Repressed Memory Versus False Memory - The False Memory Syndrome Foundation

In the early 1990s many adult patients (mostly women) who sought the help of psychotherapists for emotional problems were told that they may have been sexually abused as children and had no memory of the abuse. Through recovered memory therapy (hypnosis, dream interpretations, joining survivor groups, etc.), women were encouraged to remember the abuse so that they could get rid of their emotional complaints. In response to the growing cases of recovered repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse, an organization of parents claiming to have been falsely accused was formed in 1992. The False Memory Syndrome Foundation (FMSF) was founded by Pamela Freyd, whose adult daughter had accused her father of childhood abuse. The daughter, Jennifer J. Freyd, is a professor of psychology who specializes in memory.

Some mental health professionals have dismissed the FMSF as an extreme organization. The foundation has been accused of protecting child abusers and attempting to discredit the psychiatric profession. Opponents of the FMSF claim that rather than work toward improving therapy, the FMSF sides with those people considered extreme on its scientific board. The board includes experts such as Dr. Elizabeth Loftus (a memory specialist who has challenged the truth of repressed memories), Dr. Richard Ofshe (who specializes in memory related to social coercion and police interrogation, such as in cases of confessing to a crime one did not commit), and Paul McHugh (who disputes the existence of multiple personality disorder). Nevertheless, families who claim they have been torn apart by what they insist are false memories consider the FMSF a lifeline to others suffering the same accusations. FMSF affiliations are found in other countries.

The Debate Continues

Although allegations of recovered repressed memories have declined since their peak in the early 1990s, the controversy over the validity of repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse has not abated. For many, there is no room for the possibility that perhaps the other side might be right. Nonetheless, there are clinicians and memory researchers who believe that the workings of the mind have yet to be fully understood. They agree that, while it is possible for a trauma victim to forget and then remember a horrible experience, it is also possible for a person to have false memories.