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False Memory Syndrome

Lucianarchy

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FALSE MEMORY SPINDROME

Here's the list forwarded to me the other day of the FMSF's advisory board, from their most recent online version of their False Memory Syndrome Foundation newsletter. I've simply been "watching" these folks for a while. Some of these names are VERY interesting given their research histories. Well known, many are.

So...here's what's happening:

UCLA identifications: Louis Jolyon West; John Hochman; Rochel Gelman.

Others at Berkeley (Singer; Crews; Ofshe). Stanford & Harvard, of course. (Odd, yes, that being John Mack's baliwick, too?"Aliens?" Bah, humbug! "Alien-Nation?")

The "Amazing" James Randi (of CSICOP and allegedly "CIA"consultant on magic and debunk/disinform fame). His presence sort of gives away who and what this FMSF scam is about. Odd also, yes, that Randi got into a "pi**ing" contest withformer Navy signals scientist Eldon Byrd recently (1992-1993)and the two fought it out in a slander suit Byrd filed against Randi? Something to do with Byrd's alleged plea bargain to some kind of mail-porn charge, which Randi allegedly had hyped uppublicly to be more than that. Byrd won, but Randi pleaded "destitution" and Eldon got an award of $1.00. (It was tried in Baltimore, back in 1993. Baltimore Sun reported it, and Byrd told me about it over dinner at C. B. "Scott" Jones home one evening of several we spent together back in '92 and '93 there.) Byrd said that Uri Geller put up $10,000 for his legal costs. Byrd and Geller are good friends, from back in the '70s, and Geller and Randi's bitter adversarial relationship is well knownand goes way back, too. (You might want to read Andrijah Puharich's "URI" if you've not yet.)

Byrd says he had been "set-up" by postal inspectors, part of some initiative to discredit him because he was too public with his personal interests in "psi," etc. He'd allegedly had some Navy security clearance issues dog him, which contributed to hisearly retirement as one of their senior most civilian scientists. Of course, he could have been "living his cover," much as Jones allegedly was doing when he retired from active Navy Intelligence duty in the mid-1970s to create his "new" identityas fatherly "Professor Jones," of the Psi-Institute for Hot Oil Massages.

Even more bizarre: When he was still with the Navy, Dr. Byrd was the contract manager for some of the research MichaelPersinger did (see FMSF list below), on "neuro-impacts" ofvarious EMFs and ELFs. Something about wave-propagation and influences on submariners if somebody "beeped" them with mind-influencing EMF signals, etc., that kind of thing. Pretty small club, these folks. "Mind-benders" all.

The Orne's are now at Penn, of course. Most government "mind-influencers" we (the taxpayers) funded have now turned their mis-shapen medical ethics to work for the Dark Side. You've seen them in your Psych-Lit data base searches I suggested? Their work is funded by the big foundations (Hughes, etc.) and isburied so arcanely in technomed babble as to be difficult...but not impossible...to excavate.

Not to omit the afore mentioned Michael Persinger, up at Laurentian University, in Canada, where MUCH of this kind ofwork has been undertaken...(no pun intended) ...because of Canada absence of a Bill of Rights and First Amendment, not to mention a more restrictive National Security apparatus regardingdisclosures. He was previously funded by Navy, and is/was a big buddy of C. B. Jones (Jones says) and other gov't signal propagation experts...for whom Persinger does/did work on"receptivity" and neuro-effects of external signals. See Psych-Lit and other refs.

The "web" of slime balls who have diddled with the knobs on the planetary consciousness is laid out here. But: Sunlightis the best disinfectant! There it is. [...]

http://alexconstantine.50megs.com/the_false_memory.html
 
[...] DR. RALPH C. UNDERWAGER - Former director of the FMSF, forced to resign in 1993 after it was widely reported that he'd opined in Paidika ("Darling," in Greek), a journal published by and for pedophiles, that they should proclaim it "God's will" that adults engage in sex acts with children. Nevertheless, he is often quoted in the media and has appeared as an "expert" in over 100 child abuse trials. In 1988, a New York State court decision held that Underwager was "not qualified to render any opinion as to whether or not [a child] was sexually molested." This was painfully clear on December 19, 1993, when the London Times reported his reference to unspecified "scientific evidence" that demonstrated "60% of women sexually abused as children reported that the experience had been GOOD for them. He contended the same should be true for boys involved with pedophiles." Underwager blames feminists for the current climate of rancor toward pedophiles because they are "jealous" of "men's ability to love other men or children and have stirred up hysteria over pedophilia[...]
http://alexconstantine.50megs.com/stalking_curio.html
 
What is your point of the first post? Is it:

- James Randi is a slimeball
- The gubmint is doing mind control experiments
- There is no such thing as false memory syndrome

at least give us a clue
 
The Don said:
What is your point of the first post? Is it:

- James Randi is a slimeball
- The gubmint is doing mind control experiments
- There is no such thing as false memory syndrome

at least give us a clue
Click to expand...

