local center in New Orleans. She wrote her father requesting that he pay for her therapy and send her a specific amount of money each month as she was now too emotionally disturbed to hold a job. She was in her forties when she began therapy and was working and making a living. After a few months, she had recovered these memories of sexual abuse and had steadily gotten worse.
The father denied that he had ever touched his daughter sexually and was overcome with sadness and despair as a result of the accusations. He asked me for help. I talked to the father one more time and he said that he was trying to get an appointment with the therapist but had been unsuccessful. The therapist kept telling him that he was in denial and that the only way the daughter and the therapist would meet with him was if he confessed that he had indeed molested his daughter when she was a child. He asked me if I had ever heard of False Memory Syndrome and an organization called "False Memory Syndrome Foundation" which had been formed for parents of adult children who had been falsely accused of sexual abuse. I admitted that I had not.
Dr. John F. Kihlstrom, PhD. Describes "False Memory Syndrome" as a condition that results when the memory is distorted or confabulated so that a person's identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a memory of a traumatic experience or experiences which are false but in which the person strongly believes. The syndrome is diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it disrupts the individual's entire personality and lifestyle. "False Memory Syndrome" is especially destructive because the person stubbornly refuses to accept any evidence that might challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own which is resistant to any effort to discover the truth. 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. (John F. Khilstrom from the internet.)
Due to a stressful job as a nurse's assistant, Beth Rutherford was having trouble sleeping. Her father, an Assembly of God minister, suggested that she go to Donna Strand for counseling to help her deal better with stress. Donna was a counselor and the wife of the pastor of a nearby Assembly of God Church. After three sessions, Beth, then 19 years-old was doing much better handling her stress and had overcome her sleeping problem.
During the last of those first four sessions, Beth told of a dream in which she and a friend were being raped in the presence of her father. She was told that this dream was an indication of early childhood sexual abuse. Beth said that she could not remember any sexual abuse. Without her parents' knowledge, Beth had 64 more sessions. While working with Beth, Ms Strand used hypnosis and guided imagery to help "recover" memories of sexual abuse. Beth believed the abuse occurred between the ages of 7 and 14.
Two years into Beth's therapy, the Strands informed the General Council of the Assembly of God Church that Beth's father had sexually abused her as a child. Though he denied the allegations, he was forced out of the church.
According to information received during Beth's Recovered Memory Therapy she had been raped repeatedly by her father while her mother watched and had received a painful clothes-hanger abortion after her father impregnated her. At the insistence of the Rutherford family's attorney, Beth underwent a physical exam, which showed that she was a virgin. Another important fact, Rev. Rutherford had a vasectomy when Beth was four years old. As a result of these discoveries and further self exploration Beth eventually recanted her story. The Rutherfords settled a lawsuit for one million dollars against the church and Mrs. Strand.
A woman came to me stating that she has been to a psychiatrist who regressed her back to a supposed sexual molestation by her father. She was considering confronting her father and accusing him of sexual abuse when she was a little girl. Before doing that, she wanted a second opinion because in the conscious state, she has no memory of the abuse. She had always felt very close to her father and was never consciously afraid of him.
In hypnosis, I asked her to go back to any experience from the past that could clarify her situation in relation to her father. She went back to a situation that occurred when she was three years and continued for about two years. She used to like to have her dad rock her on his foot, which she called, "riding the horsey". During this time of play, she experienced sexual pleasure and orgasms. Of the first experience, she said, "Daddy is holding my hands while I ride the horsey and it feels good between my legs. Something is happening, it feels so good, but I don't understand. The good feeling is coming from where I pee pee from." I asked her, "Is there anyone else in the room with you and your father?" She replied, "Yes, my mama and my brother." -From these regressions, it appears that her father was totally innocent of any abuse and was just playing a normal child game with his daughter the same way he had played with her older brother who wanted to "ride the horsey".
She was satisfied that her father had not abused her in any way and was indeed just having a good time with his daughter without being aware of her experiencing any sexual feeling.
