To: MIT.EDU!witchhunt Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 05:28:16 -0500 'Recovered' memories challenge

From: romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu!saul.cis.upenn.edu!pjf (Peter Freyd)
To:   MIT.EDU!witchhunt
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 1994 05:28:16 -0500

'Recovered' memories challenged
Atlanta Constitution (AC) - Friday December 9, 1994
By: Anne Rochell STAFF WRITER
Section: NATIONAL NEWS  Page: C/1
Word Count: 717

TEXT:
How we remember traumatic events, particularly abuse, has become a topic of
discussion  for everyone from Geraldo Rivera to the Harvard Medical School,
because the debate centers on an unspeakable crime: Incest.

   A  subject once so taboo it was never discussed, incest now has everyone
choosing sides.

   On  one  side  are  those  who  believe  in recovered memories. They say
childhood  sexual  abuse,  satanic  ritual  abuse and even alien abduction,
dating  back  to  infancy  and  usually  lasting  years,  can be completely
forgotten, only to resurface years, even decades later.

   On  the  other side are those who say these memories are confabulations,
encouraged  by  a  therapist  and  eventually  adopted  by the patient as a
convenient explanation for a symptom, such as overeating or poor sex drive.
Advocates  of  this  point  of view have dubbed the condition "false memory
syndrome."

   "This  is  like  the Hula Hoop craze," said Dr. Paul McHugh, director of
the  psychiatry  department  at Johns Hopkins University. "There is no more
evidence  for  satanic  ritual abuse than there was for witches in the 17th
century."

   Beginning  today  in  Baltimore,  McHugh  is  presiding over a three-day
meeting that has a decided slant on the subject, evident in the subtitle of
the  conference:  "Scientific,  clinical  and  legal issues of false memory
syndrome."  More  than  600  clinicians  - and parents alienated from their
children by accusations of incest - are expected to attend the conference.

   The conference is hosted by the False Memory Syndrome (FMS) Foundation -
which  has  more  than  4,000  members,  all  of whom say they were falsely
accused  of  abuse.  It  is  the first such meeting to be co-sponsored by a
prestigious research institute, and that has made the recovered memory camp
furious.
   "This   is  a  nonexistent  syndrome,"  said  Laura  Brown,  a  clinical
psychologist  in  Seattle,  who  believes  memories  can  be  repressed and
retrieved.

   "I  was  appalled  when  I  saw  that this conference was going on," she
added.  "There  is  a  large  body of empirical research demonstrating that
people can lose and regain access to memories of trauma. It's just that the
mechanism is not known."

   McHugh  said there is just as much evidence that memory can be distorted
and manipulated.

   "If  false  memories  can  exist  in  alien  abductions - and few people
believe  those  memories are true - then it's quite clear they can occur in
these other things," McHugh said.

   Both  sides  agree, however, that there is no tangible evidence in these
controversial cases.

   However,  the  belief that memories can be lost and retrieved has gained
considerable  acceptance.  Half the states in the nation have changed their
laws  to  allow  people  to  sue  or  press criminal charges against people
accused  of abuse years after the statute of limitations on the alleged act
has expired. Such a bill was proposed in Georgia but did not pass.

   Several  Georgia  court  cases  have  been  based on recovered memories.
DeKalb  County  businessman  Al  Wilson  was accused by two daughters and a
granddaughter  of sexual abuse, and they sued him on the basis of recovered
memories. The women dropped the case this fall.

   The Burches of Fayette County, elderly grandparents, were indicted on 19
counts  of  child  molestation  and  cruelty to children in connection with
their  care of three granddaughters. The charges stemmed from the recovered
memories  of  an  adult granddaughter. The 1992 trial ended in a hung jury,
and the Fayette district attorney's office has decided not to retry.

   The  FMS  Foundation  is  tracking  some  800  criminal  and civil cases
nationwide  of  adult  children  accusing  their parents of abuse, said the
foundation's  executive  director,  Pamela  Freyd.  She  believes there are
thousands more.

   But  there is something else happening in the courts, she said. Patients
are  deciding these horrible things did not happen after all, and are suing
the  therapists  who  they say encouraged them to "uncover" these memories.
There  are  now  hundreds  of these so-called "retractors," Freyd said, and
they  have  even  started  a  newsletter.  Several  plan  to  speak  at the
conference  this  weekend  - an event that is certain to fuel both sides of
the memory debate.

   "The  question  is  how often the abuse happens and to whom it happens,"
said  Kathy  Steele,  an  Atlanta  therapist. "The FMS people are saying it
didn't  happen  just  because they go to church and they look nice and they
make a lot of money."

                Copyright 1994 Atlanta Newspapers Inc.