Not sure, but I believe Luci has a beef with FMS, and instead of pointing out why it might be wrong, Luci posts a bunch of stuff about the people who support it.

Mud slinging, in other words.
 
Lucianarchy,

This website FMS
seems to contradict your view that false memory syndrome does not exist.
It provides substantial evidence that certain therapeutic practices can lead to forms of FMS.
It also points to studies that seem to indicate that there isn't any clear evidence that childhood trauma can be forgotten, selective amnesia.

The advisory board for this foundation has psychologists, neurologists and psychiatrists listed. Pretty credible stuff if you ask me.
 
There is no syndrome. It looks like pedo's use it to hide behind, that's all, and I think Randi is doing a disservice to skepticism by supporting it.
 
Crook, L. & Dean, M. (1999). "Lost in a shopping mall" - A breach of professional ethics. Ethics & Behavior, 9(1), 39-50.

ABSTRACT: The "lost in a shopping mall" study has been cited to support claims that psychotherapists can implant memories of false autobiographical information of childhood trauma in their patients. The mall study originated in 1991 as 5 pilot experiments involving 3 children and 2 adult participants. The University of Washington Human Subjects Committee granted approval for the mall study on August 10, 1992. The preliminary results with the 5 pilot subjects were announced 4 days later. An analysis of the mall study shows that beyond the external misrepresentations, internal scientific methodological errors cast doubt on the validity of the claims that have been attributed to the mall study within scholarly and legal arenas. The minimal involvement--or, in some cases, negative impact--of collegial consultation, academic supervision, and peer review throughout the evolution of the study are reviewed.

Crook, L. & Dean, M. (1999). Logical fallacies and ethical breaches. Ethics & Behavior, 9(1), 61-68.

The authors address Loftus' reliance on the ad hominem technique (Loftus, 1999) to establish a clear distinction between her characterization of them and the legitimacy of their concerns regarding the ethics of her research.
 
Symposium: Science and Politics of Recovered Memories
Reviewed by Linda Chapman, MSW, LCSW

A special issue of Ethics & Behavior has been published (Vol. 8, No. 2, 1998). The theme is "The Science and Politics of Recovered Memory," and it is based on a program chaired by Gerald Koocher of Harvard Medical School at the APA convention.

Reading the printed word in the special edition of Ethics & Behavior, paper after paper, is uplifting and inspiring. The participants in this symposium are people of courage and fortitude, and as they speak eloquently to the issues of the day, it becomes crystal clear that this "memory war," as Anna Salter asserts, "...Is not an academic debate at all; It is a political fight." (p. 121). I'll leave Salter and the other authors to explain what the fight is about, and why: It's a fascinating analysis, and not to be missed by anyone who cares about abused children, the adult survivors they become, and about those mental health professionals who would dare reach out to them in compassion.

Selected Quotes

"...Skilled, thoughtful, well-trained clinicians are too often tarred with the same brush that should be reserved for the quacks of psychotherapy. Not surprisingly, the most vocal attempts to silence competent professionals speaking out on or treating genuine abuse victims have come from organizations populated or led by individuals who have been ruled abusive or otherwise discredited in courts of law."
-- Gerry Koocher, Chair

JENNIFER J. FREYD, PH.D., is a full professor in the Department of Psychology, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon. She is the author of the acclaimed book, "Betrayal Trauma: The Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse." She writes:
"Despite this documentation for both traumatic amnesia and essentially accurate delayed recall, memory science is often presented as if it supports the view that traumatic amnesia is very unlikely or perhaps impossible and that a great many, perhaps a majority, maybe even all, recovered memories of abuse are false....Yet no research supports such an implication...and a great deal of research supports the premise that forgetting sexual abuse is fairly common and that recovered memories are sometimes essentially true." Science in the Memory Debate, p. 107

ANNA SALTER, PH.D., is a psychologist in Madison, Wisconsin. In 1988, she began a study of the accuracy of expert testimony in child sexual abuse cases utilizing psychologist Ralph Underwager and his wife and practice partner, Hollida Wakefield, as a case study. (Underwager is a co-founder of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation who resigned after making statements to a Dutch magazine in which he advocated pedophilia. See this article for background.) Salter writes:

"The people who support and defend those accused of child sexual abuse indiscriminately, those who join organizations dedicated to defending people who are accused of child sexual abuse with no screening whatsoever to keep out those who are guilty as charged, are...not necessarily people engaged in an objective search for the truth. Some of them can and do use deceit, trickery, misstated research, harassment, intimidation, and charges of laundering federal money to silence their opponents." -- Confessions of a Whistle Blower: Lessons Learned, p. 122.