Recently Gary Ramona of California won a lawsuit against his daughter's therapist. After seeing a therapist about an eating disorder, Mr. Ramona's adult daughter decided that her father raped her when she was a child. Mr. Ramona, who was a vineyard executive, lost his job and his wife who came to believe every word of the charges produced in therapy. With deep fervor, the woman proclaimed that mothers have a gut feeling about their children and that these gut feelings about her daughter's experience were all the proof she needed. Ms. Ofra Bikel who produced a documentary, "Divided Memories" for the TV program Frontline pointed out to Ms. Ramona what she had said and then asked "You said you were happily married for 25 years, so where were your gut feelings then. She mumbled a reply that the "gut feelings", like the rape memories, only began with the visits to the therapist. Mr. Ramona became the first accused parent to sue a therapist for implanting false abuse memories; a malpractice suit, which he won. Thanks to his daughter's accusations he lost his job, his family and has not seen his children in seven years. He asks the question, "So tell me, what did I win?" When his daughter received a medical exam, it was discovered that she was a virgin.
Recovered Memory Therapy is bad therapy because it makes assumptions that are not valid. It rewrites a persons history with very painful results. It makes the client very dependent on the therapist while separating the client from their natural family.
Furthermore, it often makes the client worse instead of better. I share with you some data from the Washington State Crime Victims Compensation Program. This information was presented by Elizabeth Loftus at the Southwestern Psychological Association meeting in Houston on April 5, 1996. A review of 183 of the approved claims were made from which 30 were randomly selected for closer examination. Of the 30 closely examined claimants, there were 29 women and 29 were Caucasians. The median age was 39 (15 to 67 years old). Master-level therapists treated 26 of the 30 people. Two patients saw a Ph.D. therapist and two saw an M.D. For 26 of the claimants, the first memory surfaced when they were in therapy. All of the 30 claimants were still in therapy three years after their first memory. Eighteen of the claimants were still in therapy five years after the first memory. Only 3 claimants thought of suicide or attempted suicide before recovering their first memory but 20 did so after "recovering" memories. Two people had been hospitalized prior to their first memory while 11 were hospitalized after memories started. One person engaged in self-mutilation before memories but 8 did so after memories began to surface.
29 claimants reported memories of satanic ritual abuse (the average age at which these memories were said to have begun was 7 months.) The number of murders reported by this group of patients was 150. 22 patients claimed memories of infant cannibalism. 20 patients recalled memories of being tortured with spiders and 29 remembered physical torture and mutilation. The medical records of these patients showed no corroborative evidence of torture or mutilation. Not one of the allegations was confirmed by police investigations.
Two thirds (21) of the patients had graduated from high school and seven had post high school education. Before therapy 25 had been employed. After three years of therapy, 3 still had jobs. Before the first memory, 23 of the patients were married. Three years after getting memories, 11 of those 23 were divorced. 100% of the patients were estranged from their extended family. The average cost of non-repressed memory claims was $2,672 while the average cost for repressed memory claims was $12,296. The total cost to the Crime Victims Compensation Program for this group of 30 repressed memories was $2,533,000.
Perhaps nothing fuels the flames of Recovered Memory Therapy as much as the books by survivors. Do these books provide good advice to help women recover memories or do they tend to implant memories? The Bass and Davis book The Courage to Heal is considered the bible of the Recovered Memory Therapy movement. Early in the book the claim is made "If you are unable to remember any specific instances like the ones mentioned above and still have a feeling that something abusive happened to you, it probably did." The book continues "Often the knowledge that you were abused starts with a tiny feeling, an intuition. Assume your feelings are valid." Another statement to prepare the soil of the mind for implanted memories is "If you have unfamiliar or uncomfortable feelings as you read this book, don't be alarmed. Strong feelings are part of the healing process. On the other hand, if you breeze through these chapters, you probably aren't feeling safe enough to confront these issues. Or you may be coping with the book the same way you coped with abuse Ð by separating your intellect from your feeling." They have got you whether you are feeling uncomfortable or if you are feeling nothing. Either way the authors assume that you were sexually abused and they will go to any lengths to "recover" the memories without regard for the truth.
The authors assume that anyone reading their book was abused, for they write, "To heal from child sexual abuse, you must face the fact that you were abused. This is often difficult for survivors. When you've spent your life denying the reality of your abuse, when you don't want it to be true, or when your family repeatedly calls you crazy or a liar, it can be hard to stay clear in the knowledge that you were abused."
