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 | Dr. Peter van Koppen, legal expert and psychologist of the Netherlands Study Center for Criminality and Law Enforcement issued a report on recovered memory therapy in 1997-OCT. It is entitled: "Recovered Crimes: About Accusations of Sexual Abuse Made after Therapy" The report was commissioned by the Netherlands Ministry of Justice after over 500 court trials involving recovered memory therapy resulted in only one conviction. Dr. van Koppen recommends that police only make arrests of alleged perpetrators after the RMT therapist is interviewed and if supporting testimony is obtained. He notes that there has been no empirical proof for the existence of repressed memories; he recommended that professional organizations condemn RMT. |
| The Royal College of Psychiatrists, issued a document titled: "Reported Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse." It concluded: |
"Psychiatrists are advised to avoid engaging in any 'memory recovery techniques' which are based upon the expectation of past sexual abuse of which the patient has no memory. Such 'memory recovery techniques' may include drug-mediated interviews, hypnosis, regression therapies, guided imagery, 'body memories,' literal dream interpretation and journaling. There is no evidence that the use of consciousness-altering techniques, such as drug-mediated interviews or hypnosis, can reveal or accurately elaborate factual information about any past experiences including childhood sexual abuse. Techniques on regression therapy including 'age regression' and hypnotic regression are of unproved effectiveness."
1998:
| The Canadian Psychological Association passed the following resolution in 1998-JUN: |
"The Canadian Psychological Association recognizes the very serious concern of child abuse and child sexual abuse in our society. The Canadian Psychological Association also recognizes that justice may not have been served in cases where people have been convicted of offences based solely upon 'repressed' or 'recovered' memories of abuse, without further corroborative evidence that the abuse in fact occurred. Developments in the state of our knowledge about repressed or recovered memories suggest that such memories, if they exist, may not be sufficiently reliable to serve as the sole basis for a criminal conviction. To the extent that some people may have been convicted of offences based solely upon the testimony of people's recovered memories, the Canadian Psychological Association urges the Minister of Justice to conduct a special inquiry into this category of convictions." 1
The Justice Department is in a conflict of interest situation. If it reviews these cases, the only ethical course of action would be to free those convicted by recovered memories. But to do so would admit that the court system in Canada has deeply flawed, and has allowed junk science to be used to convict innocent people. It is less painful for the government to do nothing and let the innocent rot in jail. They took the less painful route.
| In 1998, 600 psychiatrists registered in Massachusetts were
surveyed for their beliefs related to false memory therapy. 154
responded. 69% of the respondents agreed with the statement: "The
numbers of false accusations of childhood sexual abuse, appearing to
emerge from the psychotherapy of adults, constitute a real problem
needing public acknowledgment as such by the mental health
professions." However, there were a minority of therapists
who still held ideas commonly found in recovered memory therapy:
On the order of 6% to 8% of the respondents endorsed:
What is particularly alarming is that these data were collected from psychiatrists -- typically the mental health therapists with the greatest academic background. One wonders what social workers, church counselors, clergy etc. believe and practice. |
This essay continues below.
Sponsored link:
2000:
| The American Psychiatric Association
replaced its 1993 position statement on therapies focused on memories
of childhood abuse. Some points raised in their 2000-MAR/MAY statement
are:
[Author's thoughts: Surprisingly, the APA talks only about memories being distorted and inaccurate. It does not address the possibility of images of events that never happened coalescing and appearing like memories to the client. They don't admit that psychotherapy might produce a "memory" that is totally unrelated to past events. The patient of a psychiatrist who follows the APA guidelines might conclude that their recovered memory of child abuse was at least partly true. They might be led to believe that that their parents grossly abused them as children, even though some of the details are inaccurate. The APA's statement seems to have no room at all for a totally false, recovered memory. That is a strange oversight at this stage in the "memory wars," and one which is liable to cause much suffering by clients and their families of origin.] |
2001:
The award citation said, in part:
"Elizabeth Loftus is an example of the rare scientist who is instrumental both in advancing a scientific discipline and in using that discipline to make critical contributions to society..."
"Over the past 15 years, Dr. Loftus's attention has turned to a related but considerably more controversial issue, that of the validity of "recovered memories" of childhood abuse. As a result of her pioneering scientific work as well as her activity within the legal system, society is gradually coming to realize that such memories, compelling though they may seem when related by a witness, are often a product of recent reconstructive memory processes rather than of past objective reality."
"In bringing to light these facts of memory, Dr. Loftus has joined the ranks of other scientists, past and present, who have had the courage, inspiration, and inner strength to weather the widespread scorn and oppression that unfortunately but inevitably accompanies clear and compelling scientific data that have the effrontery to fly in the face of dearly held beliefs." 4 (Emphasis ours).
Date unknown; probably mid 2003:
The College of Physician and Surgeons of British Columbia is the licensing and regulatory body for doctors and psychiatrists in British Columbia, Canada. The included the following sentences in a letter to Mr. Lloyd Corney, a member of the False Memory Syndrome Foundation member in BC:
"Recovered memory therapy at one point, some years ago, was promoted by some as a diagnostic and treatment tool and as a model for explaining certain clinical presentations. Subsequently, the abuse of these theories and their misapplication, the results of which you are obviously fully aware of, caused this treatment to be questioned and, in fact, caused it to fall into disrepute." 5
2004:
On 2004-JAN-27, Netherlands Health Council’s commission on Disputed Memories issued a report on the dangers of RMT. This was partly in response to work by the Work Group Fictive Memories, led by Jan Buys. 6 The report:
| States that there now exists a broad recognition
that incest memories may:
| ||||||
| Advises therapists not to conclude a history of trauma on the basis of symptoms only. | ||||||
| Affirms that therapists acting as expert witnesses should refrain from making definite statements during criminal or civil cases as to the reliability of a patient’s testimony. | ||||||
| Directs the relevant profesional bodies to set firm guidelines for safe practice. | ||||||
| Urges the minister of Health to see that the recommenrations of the report are carried out. 7 |
Unfortunately, the report made no recommendations about:
| How to help ex-patients who recovered memories of events that never happened -- largely memories of incest, and |
| How to handle parents who have been wrongfully convicted in recent decades for events that never happened. |
References:
- Peter Suedfeld, Letter to the editor of the National Post, 2001-JUN-19. Suedfeld was the past president of the Canadian Psychological Association.
- "Therapies focused on memories of childhood physical and sexual
abuse," 2000-JUN, at: http://www.psych.org/public_info/
A free Adobe Acrobat reader is required for viewing.
- Gary Robbins, "Renowned psychologist joins UCI," The Orange County Register, 2002-AUG-24.
- Elizabeth Loftus, "When Scientific Evidence Is the Enemy," The Skeptical Inquirer, Volume 25, No. 6 2001-NOV/DEC, Pages 14 & 15.
- "News from Canada," False Memory Syndrome Foundation newsletter, 2003-JUL/AUG, Volume 12, #3.
- "Werkgroep Fictieve Herinneringen," at: http://www.werkgroepwfh.nl/ (In the Dutch language).
- "The report 'Disputed Memories' recognizes and provides solutions for the problems caused by false incest memories," Press release by Work Group Fictive Memories, 2004-JAN-27. (Also in Dutch; translation by Adriaan Mak.
Copyright 1996 to 2004 incl., by Ontario Consultants
on Religious Tolerance.
Latest update: 2004-JAN-28
Prepared by: B.A. Robinson
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