JENNIFER A. HOULT earned degrees in harp, computer science and religion, pursued a career in Artificial Intelligence Software Engineering, and later returned to a career in music. In 1988, she filed a civil suit against her father - a member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation - (J. Hoult v. D.P. Hoult), whom she alleged had sexually abused her throughout her childhood. In 1993, this case was unanimously decided in her favor, and she was awarded monetary damages. However, Hoult has seen the facts of her case twisted and misreported in the media and by FMS proponents. She writes:

"Since 1995, I have become aware of the parallel between the intimidation and silencing in the microcosm of the abusive family and in the macrocosm of a society that is ill at ease in dealing with the abuse of children. During my childhood my father protected himself from being held accountable by threatening me into silence. I believe that published documents demonstrate how some members and supporters of false memory groups publish false statements that defame and intimidate victims of proven violence and their supporters. Such altered accounts are used to discredit others in court and in the press." -- Silencing the Victim: The Politics of Discrediting Child Abuse Survivors, p. 125.

ROSS E. CHEIT is a professor in the Department of Political Science, Brown University. Cheit, who as an adult recovered memories of abuse by a camp counselor, has established an archive of _corroborated cases_ of recovered memories here.
From the Abstract of Cheit's article:


"Some self-proclaimed skeptics of recovered memory claim that traumatic childhood events simply cannot be forgotten at the time only to be remembered later in life. This claim has been made repeatedly by the Advisory Board members of a prominent advocacy group for parents accused of sexual abuse, the so-called False Memory Syndrome Foundation. The research project described in this article identifies and documents the growing number of cases that have been ignored or distorted by such skeptics. To date, this project has documented 35 cases in which recovered memories of traumatic childhood events were corroborated by clear and convincing evidence." False Representations About True Cases of Recovered Memory. (p. 141) (Note: The archive now has 45 corroborated cases.)

DAVID L. CALOF is a respected therapist in Seattle, Washington, and founder and editor emeritus of the professional journal Treating Abuse Today. His latest book is "The Couple Who Became Each Other: Stories of Healing and Transformation From a Leading Hypnotherapist." Despite the fact that he has never treated any relative of a member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation, and for more than 25 years practiced without a single ethics complaint or lawsuit, proponents of false memory syndrome waged an intensive three-year war of harassment against him and his practice. His patients often had to cross a picket line just to get to their therapy appointments; He was forced to move his office several times; His attorney's wife and family were harassed, and he spent many thousands of dollars defending bogus lawsuits. He writes:

"Psychotherapy clients require privacy and confidentiality, not assault by offensive signs, threats by camera, stigma, or breach of privacy. They do not benefit from ad hominem broadsides against the clinical community. If we condone this new self-styled assault on psychotherapy in the name of scientific debate or freedom of speech while we ignore the rights of speech, privacy, and assembly for patients and clinicians, we might eventually lose the clinical container of psychotherapy itself to any aggressive third party who comes along with some ax to grind with the field of mental health." -- Notes from a Practice Under Siege: Harassment, Defamation, and Intimidation in the Name of Science, p. 185.

LAURA S. BROWN, PH.D. was named clinical professor of psychology in 1992 at the University of Washington. Since 1980, she has maintained a full-time independent practice of clinical and forensic psychology in Seattle. She has edited three books, authored a fourth, and co-authored a fifth, and has written 44 journal articles and 35 chapters in professional books, and has been instrumental in the development of theory in feminist psychotherapy. She too, has been picketed by pro-fms individuals in Seattle, Washington.
As symposium discussant, she writes:

"Denial of perpetration is simply not evidence that none has occurred, because even when there is physical evidence of abuse, sexual abusers of children may continue to deny that they did anything....The tactics of the false memory movement have shown remarkable parallels to those of sexual abusers who attempt to silence their victims, and I wonder why this is." -- The Prices of Resisting Silence: Comments on Calof, Cheit, Freyd, Hoult, and Salter, p. 191.