The authors encourage women to separate themselves from their "family of origin", to sue their parents, to disassociate with anyone who does not support their claims and hate those who they discovered abused them. The book tells of one woman who claims she was abused by her grandfather. She went to his deathbed and, in front of all the other relatives, angrily confronted him right there in the hospital. Forgiveness may be considered, but is not encouraged and in fact is discouraged.
Laura Davis's book The Courage to Heal Workbook continues with the assumption that the female child has been sexually abused and the book is to be used to confirm that the abuse actually happened. The Workbook goes on to encourage homosexual activities. The author is aware that a person who has been heterosexual might have problems with their first homosexual encounter. She writes, "You don't have to be physically aroused to begin sexual activity, simply willing to begin." So what begins with the desire to help people overcome their adult problems becomes an attempt to seduce the person into a different sexual life style.
Sue Blume, in her book "Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women, lists 34 items as "Incest Survivors Aftereffect Checklist." She includes such problems as ambivalence or intensely conflicting relationships, phobias, anger, feeling crazy, feeling different, eating disorders, fear of dark, low self-esteem, gagging sensitivity, or even wearing baggy clothes. It is not surprising that Blume writes, "At any given time, more than three quarters of my clients are women who were molested in childhood by someone they knew." Most of them did not know they were survivors until they came to Blume for counseling. She continues, "Many, if not most, incest survivors do not even know that the abuse ever occurredÉMost survivors need many years and often many therapists, before they can face the truths of their past."
Renee Fredrickson in her book Repressed Memories: a Journey to Recover From Sexual Abuse writes, "Denial is overcome only by patient growth in the opposite direction. In reading this book, whenever you find yourself worrying "What if I'm wrong?" try to always ask yourself the opposite question, "What if I'm right?" She asks suggestive and leading questions such as, "How old do you think you were when you were first abused? Write down the very first number that pops into your head, no matter how improbable it seems to you. Does it seem too young to be true? I assure you it is not."
Fredrickson advises, "Whoever is guiding the memory will ask questions to help you picture or sense what is happening. If nothing surfaces, wait a bit and then give your best guess in answer to the questions. If you feel resistance or skepticism, try to go past it. Whether what is remembered is made up or real is of no concern at the beginning of the process."
In her book The Sexual Healing Journey: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse, Wendy Maltz advises readers, "Don't try to force recall. Memories will emerge when you are ready to handle them." Maltz suggests that patients "spend time imagining that you were sexually abused, without worry about accuracy, proving anything or having your ideas make sense. As you give rein to your imagination, let your intuition guide your thoughts . . .
Apparently, for these people the only thing they want is an abuse memory regardless of whether it is true or not. The truth or falsehood of the memory may indeed make no difference to them, but it sure does to the ones who are going to be confronted, accused, and perhaps sued. (Interestingly enough, Fredrickson was sued for planting false memories. The malpractice lawsuit was settled for $175,000 with Fredrickson denying any wrongdoing.)
The above mentioned techniques are among many that Recovered Memory Therapists use to produce false memories. One of those techniques is hypnosis. One of the peculiarities of the subconscious mind is that the subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between a hypnotically implanted memory and reality. In regards to memory; a thought, image, idea, whether real or not if repeated often enough in hypnosis or when emotionally charged becomes like a real memory to the subconscious mind. While attending a meeting of incest survivors in a San Francisco Church, Stephanie Slater tells of one young woman who said that she remembered her mother using scissors to mutilate her genitalia. As she wept, she concluded her talk with, "I know I should have scars from it but I don't."
A client is often told to join a survivors therapy group so that she can realize that she is not the only one who has been abused and that she can receive help from the group. A therapy group for people who have always remembered their abuse can be beneficial if the group is there to help each other deal with present life situations. For individuals without memories of sexual abuse, these groups are deceptive, dangerous, and another means of implanting memories. In many recovered memory groups, the members try to outdo each other in their descriptions of abuse and they encourage those who have no memories to get out of "denial" and remember.
