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False memory syndrome (FMS) is a term created by Peter J. Freyd^[1] and popularized by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) that describes an alleged condition in which a person's identity and relationships are affected by memories which are factually incorrect but are strongly believed.^[2] Members of the FMSF believe that alleged false memories are the result of recovered memory therapy, a term also defined by the FMSF in the early 1990s,^[3] which describes a range of therapy methods that are prone to creating confabulations. Some of the influential figures in the genesis of the theory are forensic psychologist Ralph Underwager, psychologist Elizabeth Loftus and sociologist Richard Ofshe. FMS is not recognized scientifically.^[4][5][6][7]

Definition

False memory syndrome is defined as:

[A] condition in which a person's identity and interpersonal relationships are centered around a memory of traumatic experience which is objectively false but in which the person strongly believes. Note that the syndrome is not characterized by false memories as such. We all have memories that are inaccurate. Rather, the syndrome may be diagnosed when the memory is so deeply ingrained that it orients the individual's entire personality and lifestyle, in turn disrupting all sorts of other adaptive behavior...False Memory Syndrome is especially destructive because the person assiduously avoids confrontation with any evidence that might challenge the memory. Thus it takes on a life of its own, encapsulated and resistant to correction. The person may become so focused on memory that he or she may be effectively distracted from coping with the real problems in his or her life.^[8] Emphasis in original

FMS is controversial.^[9] It is not included in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Paul R. McHugh, member of the FMSF, stated that the term was not adopted into the fourth version of the manual due to the pertinent committee being headed by believers in recovered memory.^[10]

Recovered memory therapy

Recovered memory therapy is used to describe the therapeutic processes and methods that are believed to create false memories and false memory syndrome. These methods include hypnosis, sedatives and probing questions where the therapist believes repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse are the cause of their client's problems.^[11] The term is not listed in DSM-IV or used by any mainstream formal psychotherapy modality.^[3]

FMS advocates harbor strong skepticism towards any therapist who they believe encourages a client to identify repressed memories. They argue that self-help books, such as The Courage to Heal, and recovered memory therapists can influence adults to develop false memories. According to this theory, psychologists and psychiatrists may accidentally implant these false memories.

Evidence for

Human memory is created and highly suggestible, and a wide variety of innocuous, embarrassing and frightening memories can be falsely created through the use of different techniques, including guided imagery, hypnosis and suggestion by others. Though not all individuals who are exposed to these techniques will develop memories, experiments suggest a significant number of people will and will actively defend the existence of the events, even if told they were false and deliberately implanted. The questions about the possibility of false memories created an explosion of interest in suggestibility of human memory and resulted in an enormous increase in the knowledge about how memories are encoded, stored and recalled, producing pioneering experiments such as the lost in the mall technique.^[12]

Court cases

Sexual abuse cases

The question of the accuracy and dependability of a repressed memory that was later recalled has contributed to some investigations and court cases, including cases of alleged sexual abuse or child sexual abuse. ^[13][14] Some such recollections have been supported by enough corroborating evidence to enable successful prosecution, ^[15] while others have been deemed confabulations or "false memories" that were not legally admissible.

The defense in sexual abuse cases may offer their own “expert” “testimony to counter the plaintiff's scientific evidence that the mind can avoid or repress traumatic information and then recall it years later.” Murphy believes that there is "overwhelming evidence that the mind is capable of repressing traumatic memories of child sexual abuse."^[16] Whitfield states that the “false memory” defense is “seemingly sophisticated, but mostly contrived and often erroneous.” He states that this defense has been created by “accused, convicted and self-confessed child molesters and their advocates” to try to “negate their abusive, criminal behavior.”^[17] Brown states that when pro-false memory expert witnesses and attorneys state there is no causal connection between CSA and adult psychopathology, that CSA doesn't cause specific trauma-related problems like borderline and dissociative identity disorder, that other variables than CSA can explain the variance of adult psychopathology and that the long-term effects of CSA are non-specific and general, that this testimony is inaccurate and has the potential of misleading juries. ^[18]

Malpractice cases

During the late 1990s, there were multiple lawsuits in the United States in which psychiatrists and psychologists were successfully sued, or settled out of court, on the charge of propagating iatrogenic memories of childhood sexual abuse, incest and satanic ritual abuse.^[19]

Some of these suits were brought by individuals who later deemed their recovered memories of incest and/or satanic ritual abuse to be false. The False Memory Syndrome Foundation uses the term "retractors" to describe these individuals and have shared their stories publicly.^[20] There is debate regarding the total number of retractions as compared to the total number of allegations,^[21] and the reasons for retractions.^[22]

See also

• Alien abduction
• Confabulation
• Lost in the mall technique
• McMartin preschool trial
• Memory bias

Footnotes

References

• McHugh, PR (2008). Try to remember: Psychiatry's clash over meaning, memory and mind. Dana Press. ISBN 1932594396.  

External links

• False memory syndrome at the Open Directory Project
• Memory controversies at the Open Directory Project