I strongly urge you to locate this issue in your library, or order a copy, and share it with survivors and professionals alike. It's heartening to be reminded that there are people of principle in this world who care about those who have experienced the trauma of child abuse, and who are willing to stand on their convictions and pay a price, if necessary. We can all take a lesson from their courage of conviction. - Linda Chapman
 
Editorial: False Memory Syndrome vs. Lying Perpetrator Syndrome: The Big Lie

by Patience Mason

When I was in grade school, I learned about the big lie technique used by the Nazis. If you tell a big enough lie often enough and loudly enough, people will believe it. This is happening today in with the supporters of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. In order to back their claims that parents accused of sexual abuse by adult children who didn't always remember the abuse are innocent, they attack the existence of “repressed memories” or traumatic amnesia. This is annoying to a person who has talked to a lot of combat veterans who don't remember parts of their tours.

The first big lie is that there is no such thing as forgetting trauma. In every type of trauma, from rape and battering to combat, from incest to torture, from fire to earthquake, survivors often lose part or all of their memory. Not only is it one way of dealing with trauma especially if it is overwhelming, physically violent and caused by humans, it's so common it's one of the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The fact that you can't prove the existence of repressed memories in a laboratory setting is used by FMS supporters as proof that repression doesn't exist. I suppose at one time, these FMS supporters would have insisted that the earth was flat. Well, you can't prove repression exists in a lab not because it doesn't exist, but because you can't rape and torture people in labs. The “scientific proof” fallacy annoys me. Remember DDT? There was no “scientific proof” that it was harming the ecology when Silent Spring was published, but it was. Proof was found later.

Most of repressed memories are brought back by an event triggering a memory often in the form of pain, a feeling of terror, the sound of a voice, or seeing a visual image, like a flash of a scene. These usually make people feel pretty crazy. Elizabeth Loftus (a memory researcher who backs the FMSF) writes about such characteristic traits as bodily memories, which therapists have observed in countless trauma survivors —survivors who repressed all their memories and ones who have only forgotten parts—as “interesting but unprovable theories” in her book as if the only things that were real today had scientific laboratory proof today. Stupid, unscientific thinking.
http://www.patiencepress.com/samples/4thIssue.html
 
Although research has consistently shown that children rarely confabulate about having been abused and false allegations have been found to be rare (Everson & Boat, 1989; Jones & McGraw, 1987; Oates, et al., 2000), the potential for false allegations continues to be an area of great concern in sex abuse cases.

Whenever prominent adults are accused of abuse, we frequently hear allegations improper questioning and suggestions that the child may have invented molestation stories to please probing authority figures. We also hear concerns that inappropriate, suggestive therapies by overzealous clinicians may have shaped or implanted the allegations.

Recent research suggests that these concerns have been greatly exaggerated (Lyons, 2001). There is now a substantial body of laboratory research which finds that children are quite reluctant to discuss embarrassing events (Lyon, 1999; 2002). Overall, laboratory research using suggestive questioning has consistently shown that negative events, especially events involving a child's genitals, are relatively difficult to implant in children's statements. In fact, research shows that children are more likely to fail to report negative experiences that actually did happen to them, than falsely remember ones that did not.

Saywitz, Goodman, Nicholas, and Moan (1991) studied the memory of 72 five and seven-year-old girls for a standardized medical checkup. Half of the children received a vaginal and anal examination as part of the checkup; while the other half of the children received a scoliosis examination of their back instead. The children's memories were later solicited through free recall, anatomically detailed doll demonstration, and direct and misleading questions. The vast majority of vaginal and anal touch went unreported in free recall and doll demonstration, and was only disclosed when children were asked direct, doll-aided questions. The children who received a scoliosis exam never falsely reported genital touch in free recall or doll demonstration; and false reports were rare in response to direct questions.

It is also important to point out that many abused children exhibit post-traumatic and behavioral symptoms. To date no laboratory or clinical research supports the notion that children can falsely remember elaborate details of sexual abuse perpetrated by a trusted teacher, corroborate each other's stories in independent interviews, and develop post-traumatic symptoms -- based solely on police interviews or suggestive therapy.

Ceci, S. J., & Bruck, M. (1993). The suggestibility of the child witness: A historical review and synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 113, 403-39.

Everson, M.D., & Boat, B. W. (1989). False allegations of sexual abuse by children and adolescents. Journal of the AmericanAcademy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. 28: 230-5.

Jones, D. P. H., & McGraw, J. M. (1987). Reliable and fictitious accounts of sexual abuse to children. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 2, 27-45.

Lawson, L., & Chaffin, M. (1992). False negatives in sexual abuse disclosure interviews. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 7, 532-42.

Lyon, T.D. (1999). The new wave of suggestibility research: A critique. Cornell Law Review, 84, 1004-1087.