The client is encouraged to have a confrontation with their abuser and/or abusers. This is usually done in the therapists office with strict guidelines. Supported by the therapist and perhaps others, the client reads from a prepared statement. They list a variety of accusations such as "you molested me when I was six months old., you raped me when I was four until I was seventeen. Mother you let it happen. You did nothing to stop him and in fact you assisted him and molested me also."
The parents are not allowed to challenge the accuser and if they say that the abuse never occurred, they are accused of being in denial. Sometimes the accusations are made over the telephone or in a letter with similar letters written to other family members and friends. During these confrontations there is usually a demand for the parents to pay for therapy and additional sums of money for the pain they caused the survivor. If they don't get what they want from the confrontation, they quite often sue, encouraged by the therapist.
You may ask, "Why would anyone believe such painful and horrible experiences as incest if it did not really happen?" Some reasons for believing are:
1. The therapist is the authority and has told her that childhood sexual abuse is the cause of her problems.
2. While using hypnosis, the therapist implants false memories of sexual abuse into the mind of the client, which seem real.
3. Because doubting is considered proof of "denial" and resistance to getting well, the client is humiliated into dropping all skepticism.
4. Recovered memories of sexual abuse give the client an excuse for her problems so its not her fault, and she doesn't need to solve anything. It is less painful to blame others for one's problems than to examine one's own behavior and take personal responsibility for creating a more meaningful life.
5. Because focusing on the abuse gives her a reason for her feelings of parental neglect and emotional abandonment, the recovered memory provides a compelling and guilt-free reason for separating from her family.
What can sincere therapists do to avoid these traps? Some guidelines for the therapist to avoid false memory implantation:
1. If the therapist is going to bring up the possibility of sexual abuse, it should be part of the patient history intake information and should be one question among many. The question may be "Were you sexually abused as a child?" If the answer to that question is "No." accept the answer.
2. Do not diagnosis sexual abuse based on the client's symptoms.
3. A therapist should not assume that sexual abuse has occurred because a person has periods from her past that she cannot remember.
4. Be aware of how you word questions or suggestions so that you do not lead a person to have false memories.
5. Be aware that because of books, media, and previous therapy experiences, that false memories may have already been planted before the client came to you. So if the client reports sexual abuse, ask the client about their previous therapy history: "how & when did you become aware of your sexual abuse history?"
6. Understand that memory can be distorted even when the person is in a hypnotic state.
7. Work toward coping with life in the here and now rather than focusing on the past especially constantly and emotionally reliving painful experiences whether real or false.
8. Do not put a client without clear and detailed memories of abuse into a survivors therapy group and then only if the group deals with adjusting to the world in the here and now.
9. If you were sexually abused as a child, do not assume that everyone else was abused also.
10. Question your motives before you suggest that a client confront and separate from her natural family. Remember our obligation as therapists: first, do no harm!
Postscript from David Quigley, founder of Alchemical Hypnotherapy:
Alchemical work specializes in helping clients recover from the real, and terrible, results of childhood sexual abuse. But every graduate of our program is trained to avoid generating or indulging in false memories. Our Institute is deeply committee to stopping the abuses of "Recovered Memory Therapy", while helping real survivors heal their bodies and souls of the trauma of real sexual abuse. We are grateful to Paul Durbin who, though not a trained Alchemical Hypnotherapist, has so succinctly articulated the dangers inherent in this form of therapy. We welcome your input about your own experiences of False Memory Syndrome and therapist's abuse of power. Email us at [email protected]
As a service to our readers, I'd like to add another set of guidelines to Rev. Durbin's insightful article.
How does a client who is interested in solving their problems, or exploring the childhood roots of their present problems, avoid the inherent dangers of "False Memory Syndrome"? Since perpetrators of "Recovered Memory Therapy" come from a broad range of schools, and often sport an impressive range of licensures, degrees, and credentials, there is no way to determine the "safety" of any therapist based on education or credentials alone. Psychiatrists, social workers, and unlicensed hypnotherapists have all been implicated in this lucrative racket. However, I believe a few well-placed questions can easily tip you off to the therapists you need to avoid. Ask these questions in your first interview:
1. Do you help most of your clients recover repressed memories of sexual abuse? (Yes is the wrong answer!)
2. What percentage of your female clients are dealing with memories of sexual abuse by family members? (33-50% is within the normal range - 100% is very dangerous!)
3. Do you offer support groups for your client's who are sexual abuse survivors? (If the answer is yes-danger!)
4. Do you encourage clients to confront their families about their sexual abuse behavior, or to sue them for their abuse? (If the answer is occasionally, regularly - danger)
5. Do you believe that most or all of your female clients were sexually abused by their families? (If the answer is yes-danger)
6. Do you believe that excessive weight, drug and alcohol abuse and compulsive eating are usually indicative of a history of sexual abuse? (If the answer is yes-danger)
BOOKS ON FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME AND RECOVERED MEMORIES;
Baker, R. A. Hidden Memories: Voices and Visions -From Within. Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books. 1992
Bass, E. and Davis, L. The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse. 3rd ed. New York: Harper Perennial. 1994
Blume, E. S. Secret Survivors: Uncovering Incest and Its Aftereffects in Women. New York: Ballantine. 1990
Bradshaw, J. Family Secrets: What You Don't Know Can Hurt You. New York: Bantam. 1995
Davis, Laura. Courage to Heal Workbook. NY: Harper Row. 1990
Dawes, R. M. House of Cards: Psychology and Psychotherapy Built on Myth. New York: Free Press. 1994
False Memory Syndrome Newsletter; False Memory Syndrome Foundation. 3401 Market St., Ste 130, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3318
Fredrickson, R. Repressed Memories: A Journey to Recovery from Sexual Abuse. New York: Simon & Schuster. 1992
Goldstein, E. and Farmer, K. True Stories of False Memories. Boca Raton, FL: SIRS. 1993
Goldstein, E., with Farmer, K. Confabulations: Creating False Memories, Destroying Families. Boca Raton, FL: SIRS. 1992
Gondolf, L. P. "Traumatic Therapy". Issues in Child Abuse Accusations. 4, 239-245. 1992
Hansen, J. "The False Memory Syndrome: How it's affecting the Use of Hypnosis" NGH Convention Manual, Merrimack, NH. 1994. "What Is The False Memory Controversy?" NGH Convention Manual. Merrimack, NH. 1995, "Hypnosis Ð Controversial Again" NGH Convention Manual. Merrimack, NH. 1996
Herman, J. L. Trauma and Recovery. New York: Basic Books. 1992
Herman, J. L. Father-daughter Incest. Cambridge, MA: Harvard U. Press. 1981
"Hypnosis and Delayed Recall: Part 1" )Vol. xlii#4) The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Periodicals Press. April 1995
Loftus, E. and Ketcham, K. The Myth of Repressed Memory: False Memories and Allegations of Sexual Abuse. New York: St. Martin's. 1994
Loftus, E. and Ketcham, K. Witness for the Defense: The Accused, the Eyewitness, and the Expert Who Puts Memory on Trial. New York: St. Martin's 1991
Maltz, Wendy. The Sexual Healing Journal: A Guide for Survivors of Sexual Abuse. New York: Harper Collins. 1991
Nathan, D. and Snedeker, M. Satan's Silence: Ritual Abuse and the Making of a Modern American Witch Hunt. New York: Basic Books. 1995
Ofshe, R. and Watters, E. Making Monsters: False Memories, Psychotherapy, and Sexual Hysteria. New York: Scribner. 1994
Pendergrast, M. Victims of Memory: Sex Abuse Accusations and Shattered Lives. Second ed. Hinesburg, VT: Upper Access. 1996
Piper, August. Hoax and Reality: The Bizarre World of Multiple Personality Disorder. Northvale, NJ Jason Aronson. 1997
Prozon, C. K. Feminist Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. 1992
Prozan, C. K. The Technique of Feminist Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson. 1992
Stephens, R. L. Hypnosis and False Memories. Freeport, PA: Ziotech. 1996
Underwager, R. and Wakefield, H. The Return of the Furies: Analysis of Recovered Memory Therapy. Chicago: Open Court. 1994
Wassil-Grimm, C. Diagnosis for Disaster: The Devastating Truth About False Memory Syndrome and Its Impact on Accusers and Families. Woodstock, NY: Overlook. 1995
Yapko, M.D. Suggestions of Abuse: True and False Memories of Childhood Sexual Traumas. New York. Simon & Schuster. 1994