Lyon, T.D. (2001). Let's not exaggerate the suggestibility of children. Court Review, 28(3), 12-14. (on-line: http://aja.ncsc.dni.us/courtrv/cr38-3/CR38-3Lyon.pdf)

Lyon, T.D. (2002). Scientific Support for Expert Testimony on Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation. In J.R. Conte (Ed.), Critical issues in child sexual abuse (pp. 107-138). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. (on-line: http://www.law.duke.edu/shell/cite.pl?65+Law+&+Contemp.+Probs.+97+(Winter+2002)

Oates, R. K., Jones, D. P., Denson, D., Sirotnak, A., Gary, N., & Krugman, R. D. (2000). Erroneous concerns about child sexual abuse. Child Abuse & Neglect, 24, 149-57.

Pezdek, K., & C. Roe. (1997). The suggestibility of children's memory for being touched: Planting, erasing, and changing memories.Law and Human Behavior, 21, 95-106.

Saywitz, K. J., Goodman, G. S., Nicholas, E., & Moan, S. F. (1991). Children's memories of a physical examination involving genital touch: Implications for reports of child sexual abuse. Journal of Consulting & Clinical Psychology, 59, 682-91.

Sjoberg, R. L., & Lindblad, F. (2002). Limited disclosure of sexual abuse in children whose experiences were documented by videotape. American Journal of Psychiatry, 159, 312-4

http://www.leadershipcouncil.org/Research/myths2/myths2.html
 
No-one is trying to say the child abuse doesn't happen. It does and is on the increase from what I hear.

No-one is trying to defend the perpetrators of these heinous crimes.

These issues are separate to the false memory debate.

The false memory debate centres around dubious therapy techniques which, it is postulated, may lead to false memories being generated in vulnerable patients.
The agony this has caused for many families is almost as serious as when the abuse is real.

I know that Luci's opinion of Mr Randi is very low because Randi stands up to the sort of woolly-minded nonsense which Luci holds dear.

Luci, care to join the real debate instead of making personal attacks against Mr Randi?

Or just keep spamming, whatever you prefer.
 
Oleron said:


The false memory debate centres around dubious therapy techniques which, it is postulated, may lead to false memories being generated in vulnerable patients.
Click to expand...

The point is, THERE IS NO FMS. It is plainly QUACK diagnosis, the syndrome does not exist. Read the references and studies above.

Randi is meant to be a skeptic. Why is he supporting such dangerous quackery?
 
Indeed there is a tendency for ‘regression experts’ in alien abductions to find that an overwhelmingly high proportion of their clients suddenly remember being abducted by aliens. Where the ‘regression experts’ specialise in child abuse they too find a overwhelmingly high proportion of their clients suddenly remember abuse.

What is not in doubt is that false memories can be implanted. The important question is are all regressed memories of alien abduction falsely implanted, some falsely implanted or none falsely implanted ?

I can understand that with Luci’s support for alternative and quack therapies she would put the financial well being of the practitioners above the welfare of the clients.

Luci,
Please confirm my understanding of your position. Are you saying that people that with memories of being abducted by aliens, of being a famous person in a past life are accurately reporting true events or do they have false memory syndrome ?
 
The question of the FMS is as old as psychotherapy. Even Sigmund Freud had to deal with it. I'm not into psychoanalysis that much, but it's interresting just for history:

At the beginning of his carreer, Freud had a realistic point-of-view: a lot of his patients report to him child abuse experiences. So he tought that there was a lot, but really a lot (almost every single child!) of child abuses, especially by the parents temselves. But then, during one case (I don't remember the name of that one), he reallises that it was impossible. And then he tought: it must be fantasy created by something I'm gonna call "unconscious".

So, the FMS played a role in the creation of psychoanalysis (also the rejection of hypnosis as an efficient technique...).

But after that, Ferenzci had a clash with Freud, because for him the memories were genuine and Freud was wrong to think that it was just fantasy life...

For me, Lucianarchy is wrong to see FMS has a lie. The evidences are really strong that it does exist.

Don't forget also alien abductions or satanic rituals... The FMS is not only about child abuse experiences...
 
JMA said:


For me, Lucianarchy is wrong to see FMS has a lie. The evidences are really strong that it does exist.
Click to expand...

Absolute rubbish. The syndrome has been completely debunked, see above. Randi is lending his name to quackery, a quackery which pedo's hide behind.
 
Lothian said:


I can understand that with Luci’s support for alternative and quack therapies she would put the financial well being of the practitioners above the welfare of the clients.

Click to expand...

You miss the point. The syndrome has been completely debunked as quackery. There is no syndrome. Period.

Pedophile's hide behind the FMS quackery, and Randi has put his name to it, quite sickeneing considering how he stands for skepticism. Skepticism has debunked the syndrome.

The only 'clients' I am concerend for here are the children who have been victims of abuse.
 
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